The Environment, Attitudes and Activities of Rural Women: A Case Study of A Village in Punjab

Changing social and economic conditions in Pakistan and throughout the world require an appraisal of the role women play in their environment. Strategies are being proposed to promote integration of women into the development process. In Pakistan there is a particular concern for rural areas where the majority of the population lives. To make such strategies effective, however, we need to have more baseline data about the target group, i.e. the rural women. Our objective in this study is to report, as accurately and comprehensively as we can, on the nature and kinds of various economic activities in which village women take part. It is common knowledge that women participate at different times of the year in the harvesting and planting of crops, but very little is known about how much time is spent in these tasks and how these activities affect the lives of village women. Beyond work in the fields, rural women are active in producing goods and services, mostly for their families own consumption but also, on a smaller scale, for sale and exchange in the local market. No one has yet calculated the NFP the net female product of a country, but it is likely to be quite large and in Pakistan the bulk of the NFP is generated in the rural sector1.