2006. Informal Secor-A Case Study of Working Women in Bahawalpur

Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Vol.4 No.2, 2006

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Informal Sector: A Case Study of Working Women in Bahawalpur Tasnim Khan and Rana Ejaz Ali Khan*

Abstract: We have analyzed the socio-economic profile, working and housing conditions and health status of working women. The contribution of these in their household budget is estimated in this paper. From a sample of 1780 households having at least one informally employed woman from urban and rural areas of district Bahawalpur, we have estimated their contribution in the perspectives of their typology of work, age group, educational and marital status, fertility, working hours, work experience, place of work, nature of employment, socio-economic profile and household income. The women working on ladies garment has been identified as the group having highest ratio in the sample. Brick-kiln women are contributing maximum to their household budget. In different modes of employment, piece-rate workers have highest ratio in the sample contributing 47 percent to household budget. In respect of place of work, domestic workers have the majority in the sample, while home-based workers contribute maximum. 1. Introduction The intensive absorption of women and children in informal labor market is one of the major characteristics of informal sector. According to Labor Force Survey, 63 per percent of all working women, 60.7 percent of urban and 65.7 percent of rural areas are involved in informal sector of Pakistan (FBS 2003). It is extremely

* Tasnim Khan and Rana Ejaz Ali Khan are Assistant Professors, Department of Economics, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur-63100 (Pakistan). [email protected] and [email protected] respectively.

Informal Sector: A Case Study of Working Women in Bahawalpur

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difficult to isolate the contribution of these women to their household budget at the micro-level and to the informal economy at the macro level. Efforts need to be pursued in this direction. Women’s contribution in both household budget and informal sector economy remain underestimated for at least three reasons. 1. They are engaged in informal activities, which are most difficult, to capture and measure, that may be home-based work, contract or piece-rate work, work at household enterprises, and street vending (an extension of a non-measured or non-registered manufacturing activity). 2. They are engaged, more than men, in second or multiple jobs, and the non-measurement of this phenomenon is a source of underestimation. In the presence of their main activities, their contribution to the household production is also very much underestimated. 3. Women prefer such type of work which has flexible hours, greater compatibility with family responsibilities, and relative ease of entry mainly confined within four walls of home. Although it is involuntary in respect of, essential for family survival, but remains invisible from official statistics. The researchers have probed many aspects of working women in informal sector. In the earlier studies, Shaheed and Mumtaz (1981) conducted a study on informally employed women in Lahore. The study seemed to be the first one concerning informally employed women. It was a micro-study having qualitative analysis and comprised of a sample of 300 women workers, among them 77 percent were found engaged in sewing, knitting and embroidery. They were working at home for meager wages. Purdah (veil), male opposition, pre-occupation in the household chores were hindering them in seeking better paid jobs outside the home. Mohiuddin (1982) has analyzed the urban poverty and female-headed households. The study evidenced that women are the poorest of the poor, because there is lack of access to productive resources and income, and they also face challenge of market oriented activities compatible with domestic responsibilities. With no-education and training at their disposal and their dual duty as mother and worker


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dictate the type of job available to them, that is the informal sector job. In the cultural settings of Pakistan, females are confined to job where sex seclusion can be assured. One of the options is to work as a domestic servant. In the study the sample size of hundred domestic servants of Karachi were the respondent to the survey. There has been a significant increase in the supply of domestic servants market as a result of migration of thousands of families from Bangladesh to Karachi. It is concluded that 83 percent households which are female-headed fall below the poverty line. The incidence of poverty is higher in female-headed household than in male-headed households1. Qadri and Jahan (1982) conducted a study on women in agriculture. They explored the participation of women in agriculture in two villages of Sindh, one representing cotton growing area and the other rice growing area. It was estimated that women accounted for 29.28 percent and 23.55 percent of labor in rice and cotton production respectively. The input of females was found higher in cotton than rice. A similar study is by Hassan (1983) who had undertaken a study of rural women problems and aspirations. The sample comprising 449 women was selected from different villages of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan. It was found that many of the respondents were aware of their rights and ability to earn income. But social censor had stopped them from taking any action. Another study by Masood and Mahjabeen (1989) have discussed the women’ involvement in farming operations in the fields and in handling/distribution and storage of the produce. The women were found actively involved in harvesting, processing and management

1 Female heads and female-headed-households are linked with informal employment of women. They have also been discussed by Panda (1997) in the perspective of their effect on well-being of children; Rosenhouse (1989) has probed the female-headship as proxy of poverty; Louant, et. al. (1993) discussed the welfare implications of female-headship of Jamaican households; Buvinic and Gupta (1993) analyzed the insecurity aspect of female-headed and female-maintained families of developing countries; Srinivasan and Dreze (1995) looked into the poverty status of widow-headed households in rural India; Varley (1996) analyzed the socio-economic status of women-headed households and Gonzalez (2004) probed the working status of single mothers.


