A
Quiet Revolution for Pakistan's Working Women
By
Arsalan J.Sheikh
MBA Candidate,
Lahore University of Management Science (LUMS)
Posted April 19, 2005 |
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Pakistanis have a lot to be optimistic about.
While
the economy has been steadily groping towards
a recovery, while thousands of shiny new cars
have been prowling the repaired streets of the
nation thanks to bank loans at much reduced
rates, and while property prices have been skyrocketing,
a more quiet revolution has been going on.
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Slower
and older than any changes triggered by the political
fallout of 9-11, its results are bound to be more
enduring, and indeed, more irreversible than any seen
so far.
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When
Ms Fariha Shah first started working in the
field of journalism, opportunities for working
women were rare. When she started working 10
years ago, Fariha was one of the few women to
venture into the corporate world. Women had
traditionally remained in careers limited to
teaching and health-care.
To
find out how things have changed, I found a
small focus-group of three working women from
across the corporate spectrum. The exercise
gave me a richer understanding of the real issues
faced by working women in Pakistan, as well
as how they deal with them.
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Fariha
Tahir Shah is NCR's Marketing Manager
for Pakistan, and is responsible for marketing,
advertising and sales promotion activities
on a Pakistan-wide basis. In addition
to this, she is also looking after NCR
Education Services and the NCR University
Program. Fariha holds degrees in literature,
journalism, and law, and has been working
for over ten years.
Fariha
was the first woman in her family to work,
and has been a strong supporter of her
younger sister's decision to also pursue
a career.
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BARRIERS:
Rumors, women's caring nature, harrassment, men's
attitude, employers fears
There
is no single simple reason that successful working
women like Fariha have been so rare in Pakistan.
One
of the more invisible barriers is the nature and pervasiveness
of rumors and innuendo that follow them. For
most women, prevention is definitely better than any
available cure. Our focus group agreed that while
they have no control over what others say, they can
take some measures. The key is to maintain a subtle
balance in working relationships; maintain some distance
from male colleagues, without seeming unfriendly or
unapproachable.
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Women's
own caring nature has often been a barrier to
their progress. Once a woman starts working,
she is competing with her colleagues for prestige,
recognition, pay-packages and promotions. Yet
most women do not behave as ambitiously or competitively
as men. Far too often, they see deserved opportunities
pass them by because they are too concerned
with upsetting other people.
Another
major barrier in the way of working women is
the issue of harassment. While all the women
in our group agreed less well-off women faced
more significant harassment, they all agreed
that every working woman knows of someone who
has been harassed at the office.
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Sana
Shahid works in the Organizational Development
& Effectiveness office at the Human Resources
department at Mobilink. After graduating
with a B.Sc. from LUMS, Sana has been
working for over a year at Mobilink. She
also holds a second job as a news reader
for Radio Pakistan.
As
a second generation working woman, she
has a fair idea of how to balance home
and office lives. Her mother started work
when Sana was 13, and involved all her
children in the decision. When she is
done with both her jobs, Sana helps maintain
the family household.
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While
stories on the grapevine add to the level of stress
for women, they are reluctant to turn to their families
for advice and comfort. There is a real fear that
if their families get to hear about these incidents,
support for their daughters' careers will disappear.
The
attitudes of men play formidable role in limiting
women's ambitions in the workplace as well. Examples
were not hard to discover: men who would not accept
an opinion or decision simply because it was delivered
by a woman, Harvard graduates who would not allow
their wives to work; the list is long. The general
feeling is that men are far too intimidated by successful
women.
Traditionally,
employers too have appeared to be somewhat cynical
about hiring women. Women have often ended their careers
when they get married or are expecting children. This
raises fear amongst employers against investing too
much in training female employees.
BREAKTHROUGHS:
Multi-nationals impact, growing acceptance, changing
middle-class
Despite
all of these barriers, career women have been increasing
their foothold in the corporate world. Their entry
into the workforce has been assisted by many diverse
forces.
Firstly,
the rise of multinationals as the employer of choice
in the private sector has elevated the visibility
of women.
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Some
of these organizations actively follow an equal-opportunity
employment policy. Indeed, the number of women
they hire is often only limited by the small
numbers of qualified women who turn up for interviews.
According
to Najia Habib, having an expatriate senior
manager from a western developed country at
the office definitely makes a big difference
in the attitudes around her. There is more respect.
And working for a multinational gets you respect
in another place that counts: at home.
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Najia
Habib holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Economics
from LUMS. She has worked with Premier
KUFPEC Pakistan (PKP) for four years.
Starting
out as an Operations Accountant, she is
now the Corporate Social Responsibility
Coordinator. Her work includes implementation
of the company's Community Development
Program, undertaking community consultations,
designing projects, and ensuring adherence
to environmental guidelines.
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As
more middle-class families take to living on their
own, avoiding the large extended-family households
of the past generations, the economics of running
a household have made careers more attractive for
women. In a society where most men are looking to
supplement their incomes with a second job or side-business,
it simply does not make sense to have educated women
taking care of the household, especially when there
is plenty of cheap labor available to take on the
household chores.
Our
focus group of all felt that among Pakistani families
acceptance for career women was growing. Some are
not merely accepting. Upon completing her B.Sc.
in Economics from LUMS, Najia's parents were unequivocal.
"After all that education you'd better do something
useful!" she was told. More parents want their
daughters to work today, and are more supportive than
a generation ago.
The
result of so many breakthroughs is that Pakistani
women today have a much wider variety of careers open
to them. When Sana accompanied a friend who was looking
for a job, she decided to sit for the interviews as
well. Out of the 15 job interviews she sat through,
in not a single one was she asked if she was going
to get married! Indeed, employers facing single females
at job interviews today are not asking "Will you get
married?" but "Will you come back after you are married?"
One
of the prime reasons for this progress is the pioneer
factor. While in the past most working women were
driven by need to find employment, over time they
have gained visibility in the workplace and in their
families, allowing other women to follow in their
footsteps. By gaining and living up to greater responsibilities,
Pakistani women have proven time and again that they
are up to the challenge of performing in a male-dominated
world. And this, more than any other reason, is why
young Pakistani women entering the job market today
have many more choices than women had fifteen to twenty
years ago.
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Arsalan
J. Sheikh has been working and studying in Islamabad
for the past 8 years. The son of a single working
mother, who taught English literature and romantic
poetry, he is currently pursuing his MBA from LUMS.
