This rate is not solely determined by cultural factors, rather under reporting of the female workers, especially in the non-wage sector also important. The non-availability of suitable jobs is also responsible for the low female labour participation rate.
The low rate is partly explained by some conceptual and measurement related problems, implicit in the identification of women within the labour force.
However, international comparisons show that higher participation rates especially in newly industrialized countries are closely associated with the utilization of female labour in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy, away form the household based sector consisting of agriculture and allied activities.
More importantly, these changes are closely related to qualitative improvement in relation to health and education standards of the female population.
The lack of information on female participation in economic activities shows negligence on part of our official data sources. In different reports, it is recommended that the highest priority be given to effort to improve this situation, for, without reliable data policymaking efforts will be seriously hampered. The period between 1978- 79 to 1984- 85 was marked by a signification shift towards greater capital intensity in Pakistan— both in agriculture and in industry.
Agricultural mechanization was extended to threshing and harvesting which had serious implications for the labour absorptive capacity of the sector. It has been shown that these forms of mechanization are unambiguously labour displacing and in most cases, displace females who were traditionally engaged in these activities.
Technological development can also lead to a fall in the participation rate of the female members by raising the income level of the household. Withdrawal of female family members from income generating work is the response of many middle-income households when they move to a higher socio-economic status.
A report by the Mehboobul Haq Development Centre, released early in the year 2004, indicated that women in the region faced immense discrimination as far as employment opportunities, wages, working conditions and occupational status are concerned. It stated that Pakistan has the least participation of women in the labour force and employment as compared to other South Asian countries.
Women have always comprised a very small proportion of the labour force in large-scale industry. Although women in large-scale industries are better off than their counterparts doing similar tasks in small workshops, in factories or at home. Discrimination not only takes the form of lower wages for similar work but is also visible in recruitment and promotion policies. The fact that women accept these unfavourable terms only underlines their economic vulnerability and limited work options.
As a result of the low labour absorptive capacity of the modern sector, women in the urban areas are increasingly being relegated to the ranks of contract labour where earnings are significantly lower than in regular employment or to the lowest ranks of the service sector. The growth of contract labour was stimulated by labour legislating enacted in the 1970s.
Motivated by the desire for cheaper labour, various stages in the production process were subcontracted to workers from small workshops or from their homes at much lower rates than those required under the purview of them minimum wage legislation.
Women are an important component of the system of contract labour. Sewing garments and processing food are some of the more common income earnings activities that women undertake either on a contract or on self-employed bases and their remuneration is usually below than what they could have earned for comparable work outside home.
Their bargaining position is limited due to their unorganized nature, their pressing needs and the demand of seclusion limit the work and organization opportunities available to them. Another option for women to earn subsistence is the services sector, which has been the sector with the highest growth in the last decade. Women workers are usually employed in the lowest tiers of the services sector in poorly paid, manual jobs mainly as domestic servants.
Women’s role beyond their traditionally accepted household activities has always met with resistance and will continue to, for some time. Social taboos of all sorts continue to sanctify these conditions, which, in fact, are guises to keep the women tied to their subservient roles. These attitudes have their impact on the social and economic status of women in Pakistan. In addition, there is a striking difference between the situation of rural and urban women. Consequently, the waste of human resources in Pakistan is more evident among women.