Final Report Group 2 (MEX Section a)

8/2/2019 Final Report Group 2 (MEX Section a)

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COVERLETTER

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

TERM REPORT (2011)

The Problems

Of

Professional Working Women

In

Pakistan

Presented To:

Mr. Shaikh Irfan Muhammad

Presented By:

Maria Aslam

Madiha Khan

Sana Ehsan

Aliya Bukhari

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all well like to give special thanks to our teacher Sir Irfan

Sheikh for helping and guiding us through thick and thins which we

faced while we were preparing our report. Secondly a special thanks to

all our working female professional colleagues who participated in our

survey and filled our questionnaire patiently and provided facts while

we were conducting our survey.

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

20th

August 2011

Mr. Sheikh Irfan

Business Communication Teacher

Institute of Business Management

Karachi

Dear Sir,

We take pleasure in submitting for your consideration a report on The problems faced byprofessional working ladies in Pakistan'. This report is divided into four parts: Introduction,

Literature Review, Methodology and Conclusions and Results. The report aims to determine the

general opinion of the professional working women about the problems they face at work. The

report was authorized by you in August 2011. We have completed the report on schedule and met

all our proposed objectives.

The professional working ladies at our working places served as a sample for our study and

questionnaires were used as a research tool. The report provides different reasons the working

professional ladies in Pakistan face while they are at work and what are the circumstances which

are serving as a barrier in their way of success. We evaluated the results based on our survey andused them to test the hypotheses that we came up with.

Majority of the working ladies agreed that the social , cultural and religious orthodox thoughts are

the major hurdles in their working lives which are the barriers in their success.

We would like to express our gratitude to our professional working colleagues for bearing with our

questions and so patiently filling out our questionnaires. We commend this report to you.

Sincerely,

Maria Aslam

Madiha Khan

Sana Ehsan

Aliya Bukhari

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The purpose of the research study was to evaluate and identify the problems of

working women: the problems faced while they work for an organization and

manage between the work place and family life. For survey a questionnaire was

prepared and feedback from 40 working women from different

organizations/industry was collected and analyzed.

It is observed and inferred from the results that the working women are equally

potential employees as of men but are facing immense pressure which include

society, culture, work place and family pressures. In spite of her endeavors

towards the work place and her contribution to the family and growth of societyor economy her development as an employee is precluded at most.

There are a various number of factors contributing to the problems of working

women and the major reported issues and factors are discussed in this report.

The feedback received through questionnaire authenticate that the existence of

the mentioned problems are the upshot of gender biasness at work places. Our

culture and mind set nourishes these problems and throttles the potential and

capabilities of working women.

Fulfilling the necessities of working women flourishes her as an employee and

the organization too. Unbiased working environment creates healthy and

positive energy within the employees and increases the employee competencies.

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TABLE OF CONTENTSCOVER LETTER............................................................................................................1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..................................................................................................2

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL............................................................................................3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................4

TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................5

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION......................................................................................8

1.1 PURPOSE STATEMENT.......................................................................................9

1.1.1.Population: ..................................................................................................9

1.1.2. Sample:.....................................................................................................10

1.1.3. Procedure and Method:.............................................................................10

1.1.4. Assumptions:............................................................................................10

1.1.5. Hypotheses:..............................................................................................10

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................11

2.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................11

2.2. SATISTICAL REVIEW OF WOMEN WORKFORCE IN PAKISTAN............................12

2.2.1. Demographic Trends and Developments in Labor Force Participation of

Females..............................................................................................................12

2.2.2. Female Employment by Sector..................................................................13

2.2.3. The Widening Wage Gap...........................................................................13

2.3. UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG WOMEN IN PAKISTAN:.............................................14

2.4. LEGAL, SOCIAL & CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF WOTKING WOMEN INPAKISTAN:..............................................................................................................14

2.4.1. Women Empowerment in Pakistan:...........................................................15

2.4.2. Role of Women in Freedom Movement:.....................................................15

2.4.3. Legal Status: ............................................................................................16

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2.4.4. Suppression Based on Religious Issues:.....................................................16

2.4.5. Cultural & Social Standing of Women:.......................................................17

2.5. GENDER BIASNESS AT WORKPLACE:...............................................................18

2.5.1. Promotion and Pay Gap:............................................................................18

2.5.2. More Stress for Same Work:......................................................................18

2.5.3. Maternal Wall:...........................................................................................19

2.5.4. More Evidences of Skills:...........................................................................19

2.5.5. Behavior Curbs/Unspoken Norms:.............................................................19

2.5.6. Hidden Biasness:.......................................................................................19

2.6. WORKING WOMEN NEEDS AT WORK PLACE....................................................21

2.6.1. Practical Needs of Female Employees:......................................................21

2.6.2. