Geir T Tonstol Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry
EVERY year, International Equal Pay Day reminds us of a principle that is simple in expression but profound in its implications: women and men should receive equal remuneration for work of equal value. For Pakistan, this principle is not only about fairness in the workplace. It is about the kind of economy we want to build, one that values the contribution of every worker, makes full use of the country’s human talent and creates opportunities for women and men to participate in and benefit from economic progress on equal terms. As representatives of the Government of Pakistan and the International Labour Organization, we mark this Equal Pay Day by reaffirming our shared commitment to advancing equal remuneration for work of equal value and, importantly, to translating that commitment into sustained and measurable change. Pakistan has made important progress, but the challenge remains considerable.
The ILO’s Gender Pay Gap in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis and Policy Implications, released in 2025, found that women in wage employment earn approximately 25 to 30 per cent less than men, depending on the measure used. Among workers in informal employment, the gap is around 40 per cent. At the same time, the evidence shows that progress is possible. The gender pay gap has narrowed from 33 per cent in 2018. This is encouraging, but occupational segregation, informality, unequal access to opportunities and discriminatory practices continue to affect women’s earnings and economic participation.
The task before us is therefore clear: sustain the progress already achieved while addressing the structural factors that continue to reproduce inequality. Pakistan does not begin this journey from scratch. The country has a long-standing commitment to equality at work. It ratified the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) in 1961 and the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) in 2001. Convention No. 100 establishes a particularly important principle. Equal remuneration is not confined to women and men performing exactly the same job. Different jobs can be of equal value when they involve comparable levels of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions.
This distinction is critical. Women and men are often concentrated in different occupations and sectors and work traditionally performed by women can be undervalued even when the skills and responsibilities involved are comparable to those of better-paid work. Equal pay therefore requires us to ask not only whether women and men doing the same job are paid equally, but whether the work itself is being valued fairly. Over recent years, the Government of Pakistan, provincial governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations and the ILO have worked together to strengthen the evidence, institutions and policy framework needed to address these inequalities.
An important milestone came in 2025 when the Government of Pakistan, through the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, with technical support from the ILO, launched Pakistan’s Gender Pay Gap Report. But measuring the gap was never intended to be the end of the process. Through tripartite consultation, government, employers’ and workers’ organizations and other national stakeholders identified priorities and developed a National Action Plan on the Gender Pay Gap. The Plan provides a framework for action across interconnected areas, including legislation, wage setting, skills and career progression, the care economy, flexible work arrangements and the transition from informal to formal employment. This reflects an important principle that both the Government and the ILO strongly support: durable labour-market reform is built through social dialogue. There has also been progress at the provincial level. Following the devolution of labour matters under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, provincial governments have an increasingly important role in strengthening labour protections. The Punjab Labour Code 2026 provides a significant recent example. It explicitly recognizes equal remuneration for work of equal value and provides for objective assessment of jobs according to factors including skills, effort, responsibilities and working conditions, without regard to gender. Importantly, it also connects these principles with wage-setting mechanisms. These developments demonstrate how international labour standards can be translated into national and provincial institutions and practices.
The next and most important test is implementation. Pakistan now has an opportunity to place equal remuneration for work of equal value firmly within its broader wage reform agenda. Minimum wages provide an essential floor of protection. But closing the gender pay gap requires us to look beyond minimum wage levels alone. We must also consider how jobs are classified and valued, how wages are determined and negotiated, whether women have equal opportunities to acquire skills and advance into higher-paid occupations and whether workers in the informal economy can transition towards formal, productive and protected employment.
Women are disproportionately represented in forms of work that are informal, insecure or insufficiently recognized. Closing the gender pay gap therefore requires stronger labour protection alongside measures that promote formalization, recognize skills, improve access to productive employment and expand women’s opportunities across sectors and occupations.
Government has a central role in strengthening legislation, wage-setting institutions, labour administration, inspection and data systems. Employers can examine pay structures and job classifications for unjustified gender disparities and adopt transparent, gender-neutral approaches to valuing work. Workers’ organizations can bring equal remuneration more systematically into social dialogue and collective bargaining.
The ILO will continue to support these efforts through its unique tripartite mandate and international labour standards. This includes supporting implementation of the National Action Plan, strengthening gender-responsive wage-setting systems, building capacity for objective job evaluation, strengthening labour inspection, supporting enterprises in reviewing pay structures, promoting collective bargaining on equal remuneration and improving gender-disaggregated wage data so that progress can be measured. Closing the gender pay gap is sometimes treated primarily as a women’s issue. Its implications are much wider.
When women’s work is undervalued, families lose income, businesses underuse talent and the economy receives a lower return on investments in women’s education and skills. Fairer remuneration can strengthen women’s economic independence and household resilience. Better returns to skills can encourage more women to enter and remain in the labour market. More transparent and equitable wage systems can also help enterprises attract and retain talent and strengthen productivity. There is an important intergenerational dimension as well. When girls see women entering a wider range of professions, progressing in their careers and being fairly rewarded for their skills and contributions, expectations begin to change. Education becomes more closely connected to economic opportunity and economic independence becomes a more attainable aspiration.
Equal pay is therefore not simply about correcting a wage differential. It is about expanding opportunity. Pakistan today has many of the building blocks required for progress: international commitments, evolving legislation, stronger labour institutions, an improved evidence base, social dialogue and a National Action Plan. The challenge is to make these elements work together. International labour standards establish the principles. National and provincial legislation gives those principles legal force. Effective institutions translate rights into practice. Evidence allows us to identify inequalities and measure progress. Employers and workers turn commitments into workplace change.
Closing the gender pay gap will not happen through a single law, programme or Equal Pay Day. It requires continuity, partnership and sustained implementation. That is why, on this International Equal Pay Day, the Government of Pakistan and the ILO reaffirm their commitment to continue working together with employers, workers, provincial governments and other partners to advance the National Action Plan and make equal remuneration for work of equal value a reality across Pakistan’s labour market. Our shared ambition must be to move from evidence to action, from commitment to implementation and from legal principles to measurable improvements in workplaces and workers’ lives.
Progress will require persistence. It will require institutions that can enforce rights, enterprises willing to examine how work is valued, workers empowered to participate in wage-setting processes and reliable data that enables us to hold ourselves accountable. The Government of Pakistan and the ILO remain committed to supporting that journey. Because equal pay is not only a measure of equality between women and men. It is a measure of how effectively an economy recognizes talent, rewards work and creates opportunity. On this Equal Pay Day, our message is therefore one of both commitment and continuity: Pakistan has established important foundations. Now we must build on them together until equal remuneration for work of equal value is not simply an aspiration or a legal principle, but a reality for every woman and man at work.
—Geir T Tonstol, Country Director, International Labour Organization (ILO) Country Office for Pakistan and Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Government of Pakistan.