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of agricultural produce. They performed tasks like stock piling, cleaning and storing threshed grain and supervision of transportation of crop to house. Domestic storage of farm produce was found entirely women’s domain. Akthar (1992) reported that women are major contributors in crop production. They are found performing tasks like picking, planting, weeding, harvesting and winnowing in case of major crops, where as drying and storage operations were also done by women (see also Muzaffar 1992). Masood (1998) found that females in rural areas had highest participation in some selected crop production activities both in sowing and harvesting seasons. It was further observed that 67 percent of male heads consult their females in farm decision. Out of this 32 percent has always consulted and 35 has consulted occasionally. The study concluded that education of the respondents and family income were inversely related with the participation of rural women in agricultural operation while there was no relationship between size of land-holding and hours contributed by the women in farm operations2. In the recent studies, Ilahi and Grimard’s (2000) have investigated the effects of changes in community and household level access to infrastructure and time allocated to market work, leisure, and water collection. The results, by using the data from Pakistan Integrated Household Survey (PIHS) 1991 have shown that women’s leisure is a cost of poor infrastructure. Women in a household that has invested in an in-house availability of water tend to spend less time to total work. Private investment in infrastructure reduces the total work burden of women. It may be interpreted that the saved time may be used for child-care activities

2 A number of latter studies have also recognized the heavy contribution of women in work in agriculture sector. For example, Freedman and Wai (1988) for agriculture activities in district Gujar Khan (Punjab) and Haripur (NWFP); Masood and Mahjabeen (1989) for farming operations in the form of handling, distribution and storage of produce; McGuire and Popkin (1989) for rural women’ activities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Philippines and Akber (1992) for crop production; and Mahmood (1998) for crop production activities is sowing and harvesting season.


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or market work. The other infrastructure facilities such as electricity appears to have a strong wealth effect, it tends to lower the time spent in all types of work. The presence of other female adults allow women to share work responsibilities, significantly lowers their water collection time, market activity time and the total work load, and hence it increases leisure. Age of the women has concave relationship with total work hour and time spent in working hour. It means that time spent in work rises, reaches a maximum, and then falls again. The relationship between poor infrastructure and household poverty is established. The study proposed that poor infrastructure increase work burden of women. The improvement in water supply infrastructure may lower poverty through an increase in the participation of women in income generating activities. Azid, et. al. (2001) have found a high degree of female participation in cottage industry of Pakistan. Analyzing the economic behavior of female workers in the business of embroidery, the study concluded that most of the workers engaged in cottage industry were not well-educated. Almost half (53 percent) of the workers’ families were living below poverty line. The study proposed that women’ work pattern in cottage industry needs identification for public policy programs that may improve the well-being of rural population. Mirza (2002) concluded that lower-middle class women in urban areas, who are commonly not qualified enough are confined as home-based workers in the informal sector. They are usually not gainfully employed, lack social security benefits and are living in bad conditions. Mehrotra and Biggeri (2002) have analyzed the home-based workers of five Asian countries, two low-income (India, and Pakistan) and three middle-income countries (Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines), where home-based work is widespread. The home-based workers face poor conditions of work, the low rates of pay and have poor health. Child labor also exists in the household of these workers. Most of the home-based workers in South Asia live below poverty line. They are exploited by the contractors and employees, as a very small share of the market price of the product produced by themselves is given to them. They work long hours, at low piece rates (with delays in payment in many cases). The


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exploitation is essentially due to the fact that the workers are isolated, and even though they live and work in a cluster but there is little collective action3. Fafchamps and Quismbing (2003) has investigated that how human capital, learning by doing, gender, and family status affect the division of labor within household. The data has been taken from 12 rounds of household survey conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 4 districts of Pakistan. The results indicated that intra-household division of labor is influenced by comparative advantage based on human capital and return to learning by doing. It was further concluded that rural Pakistani households operate like firms. The decision of a female to enter the labor market is not only determined by comparative advantage but also by social roles defined by society and the status of family. The husband look after the market oriented activities and wives are responsible for household chores. They work harder than their children and other male and female dependents. The feminization of the work has important implications for the gender dimension of a household’s human development cycle from generation to generation. Girls can play a key role in breaking the inter-generational transfer of poverty. Siddiqui, et. al. (2003) have focused on export-oriented that is textile sector and import-competing, that is other manufacturing industries. There are 61 percent of the exports from textile sector, which is female labor intensive, where women spent 21.9 percent of their labor time. Since 1990 tariff rates have been reduced on imports of agriculture, textile and other manufactured goods. As a result total working hours for men and women have

3 Home-based work by women is one of the major segments of informal sector economy, having the characteristics of illiteracy, poverty and bad working conditions. It has been analyzed by different researchers from different perspectives. For example, Kazi and Sattar (1986) discussed the women working within the household in Karachi; Mirza (2002) analyzed the home-based women workers of informal sector; Mehrotra and Biggeri (2002) focused on the home-based women and child workers in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines; Mirza (2002) has analyzed the home-based women and children in Karachi; and Khan, et. al. (2005) have focused on hazardous nature of home-based work of women and children in Karachi.


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declined. Leisure time of both men and women has increased. Male wage rate has declined by 5.5 percent but female wage raised by a very small amount of 0.1 percent. The trade liberalization is not gender neutral. The wage rate for men and women has risen by 0.4 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. Reduction in fiscal deficit combine with rising taxes has reduced household income, but the demand for household produced goods has risen as substituted for market goods. Demand for female labor has risen but nominal wage for women fell by 0.8 percent. The reason may be that trade liberalization in presence of compensatory measures has generated employment opportunities for women4. Khan, et. al. (2005) have focused on hazardous nature of home-based work of women and children. They investigated the contribution of the women and children to total family income, and the impact of increased earnings on improving household nutrition, health and education. The study found that mostly the home-based work was taken by women and girls. In 26 percent of the cases, the head of the household was a male and he was not doing any work and relying on the earnings of the home-based work of women and children. On average a woman spent seven hours doing home-based work, another four hours were spent on household chores. In spite of such heavy work load these women were subject to be ill-treated and sometime beaten by their husbands. The man disadvantage of home-based work was identified as the negative impact of hazardous home-based work on health status of women and

