PAKISTAN is searching for sustainable ways to accelerate economic growth, increase exports, reduce poverty and create employment. We debate industrialization, taxation, investment and productivity—and rightly so. But one enormous economic resource remains substantially underutilized: Pakistan’s rural female workforce. The question is no longer whether Pakistani women can contribute to economic growth. They already do. The real question is why so much of their contribution remains invisible, informal, unpaid or confined to low-productivity activities. Labour Force Survey 2024–25 presents a sobering picture: female labour-force participation is only 24.4 per cent, compared with 69.8% for men. These figures should not be viewed merely as a gender issue. They represent a major economic opportunity cost.
An invisible workforce: Millions of rural Pakistani women work every day in agriculture, livestock, dairy production, poultry, harvesting, food processing, embroidery, stitching, handicrafts and household enterprises. Yet much of this work generates limited income because women remain disconnected from technology, finance, organized markets and modern value chains. A woman producing milk, raising poultry, processing food or making handicrafts may receive only a fraction of the final market value because she lacks packaging, transportation, quality certification, branding and direct access to consumers. The policy objective, therefore, should not simply be to move rural women from homes into conventional wage employment. It should be to increase the productivity and value of the work they are already doing.
From cottage industry to export industry: Pakistan’s rural women possess skills in embroidery, handloom products, garments, carpets, home textiles, handicrafts, processed foods and honey that can reach international markets. But production alone is insufficient; design, quality control, packaging, branding, digital marketing, logistics and market access are equally important. Producer cooperatives, women-led enterprises, digital platforms and organized supply chains can reduce dependence on middlemen and connect rural producers directly with domestic and international buyers. Lessons from Bangladesh and India: Pakistan need not invent this model from scratch. Bangladesh shows how women can be integrated into export-oriented manufacturing and enterprise development, while India’s self-help groups and organizations such as the Self Employed Women’s Association have expanded women’s access to finance, production and markets. Pakistan should learn from these experiences without simply copying them. Its agricultural base, livestock economy, traditional crafts and regional products provide a strong foundation for a distinct Pakistani model.
Finance, technology and infrastructure: No strategy for rural women’s economic empowerment can succeed without access to finance. A woman may possess the skill and willingness to work but lack capital for a sewing unit, dairy equipment, poultry operation or food-processing facility.Banks and microfinance institutions should therefore develop products specifically for women-led rural enterprises, including small loans, working capital, savings, insurance and digital financial services. But credit alone is not enough. Finance must be combined with training, technology and assured market access. Otherwise, there is a danger of creating indebtedness rather than sustainable enterprises. Punjab, with its large rural population and strong agricultural and livestock base, could lead this effort. The province could develop commercially oriented rural women enterprise clusters, with different areas specializing in dairy products, textiles, embroidery, food processing, poultry, horticulture, honey and other products according to local comparative advantage. Government should provide enabling infrastructure—training centres, common facility centres, digital connectivity, certification laboratories, cold storage and packaging facilities—while private businesses and exporters provide procurement and market linkages. The real measure of success should not be the number of women trained. It should be how many secure sustainable incomes, establish enterprises, enter supply chains and generate exports.
From beneficiaries to producers: A fundamental change in public policy is required. Rural women should not be viewed primarily as beneficiaries of poverty-alleviation programmes. They should be regarded as economic producers, entrepreneurs and potential exporters. Every government programme should ask five basic questions: What can this community competitively produce? Who will buy it? What quality standards are required? What technology and finance are needed? How will the product reach national and international markets? These questions can transform a welfare intervention into an economic strategy. Childcare, mobility and workplace safety must also be addressed. Community childcare, safe transport, secure workplaces and nearby training centres can enable many more women to participate in economic activity. Digital employment can provide another avenue through online tutoring, accounting, digital design, customer support and e-commerce management.
A national rural women export mission: Pakistan should consider establishing a National Rural Women Enterprise and Export Mission, bringing together federal and provincial governments, banks, exporters, chambers of commerce, e-commerce companies, vocational institutions and development organizations. Its priorities should be clear: skills, finance, technology, market access and exports. Pakistan must also improve measurement of women’s economic contribution. Unpaid family work and informal production can create substantial economic value even when they do not appear as conventional wage employment. The economic case is straightforward. If millions of underutilized people become more productive participants in the economy, national output can increase. Higher female incomes can strengthen household purchasing power and improve spending on education, nutrition and other essentials.
An opportunity Pakistan cannot ignore: Pakistan’s economic challenge is not simply a shortage of resources. It is also a shortage of fully utilized human capital. The women are already there. They cultivate land, care for livestock, produce food, stitch clothes, make handicrafts and manage household enterprises. What is missing is an economic ecosystem capable of converting their effort into higher productivity, sustainable income, enterprise and exports.
Pakistan cannot afford to leave this potential untapped: Rural women should no longer be seen merely as recipients of assistance. They should be recognized as producers, entrepreneurs and potential exporters—and as one of Pakistan’s most promising engines of economic growth. Empowering rural women is not simply a social responsibility. It is an economic necessity.
—The writer is Senior Retd bureaucrat, based in Lahore.
