AROUND the world, and in Pakistan, a large number of women participate in home-based employment. Though an important part of the world economy, the terms and conditions of this kind of work are usually informal, with the work being performed in a casual setting and payments being made according to the time spent or the output delivered.

Most of the women employed as home-based workers (HBWs) in what is called the cottage industry supplement the household income, rather than being sole breadwinners, while also contributing to the casual economy. However, the HBWs are amongst the most marginalised categories of workers due to their inaccessibility to financial services, such as banks, further limiting their already constrained economic options.

Despite these difficulties, however, many of these HBWs have been known to have pulled their families out of poverty and provided some much-needed financial stability to their domestic setups. It is unfortunate that there appears to have been little effort to mainstream such women into the formalised workforce and grant them benefits, such as healthcare or annual leave.

The government should do more to provide financial incentives to HBWs considering their important role in society.

Muhammad Haroon
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2022