4 There are a number of micro studies who have focused on a specific group of informally employed women, industry or profession. For example, Shah (1975) analyzed the labor force participation of married women; Abbasi (1980) analyzed the village-based activities of women; Shaheed and Mumtaz (1981) on piecework women workers; Mohiuddin (1982) has focused on female handicraft workers; Freedman and Wai (1988) analyzed the women workers in Barani areas; Hamid (1991) focused on poor settlements of urban and rural areas; Panda (1997) focused on female-headed households and female-heads; Camps-Cura (1998) analyzed the women work in textile industry; Khattak and Sayeed (2000) analyzed the sub-contracted working women; Azid, et. al. (2001) have focused on cottage industry; Mehrotra and Biggeri (2002) analyzed the home-based workers; Gonzalez (2004) has focused on work of single mothers; and Khan, et. al. (2005) have analyzed hazardous nature of work by women.


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children. Two fifth of the women were compelled to be engaged in home-based work, because the restrictions were imposed upon their mobility by male members. Further it was concluded that the earnings from home-based work did not lead to enhance the empowerment of women, in the context of mobility, greater say in household decision-making and independence in spending earned income. Women’s bargaining and organizing ability was found weak which makes the empowerment low. Women and children of the control group were enjoying better quality of life in terms of health and leisure. There was no organization working with women to assist them to improve their life and working conditions and to provide some kind of leadership. Women were exploited by subcontractors by paying meager wages. The unhygienic environment was much conducive to the spread of diseases and thus health expenditures of these households were found large. We will attempt to estimate the contribution of working women of informal sector, in their household budget5 in perspectives of their typology of work, age group, education and marital status, fertility, working hours, work experience, socio-economic profile, type of job and household income. We will also estimate the working and housing conditions and health status of these women focusing on Bahawalpur. The women labor force participation in Southern Punjab is 50 percent more than central Punjab. The poverty is also more prevalent in this region and Bahawalpur district stands as representative of Southern Punjab in economic as well as cultural and social dimensions. It has old tradition and customs along with 5 Still no study exists in Pakistan, particularly concerning the calculation of contribution of women in household budget, in our information. However, Charmes (1998) has calculated the value added in informal sector by women in Africa. Some studies have estimated the women contribution in different perspectives. See, for example, Cancian, et. al. (1991) and Machin and Waldfogel (1994) for wives earnings effect on family income inequality; Camps-Cura (1998) for women’ and children’ earnings impact on family income and household structure; Buvinic and Gupta (1993) for female-heads contribution in household; Louant, et. al. (1993) for welfare effect on household by female heads; and Gonzalez (2004) for single mother’s work and income impact.


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deprivation. The deprivation index in terms of education, health, housing quality, housing services and employment indices is 64.14 (Jamal, et. al. 2003). On the other hand Southern Punjab is producing more than 70 percent of the national production of cotton. The textile and clothing is not only the largest industry of Pakistan but contributing a major part of the exports. 2. Methodology and Data Collection The economic activity of informally employed women has been defined as employment for wages, self-employment, home-based work, piece-work, own-account work, and work in household business/enterprise/farm, micro-enterprise which results into income of woman in the form of cash or kind6. The women who remained employed at least for one month during the reference period (on the date of the interview) have been taken as employed. The women employed on regular basis, who have not worked for any reason at the time of interview have been also taken as employed. Some studies (see for instance, Pangestu and Hendytio 1997) have defined the working women as women who are working for other people or legal entities and are compensated in financial terms or payments in kind. They have ignored the self-employed and women involved in family enterprises. In Pakistan, specifically in informal sector and rural areas, a number of women are involved in these two kinds of employment. So we have considered those women as economically active women. The contribution of a woman has been defined as the percentage ratio of woman’s expenditures for the household to total expenditures of the household. Federal Bureau of Statistics (Pakistan) has adopted the definition of informal sector, given by the 15th International Conference of Labor Statisticians (FBS 2003). The informal sector is defined as:

6 If all the activities of women would have been taken, the activities would be paid-employed, unpaid-employed, self-employed, home-care activity, and/or combination of some or all of these. But we are concerned with only economic activity of women.


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1) All household enterprises operated by own-account workers irrespective of the size of the enterprise. The informality of these own-account enterprises is not due to the purpose of avoid taxes.

2) Household enterprises owned and operated by employers with less than 10 persons engaged.

3) All household enterprises engaged in agricultural or in non-market production are excluded.

We have adopted the definition of informal sector given by FBS except with the modification that all agricultural activities in which the women are paid in monetary terms have been included. The data was collected the data by personal contact with female interviewers. Being a female the maximum accurate results were obtained in a relaxed environment having friendly conversation with female workers. Data on age, marital status7, educational status and occupation of informal sector women was collected from each household. It also included monthly income, daily working hours, fertility behavior (number of infants, children and prime-age children of woman), health status (whether the woman is having symptoms of diseases like cough/cold/fever/, weak eyesight, back pain and pain in joints or not), access to health facility (whether the woman is treated by government hospital, private doctor, hakeem, homeopath, peer or no treatment), and work experience of the woman. The number of adults in the household, their working status (whether they are working or not), causes of not-working, headship of household, household income, and housing condition8 were also recorded. It was done from the sample of urban and rural areas of Bahawalpur. The sample was divided into twelve clusters, six from

7 The marital status of woman has been divided into the status of single, married and widowed/separated. 8 Housing conditions refer to the condition whether the house is kacha or pacca, the number of rooms in the household, whether the household is electrified, has separate bathroom and kitchen, sanitation and water supply.


