Table of Contents
Women’s empowerment is one of the central aspects of an equitable society. There has been a long debate on women’s empowerment and gender equality worldwide. These debates primarily focus on the representation of women across different dimensions. This goal can be achieved through women’s education and training. Empowering women economically ensures they have access to better job opportunities, financial independence, and entrepreneurship skills. It ensures their leadership skills and decision-making ability that influence their lives. Then they have access to better healthcare, especially reproductive health.
Introduction
The term women’s empowerment is defined differently across different dimensions, which include economic, political, cultural, legal, social, and psychological. It explains the concept of women’s empowerment in a broader perspective. The World Bank (2001) defines ‘the expansion of the freedom of choices and action which could increase women’s authority and control over resources and decision-making regarding their life.’
Through women’s empowerment, women become capable of making their own decisions and choices for their lives. However, it depends on the women how they empower their lives by getting education, learning skills, and building strategies to change their lives. Many states, regions, and international organizations have dedicated themselves to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
But women’s empowerment is very difficult in a patriarchal society like Pakistan, where their involvement in household affairs is negligible, particularly in making important decisions like those for their children, education, family planning, health, and marriages. Male are supposed to make all their important and unimportant decisions regardless of female opinion. Men govern their own lives in their own way. They are bound to some traditional norms and values, and no one can surpass them.
Historical background
Women’s empowerment in Pakistan has evolved gradually through the process of social, economic, and legal reforms. Before independence, women such as Fatima Jinnah, Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, and begum Jahanara Shahnawaz actively participated in the Pakistan movement alongside men and advocated for equal opportunities. After independence, the All-Pakistan Women Association (APWA) was established to inform the participation of women of Pakistan in the growth and development of their country.
Over the following decades, many international organizations have also taken initiatives to empower women and promote gender equality. United Nations held a conference on women in 1995 to promote women’s empowerment in society and abolish gender inequality. Similarly, the third target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to eradicate gender discrimination and empower women. Moreover, the fifth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) distinctly emphasizes gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
Today, women contribute to every sector, including education, business, healthcare, legal, and politics. Despite this considerable progress and reforms, women still face many barriers such as gender discrimination, gender-based violence, and cultural restrictions. Understanding historical and social context is crucial because it illustrates the achievements and contributions of women in Pakistan.
Women’s representation across different dimensions
Social dimension
The Social dimension of women’s empowerment refers to improving the status, rights, and opportunities for women in society. It also covers many areas of society, including education, healthcare, social justice, and equal opportunities with men. Then, women become capable of making their own independent decisions and improving their well-being in society. It encourages their active participation in community development, leadership skills, and public life.
However, education and women’s empowerment are correlated with each other. The significance of primary education has gained stress. In Pakistan, the primary literacy rate increased from 12.5% in 1975 to 39% in 2004. It went up to 62% in 2025-2026. Despite considerable improvements, a significant gap still exists between the literacy rate of boys and girls. UNICEF reported that approximately 18.8% of primary-school-age girls are out of school in Pakistan, compared to 15.2% of boys. The female literacy rate has been half that of the male literacy rate. According to the Pakistan Economy Survey 2025-2026, the literacy rate for females was 54 %, compared to 73% for males.
On the other hand, women have poor health, which can be seen from infant mortality, maternal mortality, and multiple pregnancies. According to the latest Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS), Pakistan’s infant mortality ratio is approximately 48 deaths per 1000 live births, equivalent to about 4.8 percent. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 20252026, the maternal mortality ratio in Pakistan is 155 deaths per 100,000 live births. Hence, social factors need to improve the health status of women to foster the economic and productive growth of society.
Economic dimension
Economic dimensions empower women economically by giving access to financial resources, equal wages, employment opportunities, vocational training, and entrepreneurship. It encourages women to earn an independent income, make financial decisions, own property, and contribute to household and national economic growth.
But in Pakistan, the current statistics reveal that women are less privileged in economic empowerment. The rate of female labour force participation is very low due to cultural and social barriers, economic disparities, gender discrimination, early marriage, limited opportunities, and the burden of household work. The World Bank indicates that the female labour force participation rate in Pakistan is 24 % in 2025, significantly lower than the male participation rate of 80.1%.
