Among the various reasons identified on global level for removing gender disparity with regard to education and female participation in labour force it is the total responsibility inflicted on women and girls for caregiving at household level. This involves child care as well as special caregiving for disabled and elderly members of the family.
This gives them less time for education, involvement in paid work and other economic activities. They are even devoid of leisure and their constitutional right for political participation. This particular household environment common with developing countries, including Pakistan, limits engagement of women in market activities; it also restricts their role in earning livelihood through informal economy being home based worker or doing low paid jobs.
In this regard it is incumbent on legislatures of these countries to ensure decent work and address the vagaries of unpaid family care work through social safety net intervention backed by government financial support for providing working mothers maternity benefits and accessible childcare services. In some European countries tax incentives have been allowed to working couples.
Instead of taxing income of both husband and wife only husband’s income is taxed. At global level some sustainable measures have been taken to address the issue of unpaid caregiving by female members of the family who are barred from getting education and also denied the right to get involved in economic activity without undermining their capability and working expertise.
International Centre for Research on Women in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has conducted a number of studies to explore how investing in care services and reducing care burden on females of a family can boost up female labour force’s participation both in developing and emerging economies.
The major focus of this joint venture is to explore whether and how the private sector identifies and addresses care needs of the dependent children and elderly members of the families of the female work force, which worldwide is considered the responsibility of adult female members (potential labour force) of the family.
The aim of the EBRD is to increase women work force participation, skills and entrepreneurial opportunities and access to vital infrastructure services, specially in under-developed regions. It was revealed to the EBRD during a survey of Egypt, Jordon, certain central Asian states and Turkey that a private sector entity failing to resolve care needs of its employees affects its ability to recruit, retain and promote women.
It was also found that gender gap relating to deployment of labour force largely depends on paid and unpaid work and is closely related to social norms and customs as they in turn relate to the issue of care that who performs it and who should perform it in the manner that the share of female labour force may increase.
In the context of Pakistan, due to fast changes in socio-economic environment, the number of female employees is gradually increasing both in public and public sector entities. A subcommittee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights approved a bill in June 2019 that would make it mandatory for every public or private sector office with 25 or more staffers to establish a daycare. The Day Care Centres Bill 2019 was moved by MNA Shazia Marri.
Besides the above, the government needs to look into labour and regulation policies. Country’s labour policy must have a provision for care services and care-related infrastructure to be developed both for children and elderly persons needing care. Besides that subsidies, tax credit and care credits be made available through legislation, which would expeditiously promote child and dependent care arrangements by private sector/NGOs.
Further, leave policies, family friendly working arrangements like flexible working hours, and education and healthcare promotion on a priority basis and most importantly devising budgetary policies to make fiscal space for care provision are other needed initiatives to be taken by the government to boost female participation in all economic activities.
Unfortunately, however, the federal budget for current fiscal year does not have any allocations for this purpose. One of EBRD’s research studies was conducted in Turkey where both public and private sector entities have due focus on providing childcare facilities to their employees.
As a sample case of an average size textile firm it was found that total yearly expenditures incurred on childcare for their female employees were of around $ 258,000 and same year company saved more than $ 800,000 as a result of lower female employees’ turnover.
Since the EBRD operates in quite a number of countries that do not have investment in childcare facilities for their employees, Pakistan’s government needs to approach not only the EBRD, but also other such agencies for funding this programme, which initially be introduced at public sector entities.
In this regard private sector can join hands to fill some of the gaps by either providing care services for employees or subsidising access to these services by allowing special allowance as a part of pay package for working mothers.
Despite these sporadic efforts of EBRD and a number of NGOs initiatives to promote care-related facilities to enhance females’ share in total work force of a country, it was unanimous outburst on the part of 800 members attending the W20 summit of 2018 (Argentina) that without a significant effort made to improve the status of women it will take almost two centuries to achieve equality at work place.
The W20 is an official G20 engagement group forming transnational network of women organisations, female entrepreneurs’ associations and think tanks, which firmly believe that economic empowerment of women is key to creating a prosperous world and achieving a sustainable economic growth rate of a country. The summit held in Argentina had special focus on the following:
a) Increasing and improving women’s participation in labour force by investing in affordable child care and introducing mandatory paid parental leave scheme strengthening equal access to justice;
b) guaranteeing women financial inclusion by ensuring access to credit and normal financial services and enhancing the share of public procurement contracts to women led businesses by at least 10%;
c) ensuring women’s digital inclusion by enhancing their use of digital technologies, boosting digital skills and attracting girls and women towards faculties of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and ensuring women’s participation in development and application of Artificial Intelligence, essential for their business growth.
In this regard the W20 summit held at Argentina in 2018 strongly appreciated EBRD’s role as catalyst for engagement of private sector with policymaking, which can help shape reforms across key gender.
Policy areas all over the globe:
Until 2023 EBRD initiated projects under its promotion of gender equity 2021-2025 and equity of opportunities 2021-2025 strategies. These projects have focus on enhancing human capital development and resilience through a green and digital economic transition that is JUST and promoting gender equality:
Accordingly, as suggested above, the government and notable NGOs operating in the country must seek collaboration with EBRD, G20 and W20 for consultation and funding for putting in place care services both in public and private sectors.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024