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urban and six from rural areas. From these clusters 1780 such households were surveyed which have at least one informal sector working woman. The questionnaire was consisted of multiple choice and open ended questions. The women were interviewed in Urdu, Punjabi, and as well as in Siraiki language. The observations were recorded at the spot, i.e. houses of women or their working places. 3. Results and Discussion We have estimated the contribution of women in household budget but it may not be generalized at the national level due to difference in typology of working women. 3.1 Socio-economic Status of Informal Sector Women The socio-economic profile of the working women in informal sector has been found vary dismal. Monthly income of these women has been found only Rs.1560 despite the fact their daily working hours are 7. As these women are major contributors in household budget (we will see it in coming pages), the household income remained at Rs.3750 per month. Such household income for the household of size 7.6 keeps the informal sector households in extreme poverty. According to Minimum Wage legislation, minimum wage is Rs.4000. There are 87 percent women who are taking wages/income less than Rs.4000. These women have joined no working women organization. Possibly there exists no such organization which may them as members. Along with this there are 42 percent women working more than 8 hours daily. There are 71 percent women who have 5 or more than 5 children. To bring up these children with such a lower income results into child labor and so poverty is going through generation to generation.

Table-1 Socio Economic Status of Informal Sector WomenSOCIO-ECONOMIC PROFILE Urban Rural Overall

Mean monthly income of respondent Rs.1950 Rs. 930 Rs.1560 Mean monthly household income Rs. 4225 Rs.3560 Rs.3750

Mean household size 7.5 Persons 7.7 7.6 Percent


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Persons Daily working-hours of women 7.2 Hours 6.7 Hours 7 Hours

Women having monthly income less than Rs.4000

79 Percent 94 Percent 84 Percent

Women having at least 5 living children

69.7 Percent

72 Percent 71 Percent

Women working more than 8 hours daily

43 Percent 40 Percent 42 Percent

Women member of any working women organization

Nil Nil Nil

3.2 Working Conditions and Health Status Generally the health status of working women in informal sector is very poor. They suffer health problems related with their work. The work on ladies garments, that is mostly done in the home and the homes have non-conducive environment for work. They lack proper ventilation and light. Almost one forth of the informal sector women workers are living in kacha houses and only 45.83 percent are enjoying the electricity facility (see table 4). In agriculture the work is predominantly manual in harsh weather conditions without safety and protective measures. In construction industry brick-breaking and spreading stones on road construction are the back-breaking labor done by women. Their bodies are weak due to overwork, inadequate food, and poor nutrition. The working conditions of rag pickers women are hazardous. They collect acid bottles, electrical wires, glass, dirty papers, and cloth with their bare hands, exposed to innumerable health risks. Skin diseases, pain in legs, back and shoulders are common complaints. They work even during illness, because the day without work is a day without food. Cough/cold/fever, weak eyesight, watering eyes, back-pain, skin problems and exertion are major symptoms among the informally employed women. The weak eyesight and watering-eyes are the symptoms attached with 33.3 percent (serial No. 2 and 3 of table 2) of women in overall areas. This ailment can be connected with work on ladies garments that absorbs the highest ratio of these women. The second ailment affecting 27 percent of the women is back-pain, it again may be attached to the same job because the whole work is done by sitting on the floor.


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Table-2 Health Status of Women in Informal SectorSERIAL

NO. Ailments Urban rural overall

1 Cough/Cold/Fever 27 30 29 2 Weak Eyesight 17 21 20 3 Watering Eyes 14 12 13.3 4 Back Pain 25 30 27 5 Pain in Joints 10 6 8 6 Skin Problems 18 16 17.5 7 Respiratory

Diseases 1.6 2.8 2

8 Leukrea 1.5 2.5 2 9 Exertion 25 12 21

The health status of the women workers in informal sector is not only found unsatisfactory but the access to medical facility is also found very poor. Almost half (45.3 percent) of the women employed in informal sector in overall areas go without treatment during the ailment. For rural areas, the ratio of such women is 65.5 percent against the 31.4 percent of urban areas. Only 14 percent of the women gets treatment from government hospitals in overall areas but 25.2 percent in urban and 8 percent in rural areas. It reflects the lack of provision of health facilities in overall areas and more severely in rural areas as compared to urban ones.

Table-3 Access to Health Facilities by Working Women (Percentage)MEDICAL FACILITY Urban Rural overall Government Hospital 25.2 8.0 14

Private Doctor 6.2 5.2 5.5 Hakim 14.8 20.5 16.9

Homeopath 20.0 12.0 16.0 Peer 7.0 9.0 8.0

No Treatment 31.4 65.6 45.3 The women in rural areas are more inclined to go to hakims and peers which means that they are still confined to superstitious believes. The other possibility may be that they cannot afford the needed treatment.


