Genderising inflation..!
PAKISTAN is facing a major inflation crisis. According to the latest report, annual inflation rate in Pakistan has rose to 24.5%. Such a high level of inflation has sent prices of goods and services soaring. And it is, therefore, urgent to counter this cost-of-living crisis to protect people’s pockets.
Notably, crisis affects women and girls disproportionately. Undoubtedly, men and women face different levels of vulnerability to financial shocks. An area where this becomes more pronounced is unpaid caring labour where women carry unevenly more burden than men, with implications for growth. In many households with limited income, the healthcare and education of male family members is prioritized over female members.
Not only this, but inflation is also higher for products and services aimed at women, who are less likely to have salaries that keep pace with inflation. Similarly, the increase and intensification of unpaid household labuor, in addition to the continuous shrinking of public services provision in health, social care and education, due to budget cuts, leads to higher intergenerational costs.
According to the report of ILO, men generally work in greater numbers in industrial sectors and financial business services which tend to offer better compensation. However, women are more likely to seek “vulnerable employment”, including work in the services, agriculture, textile etc. Given this structure, women find themselves harder hit by economic crisis which can intensify their vulnerability. Women, due to limited employment opportunities, are less likely to be hired, and more likely to be fired as compared to men. Reports suggest that employers these days are laying off women in disproportionate numbers.
Furthermore, the recent hike in petrol prices has created a major concern about its impact on women. Keeping in view that for many people the main reason for driving vehicles is to get to work, lack of adequate resources and access to safe and cheap transportation for women hinders their ability to actively contribute to the country’s economy. In a phallocentric society like ours, where men are assigned the role of primary bread winner, women seeking work opportunities find it extremely difficult to secure jobs in traditionally male-dominated sectors.
Feminists, activists and academics have pointed out that these biases against certain classes of women under SAPs have their roots in the effects of gender inequality in society on dominant discourses in many disciplines and economics is no exception. Scholars and researchers argue that these prejudices against certain class of women in the SAPs become the cause of gender inequality in society in dominant discourses in many fields, and so economics is no exception.
At the same time, financial crisis bring to a head the paradoxical position of women within the household. With the growing expenses of education, girls belonging to middle and lower middle class are more likely to abandon their formal education. To conclude, it would appear that inflation has far more and serious consequences on women regardless of their socio-economic background. It is high time for those sitting in the power corridors of the state to reconsider women’s legitimate place in society while devising policies for the development of human resources, the reconstructing the education systems and the eradication of poverty.