In Pakistan, women are confined to the walls of the house for raising their children and doing household chores both in urban and rural areas. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey, the urban female labour force participation is 40.8%, which is significantly lower than the rural female labour force participation of 52.3%. Hence, economic factors need to take some initiatives to eradicate economic disparities and promote female labour force.
The word economic forum’s global gender gap report 2025 ranked Pakistan 148th out of 148 countries in terms of gender parity in economic participation and opportunity.
Political Dimensions
Another factor of empowering women is to ensure their equal representation and participation in political processes and decision-making, which includes elected offices, political parties, legislature, and public leadership roles. Political empowerment is one of the major ideologies of Pakistan’s national development policies since this state was established. All three constitutions of Pakistan (1956,1962 and 1973) gave women the right to vote. Articles 25,26, 27, and 32 of the 1973 constitution give them the full right to participate in the development of the state.
As of 2026, women held 60 reserved seats out of 342 in the National Assembly and 17 reserved seats out of 96 in the Senate, according to the Inter- Parliamentary Union and the Parliament of Pakistan. The quota ensures that there is a minimum of 17% representation of women in the National Assembly of Pakistan and a similar proportion in provincial assemblies.
Since independence, women’s representation has been very low in legislative and political bodies. Men dominate the political world. Political empowerment will be possible only when 50% of reserved seats are given to women. According to the World Economic Forum’s report 2025, Pakistan has closed only about 11% of its political gender gap.
Challenges for women’s empowerment in Pakistan
Limited access to education
The state of women’s education in Pakistan is alarming due to cultural barriers, poverty, lack of educational facilities, security concerns, and inadequate infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Women are expected to prioritize domestic responsibilities instead of getting an education. Societal norms undervalue girls’ education and prioritize boys’ education, which leads to low enrolment rates, high dropout rates, and limited opportunities for academic and professional advancement.
Patriarchy, violence, and cultural norms
Pakistan society is deeply rooted in a patriarchal structure, where men restrict women’s freedom while holding power and authority. In Pakistan, incidents of gender-based violence increased by 25% during the year, including 470 honour killing cases,1332 deaths from domestic violence,3815 reported rape cases, and 2586 incidents of cybercrime against women (HRCP,2025). Cultural norms such as early marriages, honour killings, and restrictions on women’s mobility perpetuate gender inequality and restrict opportunities for women across all fields of life.
Health and wellbeing challenges
Women living in Pakistan have complex health problems, including infectious and noninfectious diseases, infant and maternal mortality, injuries, accidents, and mental health problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 9800 women in Pakistan are dying each year because of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Some reasons are related to social and cultural factors, which form barriers to women using appropriate maternal healthcare treatment. Women from impoverished and low-educated families are also marginalized from getting proper medical services.
Economic disparities
Women’s participation in the labour force has been very low. The reasons for the low rate of workforce participation are limited employment opportunities, workplace harassment, safety concerns, and limited mobility. Some social factors such as marriage and household constraints have also become obstacles to women’s economic pathways. Society expects women to prioritize domestic roles, male accompaniment to travel, and avoid gender mixed places. Firms prefer men or perceive women as less reliable due to marriage or caregiving responsibilities. Women also face barriers to setup business. Internships and job replacement rely heavily on informal sectors where women have limited access. Therefore, most women are forced to work in low-paid, informal, or home-based activities.
Political underrepresentation
Women have always been underrepresented in legislative bodies across Pakistan. The Patriarchal system, misogynistic tendencies, religious-cultural traditions, and elite-dominated culture are cited as primary reasons for women’s marginalization and exclusion from politics. In Pakistan, women can appear in the public or political sphere only through male patriarchs. In this way, women find themselves unable to participate in political competition for power and to be part of the elite stratum without a male patron patriarch. So, all kinds of power and authority are traditionally culturally and, to some legal extent, assigned to men, which restricts women’s political empowerment.