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3.3 Housing Conditions The housing conditions of informally employed women have been found very poor. Majority of the women, i.e. 78 percent live in their owned houses (owned by husband, father-in-law, mother-in-law, father, or brother), only 13 percent lived in rented houses. The remaining women were living in the houses which are given by the relatives or employers to any member of the households. In urban areas a significant ratio of the houses of these women are electrified, and have separate bathroom and kitchen but in rural area a few families of these women have such necessities. Sixty percent of the households are living in two-room houses in urban areas for which the average family size is 7.5 persons (see table-1). In the rural areas 40.61 percent of the households are living in one-room house while their family size is 7.7 persons (see table-1). Similarly 9.5 percent of the families in urban areas and 40.56 percent in rural areas are living in kacha houses. The urban households have comparatively better living conditions. Table-4 Housing Conditions of the Women of Informal Sector (Percentage)

HOUSING CONDITIONS Urban Rural ovrall Owned Houses 69 83 78 Rented Houses 23 3.6 13

Kacha (Mud) House 9.50 40.56 23.54 Pacca (Brick) House 90.47 60.29 67.11

One Room 30.34 40.61 34.29 Two Room 60.00 44.41 52.67

Three Rooms and above 7.03 5.04 6.29 Electrified House 82.65 34.61 45.83

Household has bathroom 89.26 39.62 65.67 Household has kitchen 53.00 48.96 50.64

3.4 Typology of Work and Contribution of Women The typology of work by informally employed women varies according to locality. The clusters of women doing a specific type of work lived in same localities. For instance, the makaish-making is done in the inner and old areas of the city of Bahawalpur, house-maids are mostly found living in city slums, brick-makers are settled in rural areas near to city and food makers (chapatti,


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samosa, berian and pickles, etc.) are found in dense areas of the city. Bahawalpur is well known for its stitched and un-stitched embroidered clothes of ladies and work on these clothes like block printing and dyeing, etc. Much of the work is found to be done by women at home. These women are not aware of the value of their products. After reaching in bigger national or international markets of more purchasing power these products become much costly. But the women are grateful to the middle-men for providing work and even they accept the labor dictated by these men. Our survey revealed that maximum ratio of the women is involved in ladies garment making, that is 30.2 percent urban, 21.2 percent rural and 25 percent in overall areas (serial No. 1, 2 and 3 of table 5) are engaged in work on ladies garments, i.e. embroidery, silma sitara, resham ka kam, chunri-making, thappa-making, makaish-making, stitching, sewing, crocheting, tie and die, and tarkashi. The mode of employment of women of these groups is contract work, piece-rate work and self-employed. On average this group of women is contributing 39, 33 and 36 percent in urban, rural and overall areas respectively. At the second position is the job of agricultural labor absorbing 3.6, 29 and 15.9 percent of the women in urban, rural and overall areas respectively. They are contributing 40, 26 and 23 percent in the mode of employment of employed and piece-rate work. After agricultural labor it is the job of house-maid which is absorbing 15.9 percent of urban, 7.9 percent of rural and 12.3 percent of overall women. They are contributing 58, 49 and 48.5 percent in household budget respectively in employees’ mode of employment.

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Table-5 Typology of Work, Mode of Employment and Contribution of Informal Sector Women

Urban Rural overall SERIAL NO.

Types of Work MOde of employment Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution

1 Embroidery/ Silma Sitara/ Reshim Ka Kam/ Makaish-

Making

Contract Work, Piece-rate Work

6.8 37 4.2 33.5 5.6 36

2 Chunri-Making / Thappa-Making/ Tie and Dye suites

Contract Work, Piece-rate Work

8.9 42 3.1 38.11 5.1 39

3 Stitching/ Sewing/ Crocheting/ Tarkashi

Contract Work, Piece-rate Work Self-employed

14.5 41 13.9 27.5 14.2 34.5

4 Bedding Clothes and Rug-Making

Self-employed, Employee 3.2 31 2.0 28 2.9 29

5 Beauty Parlour Self-employed, Employee 3.9 35 0.5 37 2.2 36.06 Trainees of Embroidery,

Tailoring, Fashion Design, etc. Self-employed, Employee 2.8 30 2.1 31 2.7 30.5

7 Food MakingI Self-employed, Contract Work

5.1 38 2.1 33 4.8 34

8 Brick-Kiln Work Employee 5.7 58 8.9 60 6.1 579 Tuition of Formal and

Informal Education Self-employed 3.5 40 2.1 58 2.5 49.2

10 Door to Door SellingII Self-employed, Employee 2.7 31 1.8 19.5 2.4 25

11 Street WomenIII Self-employed, 5.4 32 2.3 29 3.4 3012 Brick Breaking /Road making Employee 7.3 48 3.9 57 5.1 555

13 House MaidsIV Employee 15.9 58 7.9 49 12.3 48.5

14 Sex workers/Singers/Dancers/Street-singers-cum-baggers

Self-employed, 1.1 82 0.1 55 0.8 77

15 Live Stock and Poultry Farming Self-employed, Employee 2.1 24 9.8 20 5.6 222.516 Office / Factory WorkersV Employee 4.1 33 3.5 29 2.7 31

17 Pottery and Cholay-Making Self-employed, 4.2 31 1.7 38 3.7 34

18 Agricultural LaborVI Employee, Piece-rate Work

3.6 40 29 26 15.4 29

19 OthersVII - 3.4 29 1.9 39 2.3 34

20 Total - 100 - 100 - 100 -

I. Chapati-making of flour, Samosa-making, Berian-making, and pickles-making II. Selling toys, artificial flowers, vegetables, utensils, bed sheets, clothes, embroidered rugs, etc. III. Collecting papers, tins, bottles, plastic, shoppers, etc. IV. It includes cloth-washing, cleaning, dusting, dish-washing and cooking, baby-sitting, pressing clothes, etc. V. It includes sowing, cotton picking, winnowing, crop cutting, etc. VI. Shop-keepers, embroidery on shoes, match-makers, dai (traditionally trained mid-wife), casual labor with undefined profession, etc. VII. Labor in factories, private schools, organizations and offices, telephone operators, etc.

