It is important for women entrepreneurs, especially home-based workers, to be trained in skills and join hands with the microfinance sector so that their progression from micro to small business is ensured. You! takes a look…
Pakistan’s position on the Global Gender Gap Index (2022) is 145 out of 146 countries - representing poor performance of women’s overall political participation, education, health and economic opportunities related participation. In comparison to its global and regional peers, Pakistan has been unable to reach its true economic potential due to a myriad of factors which include political instability, ad hoc policy-making, poor implementation of laws, and most importantly, under-utilisation and misallocation of resources.
The country’s overall business climate - influenced by factors including its economic profile, political and socio-cultural dynamics, infrastructure, market potential and legal business framework - has struggled to catalyse the growth of existing businesses and setting up of new ones. This is reflected in the Ease of Doing Business Ranking of the World Bank which captures several important dimensions of the regulatory environment as it applies to local firms. The ranking also provides quantitative indicators on regulation for starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. In 2020, Pakistan ranked 108 out of 190 economies in the world on the Ease of Doing Business ranking: on sub-categories, it ranked 156th on enforcing contracts, 151st on registering property, 112th on dealing with permits, and 119th on getting credit.
According to statistics, 36.5 per cent of women living in rural areas as compared to 63.5 per cent women in urban. South Punjab is mostly rural where LFPR (Labour Force Participation Rate) of women is 27.8 per cent. CNIC registration of women has also increased by 17.6 per cent in 2021-22. However, LFPR for women decreased from 28.1 per cent to 27.8 per cent in 2021-22.
It has been observed that women entrepreneurs do not have sufficient access to resources to develop their economic potential. They lag behind in access to credit. According to Bank of Punjab, women account holders reported in Punjab are 25.5 per cent whereas men are 74.2 per cent. Only 8.2 per cent loan issued to women.
Home-based workers (HBWs) need to be included in the workforce and to be trained in skills to develop micro-businesses. It’s important to join hands with banks or microfinance sector for hand holding of women in micro businesses so that their progression from micro to small is ensured. HomeNet Pakistan (HNP) is already working on it and needs support of organisations like UN women, UNDP for taking the development of HBWs sector form micro to small level. Government of Punjab should include the initiatives for HBWs in the South Punjab policy documents and collaborate with organisations and networks like HNP for raising awareness on HBWs law across Pakistan.
Technology provides an effective way of ensuring women’s mainstreaming into the economy, and the unlocking of their true economic potential but it has to be based on the ground realities as most women HBWs do not have access to mobiles, smart phone, internet etc.
For women entrepreneurship, a lot has been done over the years within different stakeholders under policy development. However, there are barriers in terms of access to resources and information. There is absence of coordination among the like-minded stakeholders in planning based on relative indicators linked with country and provincial benchmarks. The overall monitoring is also missing from bottom up. Despite of the many windows of opportunities (SMEDA, TDAP, Industries, and Chambers etc.) women in business face challenges with regard to legalities, access to payment gateways. The procedures there are not female friendly. Also, women in businesses have lack of access to information and processes. Platforms like chambers should regularly provide capacity-building sessions. The dynamics of South Punjab is different from Central Punjab. The focus is more on the urban development and South Punjab remains neglected as it’s mostly rural with more potential to work within traditional supply chains interlinked with urban marketing chains. The existence of systemic barriers makes the process cumbersome for women entrepreneurs to get their work done.
Steps should be taken to bring the skill development at the doorsteps of women producers so that they understand the issues in productions, branding, marketing and ease of doing businesses.
“Kasur is just 60 minutes away from Lahore, there are no facilities for women workers to have access to the skill development institutes and enhance their capacities to increase their entrepreneurship,” shared Fazeelit, a home-based worker from Kasur.
Digital skills, financial inclusion, and literacy are the new buzz words during and post Covid-19 scenario. However, there is a large community of hidden women workers who are not beneficiating women entrepreneurship in supply chains. The major gap is the lack of information and access to information. Women are not aware of the opportunities they can access because of huge deficit of information.
“New entrepreneurship for women requires digitisation and linking with banks and banks do not accept our application because of collateral and regular businesses. When they come to visit our home-based businesses, majority of women do not qualify for loans. The banking system does not cater the needs of HBWs and also the high markup rate is unbearable for women home-based sector,” elucidated Fazeelit. “Network organisations like HomeNet Pakistan are our only hope; otherwise, government and private sector are not addressing the skill development, loans and marketing for home-based workers. It is important that women across sectors should be provided access to banking service and financial literacy,” she added.
There is also a disconnection between the financial institution, female clusters and organisations working with women on grounds. The need-based services for the specific sectors are missing. There is a need to have coordination and regular follow-up between the major stakeholders. Provisions for information dissemination and capacitating the women on ground is required.
Our policymakers and parliamentarians need to mainstream and draw attention to women’s issues on a regular basis, without politicising them. The economic upward road map for women needs serious thinking, planning and implementation in the light of committed SDGs goals 5 and 8 (Sustainable Development Goals).
Economic empowerment of women and girls needs to be strengthened on the lines of ‘Build back better’ in all sectors, specifically in the home-based industry. The gender gap needs to be firmly addressed through empowering women via economic and social resilient livelihoods. Significant gains can be generated through strengthening skill development. Financial and digital platforms should be tailor-made for women in home-based sector.
The writer is a development practitioner working at HomeNet Pakistan and can be reached at lailazharali@gmail.com.