Reforms and initiatives for women’s empowerment
Educational reforms and initiatives
To ensure real progress in women’s education, structural educational reforms are necessary to implement. This requires a system that enforces Article 25-A with real accountability that guarantees free and compulsory education as a constitutional right. The government should modify the gender-stereotyped syllabus that confines women to domestic roles, recruit more female teachers in rural and remote areas, and strengthen enforcement of child marriage laws linked directly to reducing school dropouts.
The government has started many programs to increase access to education for girls, which have resulted in increased enrolment rates at the primary and secondary levels.
Punjab Female School Stipend Program (FSSP),2003
This program was launched by the Punjab government as part of a package of education reforms financed by the World Bank. It provides financial incentives to girls from low-income families to encourage their school enrolment. By providing a stipend, FSSP has helped increase girls’ access to education and reduce dropout rates in Punjab.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Girls’ Stipend Programme (WFP partnership)
A joint initiative between KP Education and the UN World Food Programme specifically targeted the merged districts, a region that has the largest gender gap in schooling nationally. This girl’s stipend program aims to improve girls’ access to and retention in school, especially at the higher grades where dropout rates are high. This three-year programme covered all seven districts and sub-districts and showed a 14% enrollment increase and 96% attendance improvement in a historically underserved area.
Economic reforms and initiatives
Policies must be in place to ensure the formalization of female labour. It involves registering home-based workers, providing access to financial services, strictly enforcing equal wages, promoting women’s entrepreneurship, and offering comprehensive social protection benefits, including health and pensions. Moreover, public investment in social structures, such as childcare facilities, is necessary to alleviate the time-poverty burden on women.
The following initiatives have been taken to establish the foundation for women’s empowerment and their access to economic resources.
Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) 2008
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) was established through an Act of Parliament in 2008.BISP is an unconditional cash transfer program in Pakistan that was implemented by focusing on poor women. Its primary objective is to smooth over and cushion the negative effects of low economic growth. It is currently the third-largest aid program that provides financial help to about 10 million families.
Aurat foundation
Aurat Foundation is a leading women’s rights organization in Pakistan. This program focuses on enhancing women’s economic opportunities through skill development, vocational training, and access to markets. By supporting women-led enterprises, the program has contributed to women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan.
Political reforms and initiatives
To ensure women legislators are equally represented to the electorate rather than merely party patronage, structural political reforms are necessary. This includes direct election of women on reserved seats and enforcing mandatory internal quotas within political parties for women candidates. Institutional policies must ensure women are proportionally represented in executive roles, cabinet, ministerial and senior civil services, thereby increasing their influence on legislation and national policy implementation.
The government has taken initiatives to promote gender equality and empower women politically.
Local government quota (devolution of power plan,2000-2001)
The DPP, with the adoption of the Local Government Act 2001, guaranteed a 33 % quota for women at all three levels of local councils: the district (zila), sub-district (tehsil), and union councils at the village level. Under this system,42,049 women came to local government.
National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW)
A statutory government body created to review laws and policies and recommend reforms for gender equality. NCSW has formally recommended reserving seats candidate public before elections, distributing women’s reserved seats across districts, and moving toward direct election of reserved seats.
Conclusion
Women’s empowerment is not only a matter of equality but a prerequisite for sustainable national development. Pakistan has made significant strides in promoting women’s empowerment across various dimensions, including education, healthcare, economic participation, and political representation. However, an entrenched patriarchal structural framework, cultural norms, social barriers, and economic disparities continue to pose significant challenges.
Despite notable reforms that aimed at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, effective implementation and enforcement remain key obstacles. Moreover, programs are crucial in enhancing women’s access to education, economic opportunities, and healthcare services. Although these initiatives have been effective, gender disparities persist in communities, especially in rural areas. In Pakistan, a positive environment that promotes women’s rights and challenges gender stereotypes can help to unlock the full potential of female talent.
It is imperative to overcome the remaining barriers and empower women in Pakistan by utilizing sustained commitment and collaboration from the government, civil society of Pakistan, private sector, and international communities. Through comprehensive efforts, Pakistan can attain its goal of a more equitable and thriving nation where every woman can fulfil Her Potential and contribute to national development. Empowering women is not just a responsibility but also a catalyst for building a stronger, more inclusive, and prosperous Pakistan.
