The idea of women at workplaces at first was something out of the question. Women in Pakistan were expected to be just the homemakers. But as the time is passing education and the current economic situation of Pakistan has started to bring a change in the status of Pakistani women.
The status of women in Pakistan is in constant growth, and there is a silent social revolution taking place with rising number of women joining the workforce and moving up the corporate ladder in Pakistan.
Pakistani women do not want to rest back, they are out looking for employment, doing everything from sale services and serving burgers at McDonald’s to running major corporations. Beyond company or government employment, there are a number of NGOs focused on encouraging self-employment and entrepreneurship among Pakistani women by offering skills training and micro financing. Depilex Smileagain Foundation is among such NGO’s who are striving to empower such women who have lost all hopes in their lives.
A number of women have moved up into the executive positions,Women now make up 4.6% of board members of Pakistani companies, Female employment at KFC in Pakistan has risen 125 percent in the past five years, according to a report in the NY Times. The number of women working at McDonald’s restaurants and the supermarket behemoth Makro has quadrupled since 2006. There are now women taxi drivers in Pakistan. Best known among them is ZahidaKazmi described by the BBC as “clearly a respected presence on the streets of Islamabad”. Several women fly helicopters and fighter jets in the military and commercial airliners in the state-owned and private airlines in Pakistan.
Many companies, for instance, have caught on to the idea that female customers have money to spend, but may not necessarily be comfortable speaking to male salespersons, regardless of how friendly or courteous they may be. That, in turn, has led to the rise in hiring of female staff members, creating stable corporate-style employment opportunities for blue-collar women. The rising spending power of upper-middle class women is helping their lower-middle and working class sisters get jobs.
For now one thing is for certain: Evolution of Pakistani women in the workplace is changing this economy for the better.
