May 30, 2003	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27,1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 29: As many as 77 per cent of working women are employed in the informal employment sector of Pakistan and getting meagre salaries.

This information was shared at the launching of International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) global report on “Time for Equality” here on Thursday.

In his welcome address, Country Director of ILO in Pakistan Mr Lokollo said, “In the context of Pakistan, we all are aware that the status of women in employment sector still needs a lot of improvement in order to meet the level of other countries in the region and even in South Asia.”

In Pakistan, he said, low literacy rate of women had been a major problem and the female-male literacy gap had increases from 19 in 1981 to 24 per cent in 1998. He maintained that a majority of working women (77 per cent) were engaged in informal sector at low wages under poor working conditions.

“These women, majority of them working in agriculture and informal sector, are not recognised or accounted for when surveys are carried out while they are contributing significantly to the national economy,” the ILO director said.

The main purpose of this report is to give a reminder to the ILO member countries and international community about serious discrimination practices against women that still exist at work places in many countries including Pakistan, he said.