Sharafat A. Chaudhry, Rabia Mustafa

The realization of women’s fundamental human right to economic resources and the authority to make decisions that have an impact on their life is referred to as women’s economic justice. In order to achieve this, women must have equal access to and control over economic resources, including the freedom to pursue economic endeavors and the time necessary to do so. Additionally, it necessitates the reform of gender-biased laws, policies, economic structures, social norms, and behaviors. On the other hand, controlling a woman’s ability to get, use, and preserve economic resources is a form of economic violence or economic injustice that puts her financial security and the chance of independence in jeopardy.

In Pakistan, economic injustice takes several different forms such as controlling access to economic resources, maintaining control over their ability to utilize financial resources, and controlling the women’s capacity to maintain any economic resource. Many types of violence against women in Pakistan have been analyzed, however, the least researched category is economic abuse or violence, and perhaps it is lumped up with emotional or mental abuse.

In this regard, the term ‘womenomics’ should be understood. To help people understand the idea that women are a country’s economic drivers, ‘Womenomics’, a concept invented by Kathy Matsui, a strategist at Goldman Sachs, and introduced by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013 to spur his country’s economic growth and promote gender equality in the workforce.

According to UNDP (2021), by 2025, increasing women’s equality might boost the global economy by $12 trillion. Although women are increasingly controlling investable wealth, there are still significant obstacles standing in the way of reaching SDG Goal 5 of gender equality in developing economies like Pakistan. Currently, women make up only 20 percent of the labor force in Pakistan (13.5 million women), seven million women working in agriculture in Pakistan come into the category of contributing family workers and do not receive compensation. The wage disparity between men and women has also grown. In 2018-2019, women earned just 18 percent of what men earned. Considering that, cultural expectations contribute to women’s “time poverty,” must also be addressed. For instance, women in Pakistan perform unpaid care work for nearly ten times as long as men do which means economic policies are affecting Pakistani women.

Regarding economic justice in Pakistan and Pakistani women’s access to economic opportunities, women and girls in Pakistan must be aware of their legal rights. However, a few of them mentioned below, women can benefit from the following legal framework:

  • Section 498A of the Pakistan Penal Code criminalizes the denial of women’s inheritance rights.

The following Provincial Acts included economic abuse as a form of violence against women:

  • The Balochistan Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2014;
  • The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2021;
  • The Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Act, 2016;
  • The Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013.

Also, there is a list of legal framework that ensures women’s property rights, for instance, The Enforcement of Women Property Rights Act, 2020.

We need women innovators, start-up founders, entrepreneurs, businesswomen, techies, and home-based employees in Pakistan to keep up the pace with the rest of the world. Addressing economic disparities faced by Pakistan women should be due consideration for the economic empowerment of Pakistani women. To address economic stagnation and gender inequality in Pakistan, state institutions, aid organizations, and local leaders should prioritize women’s development. Community programs can encourage women’s education, health, and entrepreneurship to build a skilled workforce that meets industry needs. This investment will benefit Pakistan internally by driving young women to achieve milestones and contribute to innovation, and externally by positioning Pakistan better in the global economy. Preparing and training this potential workforce can enable Pakistani women to help overcome economic and development challenges. Moreover, legal safeguards are in place to prevent the deprivation of women’s economic rights. Such legal protections must be sought out and enforced in order to achieve economic justice. Also, there must be awareness campaigns to make the general public, especially women, aware of their legislative safeguards against economic abuse.

Sharafat A. Chaudhry is a human rights lawyer and the founding Chairperson of the School for Law and Development.

Rabia Mustafa is a Senior Research Fellow at the School for Law and Development.

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