At 25 percent, Pakistan stands well below corresponding female participation rates for countries with similar income levels. In other words, 75 percent of Pakistani women (aged 15 years and above) do not even seek work. While there are several factors such as social norms or violence against women that hold them back from joining the labour force, little is said about the demand for their work, the access to skill training and employment provision.

Men with similar levels of education or skill can still seek and acquire employment, while women cannot because such opportunities are not available to them. 75 percent of Pakistani women are still waiting for support as well as the means and training to earn their own living. Engaging with this barrier successfully would mean encouraging women to be self-sufficient and empowering them through direct access interventions.

When women in Pakistan need to travel to work, study, visit family or access public services, they depend on public transport. Although they travel less, as a proportion of non-walking trips, women are much more dependent on public transport than men. Most of women’s trips take place on public transport because travel on other modes such as motorbikes is restricted by social norms. Yet, women face significant challenges while using public transport because of concerns over safety, harassment and worries about their social reputation.

In a survey of 1,000 households across Lahore conducted by the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP), 70 percent of male family members said they would discourage female family members from taking public wagon services. Women also feel unsafe getting to bus stops and waiting at them. In a CERP pilot survey in Lahore, more than 30 percent of respondents said that it was “extremely unsafe” for women to walk in their neighbourhood.

Existing women’s-only services benefit their users substantially but serve a small number of women due to their very limited geographic coverage, restricted timings and lack of publicity. The resources for these services could be used more efficiently. On the other hand, many women lack access to a bus with a women’s-only compartment. These challenges restrict women’s lives substantially. They affect whether they work or not and the kinds of jobs they take, where they can study and when they can visit their families. If improved public transport addresses these challenges, it has the potential to make a significant impact on women’s mobility and the opportunities available to them.

Although they travel less, as a proportion of non-walking trips, women are much more dependent on public transport than men.

While working for then Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, we launched the Women on Wheels initiative with an aim to enhance safety, mobility and accessibility by providing economically affordable transport means. Almost 86 percent of women who used public transport had reported to have experienced some form of harassment. The initiative also aimed to minimise gender-based violence in public transport.

Women on Wheels is the first campaign launched in South Asia dedicated to capacity enhancement of women to enjoy freedom of movement in accordance with Article 15 of Chapter 1, Fundamental Rights of the Constitution of Pakistan. The WoW peacefully reclaimed place for active participation of women in public spaces without the fear of violence, harassment and backlash. The project included free motorbike riding training, road safety, anti-harassment and empowerment workshops and specialised sessions with potential employers in order to create viable economic ecosystems for participation.

With the government of the Punjab and then with Salman Sufi Foundation, we trained more than 30,000 women across the Punjab. More than 800 bikes were provided to women on subsidised rates. The campaign challenged perceptions and encouraged women empowerment. Even now with organisations like Interloop, the UNDP, Reckitt and more we are moving towards our goal of 250,000 women trained across Pakistan.

Due to extensive efforts executed under an untiring campaign, the WoW has become internationally recognised as Pakistan’s only movement for women’s safe mobility. The programme served as a catalyst to raise awareness about gender-based violence and street harassment.

Economic empowerment is dependent on mobility and bike riding is the cheapest way to give women mobility. Apart from equipping women with the necessary and relevant skills to ride bikes, the SSF also signed MoUs with private corporations like Careem, Cheetay and Bykea, who have agreed to employ WoW trainees once they have obtained their official driving licences. Through this initiative, a Women’s Safety Application has also been developed, which is an innovative intervention in the wider discourse on women’s safety in the public sphere in Pakistan. Thirty percent of the women trained under the initiative got employment in areas of logistics, food delivery and sales representation.

It’s time to move beyond rhetoric and implement actual projects that empower women and provide them with a fair share in Pakistan’s economy and prosperity.

The writer is the founder of the Salman Sufi Foundation