Inf


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The contribution of women working in different jobs differs. In our survey maximum contribution in household budget is done by singers/dancers/street-singers-cum-beggars, that is 82, 55 and 77 percent respectively in urban, rural and overall areas. This group comprised of only 1.1, 0.1 and 0.8 percent of our sample in the mode of employment of self-employed. After this group maximum contribution is done by brick-kiln women. They are contributing 58, 60 and 57 percent of the household budget respectively in urban, rural and overall areas. The ratio of the brick-kiln women is 5.7, 8.9 and 6.1 percent in respective areas. Then there comes the group of brick-breakers/road-makers. They are contributing 48, 57 and 55 percent respectively in urban, rural and overall areas. Their ratio in the sample is 7.3, 3.9 and 5.1 percent. Their mode of employment is employee. In the order of contribution of woman, the job of tuition of formal and informal education and house-maids are at fourth and fifth position contributing, 48 and 49 percent for overall areas. Their ratio in the sample is 2.5 and 12.3 percent respectively. It seems that households largely depend upon women. The significant workers emerged in our study according to comparatively higher ratio in the sample and higher contribution are women workers on ladies garments (serial No.1, 2 and 3), agricultural labor, house-maids, brick-kiln work and brick-breaking/road-making. From the policy perspective they need the attention for training, implementation of minimum wages and health services which are part of the labor protection policy 2006. 3.5 Contribution of Women by Age Group The age of the woman affects her contribution. We have estimated that in urban areas the women in the age group of 36-45 years are contributing maximally in their household income and their ratio in the sample is 20 percent. In urban areas maximum participation in the informal sector work comes the age group of 31-35 years. For the rural areas the women in the age group of 31-35 years are contributing maximally and they constitute 28 percent of the sample. For overall areas the women in the age group of 36-45 years are contributing in their household income maximally and


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their ratio in the sample is 19 percent. The contribution of women for overall, urban and rural areas have an inverted U-shaped trend in different age-groups, i.e. the contribution first increases and then it decreases. The participation rate in different age-groups is also noticeable. In the age cohort of 21-30 years, the participation is maximum in urban, rural as well as overall areas. The possible explanation may be that it is child-bearing age. In the previous age bracket of 16-20, the participation is comparatively higher showing that before marriage the girls participate in informal sector activity, then reduce it at marriage, and child-bearing and rearing age and then again start it when the children reach school-age. Possibly the economic burden of children compels them to join the labor market.

Table-6 Contribution of Informal Sector Women by Age Groupurban rural overall AGE

GROUP FrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionFrequencyContribution16-20 18 29 14 25 17 26 21-25 7 37 13 31 9 33 26-30 9 44 16 49 12 36 31-35 31 52 28 38 30 44 36-45 20 57 18 37 19 46 46-60 15 33 11 39 13 25 15-60 100 33 100 24 100 29

3.6 Marital Status and Contribution of Working The contribution of women in household income is also concerned with identification of a woman as a wife and mother, and single woman being a daughter. It is ultimately concerned with dowry system, family structure, and inheritance of property rights. Furthermore, in Pakistani culture the socio-economic status of a woman is also tied with her marital status. Widows and separated women are a marker of poverty and vulnerability. They have far more difficulty in maintaining their households. We have estimated that in overall areas, 32 percent women are single, 45 percent married and 23 percent are widowed/separated. They are contributing highest in their household budget in their respective areas.


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Table-7 Marital Status and Contribution of Women

urban rural overall MARITAL STATUS Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution

Single 43 30 38 21 32 27 Married 35 46 39 36 45 31

Widow/Separated 22 84 23 80 23 83 Total 100 - 100 - 100 -

3.7 Educational Status of Women and Their Contribution The women in informal sector have been found low-paid or low-income earners due to lack of education (see also Karim 2001). The table-8 depicted the poor educational status of informally employed women. Only 0.5 percent of these women were intermediate in urban areas and 0.3 percent in rural areas. Furthermore, 55 percent of the women were illiterate in urban areas and 85 percent in rural areas. There is larger illiteracy among these women in rural areas. For overall areas, increment in educational status results into decrease in contribution up to middle but it results into increase after that. The same trend is found for urban areas. For rural areas, there is strange result, i.e. increase in education status resulted into decrease in contribution.

Table-8 Educational Status of Women and Their ContributionRural Urban overall EDUCATIONAL

STATUS Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution

Illiterate 84.9 38 55 48 69.3 41 Primary

(5 Years of Education) 9 35 28.5 43 20 40

Middle (8 Years of Education)

5 20 11 30 8 30

Matric (10 Years of Education)

1 28 5.5 33 2.3 34

Intermediate (12 Years of Education)

0.1 26 0.5 41 0.4 39.5

Total 100 - 100 - 100 -


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6.8 Fertility Behavior and Contribution The higher fertility behavior of the informally employed women revealed that paid-employment had unlikely changed the reproductive behavior of these women. Furthermore the autonomy of woman that is assumed to be positively connected with employment remained unable to change the fertility of these women. The factor behind such behavior may be the prevalence of illiteracy among women and need of larger number of children for survival of the family.

