Employment Situation and Economic Exploitation of Poor Earning Women in Rawalpindi

This paper is based on survey data collected for the project “Socio-economic Profile of Poor Urban Women in Rawalpindi”. The objective of this paper is to show that the poor and illiterate have limited work opportunities, they usually face a double-day burden and they are exploited economically. Realizing their own hardships these women have definite opinions with regard to the future employment opportunities of their daughters. The total sample consists of 385 households of which the women actually working at the time of the survey were only 176. Thirty two women reported having stopped work due to very low payments. Amongst the remaining 177 non-working women 55 were prohibited from undertaking paid employment by the family and/or husbands. The paper is structured as follows: Section” describes the work and payment patterns of these women. In Section 111 we look at the major reasons put forward for taking up the major activity. Section IV looks at the work load of women working for income compared to the non-earni’1g women. It is important to see whether the earning activity saddles the working women with a double-day burden or whether her domestic responsibilities are shared by the husband and the rest of Ihe family. We would also look at the work aspirations of these working women for their daughters. Finally, Section V summarises the paper and presents policy recommendations.