Saddam Hussein
Gender related issues still negatively impact Pakistan’s national economic productivity and social well-being, despite the country’s progress on various gender related indices through different legal and institutional initiatives.
Pakistani women have been engaged in production process for ages. Their participation in economic activities in the modern society has also progressed beyond agriculture into the local market economy. Women are increasingly migrating to urban areas for employment. They are also moving into small businesses and self-employment ventures thereby creating many formal and informal opportunities for work.
Yet, the gender bias is rigid and deep-rooted as it draws legitimacy from the perpetuation of a traditional mind-set and established rituals. It has conclusively been shown that women business owners encounter more obstacles, and face more risks, financially, socially, economically, culturally and legally than male business owners.
In this context, need for gender sensitive Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) policy is crucial. The country ought to benefit from both women’s and men’s intellectual, entrepreneurial and physical labor, otherwise, it would be excluding significant half of the population, is Pakistan forgoing half of the economic pie.
The latest SME policy of Pakistan dates back to 2007. It also raises several questions. The market, economic, structural as well as political dynamics have changed exponentially since then, while the policy framework is outdated and has not changed a bit over the years.
Although, gender equality of opportunity is mentioned in the SME Policy 2007, it does not suffice for gender equity. Gender equality of opportunity usually necessitates substantial alterations in institutional culture and processes – including language, assumptions, relationships and incentives, which is sheerly lacking.
There are no gender mainstreaming instruments or gender target settings in the SME sector generally and in the SME policy specifically. The most vital gender mainstreaming intervention is the setting up of the Women s Business Incubation Centers (WBIC) which do serve a purpose but are not adequate to address the complex web of issues in the sector.
Also, there is limited evidence of gender mainstreaming in the SME policy when it comes to the institutional support and implementation. Numerous initiatives may have had a gender impact but there are no gender impact assessments available. Additionally, regardless of the solid emphasis on women’s participation, there is very little to no consideration to the gender-equal distribution of the resources or its benefits in terms of time, money and power.
However, in the recent past, Ministry of Industries and Production in consultation of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA) has prepared a draft National SME Policy 2019. It is hoped that it would have a gender perspective. Though, we are mid-way through 2020 and still waiting for that SME Policy, drafted last year. The delay is beyond comprehension. One may assume that perhaps it’s not in the priority list of the sitting government? is Pakistan forgoing half of the pie?
From the individual to the institutional to the systems level, at present, all of these levels at the provincial and federal level are quite gender seems in many ways. This entails constant and rigorous gender sensitization.
In this backdrop, capacity building as an approach to addressing gender gaps in the SME Policy cannot be exaggerated. The officials from Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) often state that SMEDA has been aggressively recommending and lobbying for women’s quotas in industrial estates and special economic zones. SMEDA, for the first time ever, also initiated business incubation centers across the country for women’s skills development. These centers were later handed over to the private sector and are now performing pretty well. is Pakistan forgoing half of the pie?
SMEDA is now also working on a database of working women, whether in formal or informal sector of the economy, so that proper future planning can be done regarding women entrepreneurship. The organization also worked very hard on the upcoming Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SME) Policy – which the officials say would be a gender sensitive one.
As a matter of fact, there is a common understanding within the development community that development policies and actions that fail to endogenize gender perspective into account and ignore the discrepancies between males and females will have limited efficacy and grave economic cost.
By the same token, there are some well researched road-maps for gender inclusion via SME Policy as well as by the general eco-system of the economy. This includes provision of finance with training, market access, skills development, mentoring support, the formation of women’s business networks and market information centers. Besides that, women focused financial institutions ought to uphold their women focus and come up with more innovative products for women entrepreneurs.
Likewise, conducting gender audits of all government departments involved in SME development and building their capacities in gender analysis and preparing gender responsive budgets could be of great help in this regard.
The policy making domain should initiate changes in property rights as well, among other things to end gender discrimination. With that, it should also encourage corporate codes of conduct as a medium of promoting gender equality issues
The most decisive step towards gender inclusion would be to provide legal recognition and protection of informal sector micro-enterprises and removal of restrictive policies and harassment towards these. Establishment of institutions to represent home based workers and encourage greater representation of women in trade unions, is need of the hour.
Ensuring the enforcement of anti-sexual harassment policies and addressing gender imbalances in senior positions through targeted approaches, and opportunities for career development goes without saying.
Last but not the least, there is a dire need formulate family friendly policies for working women e.g. flexible working hours and parental leave, and child-care arrangements for women’s continued involvement in work to help create a balance between work and family, leading to greater productivity and less absenteeism.
The author Saddam Hussein is a Development Economist, while he serves as a Research Fellow at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), and Program Officer for CRSS’ sister organization – Afghan Studies Center, Islamabad. He tweets @saddampide.