Table-9 Number of Children9 and Contribution of Informal SectorUrban Rural Overall NUMBER

OF CHILDREN

Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution Frequency Contribution

1 3 38 2.8 25.5 2.9 31.7 2 4 24 3.2 26.5 3.5 25.5 3 6.0 47 6.5 35 6.3 42.5 4 17.9 38 19.5 41 18.0 38.5 5 25 28 23 27 24 27.8 6 28.5 29 29.2 31 29.7 30.5 7 10.5 30 11.8 29 11.0 29.5

8 and above

5.0 27 4.0 25 4.6 26.5

Total 100 - 100 - 100 - The high fertility behavior of informally employed women is evident for both urban and rural areas. In urban area, 28.5 percent women have 6 children while in rural areas 29.2 percent has the same number of children. The number of children is speculated to affect the working behavior wage/income, working hours and contribution of women in the household. We have estimated the contribution of informally employed women for urban, rural and overall areas with respect to

9 It includes infants (up to 5 years) school-going-age (5-15 years) children and prime-age children of both sexes, though, these three age-group children differently affect the work decision, working hours and contribution of women in the household budget.


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their children. For overall, urban and rural area the trend is so that the contribution first increases by increase in number of children then it decreases. For overall and urban areas, maximum contribution in the household budget is done by the women having three children. For the rural areas maximum contribution is done by the women having four children. 3.9 Working Hours and Contribution of Women Among the informally employed women, 54.9 percent are working 7-8 hours daily. For rural and urban areas the ratio of such women is 54.5 and 55 percent respectively. Moreover, 4.5 percent in overall, 3.2 percent in rural and 8.9 percent in urban areas are doing 9-10 hours daily. The urban women are doing more work than rural ones. Furthermore, 3.1 percent of the urban women and 1.3 percent of the rural women are doing work more than ten hours daily. These long working hours has significant negative impact on their health. In the light of recommended daily working hours, 11.6 percent (serial No.5 and6) urban and 4.5 percent rural women are doing over-work.

Table-10 Daily Working Hours and Contribution of Women (Percentage)Urban Rural Overall SERIAL

NO. Daily

working hours


1 Up to 2 2.9 30 3.5 34 3.0 32.5 2 3-4 5.0 38 6.5 37 6.0 37.5 3 5-6 25 48 31 51 29 50 4 7-8 55 59 54.5 55 54.9 57.5 5 9-10 8.5 41 3.2 31 4.5 55.5 6 11 and

above 3.1 42 1.3 38 2.6 40.5

7 Total 100 - 100 - 100 - The women who are doing 7-8 hours daily are contributing maximum in urban and overall areas. The contribution of women increases by increase in working hours up to 7-8 working hours daily, after that it decreases. It shows that there are some professions where productivity is so low that does not result into further increase in contribution.


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3.10 Work Experience and Contribution of Women The work experience shows that girls start their work at an early age. The girls in urban areas start their work at an early age as compared to rural ones. The work experience of women may determine their contribution in household income. It is found that maximum contribution comes from the women having 7-8 years of experience. After this period the contribution decreases. The possible explanation may be that after that experience an increase in age may result into decrease in productivity in informal sector. Along with this, the offspring enters into labor market and women decrease the working hours.

Table-11 Work Experience and Contribution of Women urban rural overall EXPERIENCE

IN YEARS FrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionFrequencyContribution

1-2 9 29 7 35 8.5 33 3-4 7 34 28 39 27.2 37 5-6 27 38 25 40 27.5 39 7-8 34 49 31 45 33.4 47 9-10 28 30 29 38 28.3 35

11-12 32 41 27 36 29 39 13-14 30 26 21 28 25.5 27 Total 100 - 100 - 100 -

3.11 Contribution of Women by Place of Work The place of work is important factor determining the contribution of a woman in household budget. Furthermore, it determines the working-hours flexibility and working-environment. Our sample has four places of work, i.e. home-based work, street work, job at work place and domestic work. Home-based work is defined as the work carried out by women in her home or in any premises of her own choice, other than the work place of employer. Street work is briefly defined as the work related with street that may be on the street or by the street like street selling, waste-collection and road-making, etc. Our survey shows that domestic workers are in highest ratio and after them are the home-based workers. The ratios are respectively 35 and 31 percent. It explains the socio-


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cultural phenomenon where women prefer to work within the walls and in seclusion. But the maximum contribution is done by the women involved in street work. After them are the home-based workers.

Table-12 Place of Work and Contribution of WomenUrban Rural Overall PLACE OF

WORK Frequency Contribution Frequency ContributionFrequency Contribution Home-based

Work 41 46 18 42 31 45

Street Work 8 59 6 48 8 54 Work Place 10 34 37 30 21 32

Domestic Work

38 29 33 30 35 29

Others 3 39 6 29 5 35 Total 100 - 100 - 100 -

3.12 Contribution of Women by Nature of Employment Informal sector women have been classified into four categories on the basis of nature of employment, i.e. self-employed, employees, contracted work and piece-rate work. The frequency of the women in each category is not precisely for that category because all these categories are overlapping each other. The self-employed and employee category is self-explanatory. For the informally employed women, contract work means middle man or shopkeeper supplies the raw material to the women, latter collects the finished product and pays the woman at contract rate. The middle man may be the source of capital, information and access to market. In piece-rate work a specific piece of task is given to the employee/group of employees and wage/wages are fixed for the task. A significant proportion of informally employed women are involved in piece-rate work. In our survey maximum women are involved in piece-rate work in urban, rural and overall areas, but the maximum contribution is done the employees. The piece-rate working women are important from policy point of view for the target because they are contributing 47 in overall areas and their proportion is 40 percent in the sample.


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Table-13 Nature of Employment and Contribution of Women Urban Rural Overall NATURE OF

EMPLOYMENT FrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionSelf-employed 21 29 14 32 18 31

Employee 17 49 11 52 13 51 Contracted

Work 27 38 24 44 26 42

Piece-rate Work 31 34 49 38 40 47 Others 4 29 2 39 3 38 Total 100 - 100 - 100 -

3.13 Contribution of Women by Socio-economic Profile The contribution of women differs with socio-economic profile of the households. In the households living below poverty line 49 percent contribution is done by women. In our survey 82 percent of the households are living below poverty line for overall areas. In rural areas such households are 87 percent. There is more poverty in rural areas. In the female-headed households women are contributing 78 percent in their household budget in overall areas. Such households constitute 13 percent of the sample. Similarly, in the households where adults are unemployed due to illness, addiction and illegal status, women are contributing 76 percent in their household budget and there are 37 percent households of this category. But for urban areas such households constitute 42 percent and contribution is 89 percent. It shows that for urban areas the non-working status of the male-heads due to illness, addiction, or illegal status, etc. is higher and women are contributing comparatively more. The loaning to household increases its capacity to involve the women and children in household enterprises. In such households, women are contributing 28 percent in household budget.


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Table-14 Socio-Economic Profile and Contribution of Womenurban rural overall SOCIO-ECONOMIC

PROFILE FrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionFrequencyContributionHouseholds living

below poverty line1078 53 87 43 82 49

Female-headed households

14 79 10 75 13 78

Household where heads are not working

40 86 32 70 38 78

Households where males are not

working due to illness, addiction, and illegal status

42 89 35 58 37 76

Households where loan is availed by the household/working

woman

7 35 4 24 6 28

3.14 Household Income and Contribution of Women The income of the household of working women has been found in dismal situation. It may be postulated that these women are compelled by their economic circumstances to enter the labor market. In overall areas, 30.5 percent of these women belong to the households of monthly income group of Rs.3001-4000. For urban areas the women form the same income group households are 35 percent against the 28.5 percent for rural areas (see table-3).

Table-15 Household Income and Contribution of Women urban rural overall MONTHLY

INCOME (RUPEES)


Less than 1000 4.0 40 9.0 34 6.0 39 1001-2000 15.0 38 19.5 36 17.5 37 2001-3000 20.0 27 18.5 28 19.5 27 3001-4000 35.0 31 28.5 30 30.5 30 4001-5000 10.0 18 8.0 19 9.0 18 5001-600 8.0 22 7.6 18 7.8 21 6001-7000 8.0 24 5.0 14 6.2 19

7001 and above 4.0 20 3.0 15 3.4 18 Total 100 - 100 - 100 -

10 The official Poverty Line of Pakistan is Rs.848.79 per capita per month (GOP 2004).


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It is evident from the table that there is inverse relation between the contribution of women and household income group. The maximum contribution of women is from the household of monthly income group of less than Rs.1000 for urban, rural and overall areas. The frequency of this group is in between 4 and 9 for urban, rural and overall areas. 4. Conclusion and Proposals The analysis of informal sector women concludes as: It is proposed to implement in true sense the labor protection policy to informal sector women. Our study further proposes: • The type of work like work on ladies garments, agricultural

labor, household maids, brick-kiln work and brick-breaking/road-making need priority for intervention for informal sector women and households.

• The contribution of women first increases, by increase in age and then it decreases. The women in the age group of 31-35 years are contributing maximum as compared to the women of other age-groups.

• The widows/separated women involved in informal sector contribute more than the single or married ones. They need policy attention.

• There is more illiteracy in informally employed women. There exists a complex relationship between education and contribution of women. For urban areas the contribution increases up to middle stage of education and then it decreases. For rural areas contribution decreases by incremental change in stage of education.

• The fertility behavior of the informally employed women is horrible. The maximum ratio of the women, i.e. 28 percent has six children.

• The working hours are tough for informally employed women. In urban areas 8.5 percent women are doing 9-10 hours daily.


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• The work experience shows that girls start informal sector work at an early age and the urban girls start work more early as compared to rural ones.

• Among different modes of employment, piece-rate working women have been indentified as the target group in Bahawalpur who are contributing maximum to the household income and are in comparatively larger ratio.

• Among categories, according to place of work, domestic work and home-based work have been identified as maximally absorbing the women, respectively 35 and 31 percent.

• Formulate an acceptable description and definition of the informal economy and identify priority areas within the informal economy where current available protection has not been applied.

• Prepare and implement action plans to address these priority areas by targeted assistance. It may be through the organization of employers, employees and NGOs.

• At the national level it is proposed to design and implement research studies on informal sector of different areas of the country.

• Strengthen minimum wage determination, batter health provision and various wage related functions by the introduction of new institutional arrangements.

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2006. Informal Secor-A Case Study of Working Women in Bahawalpur

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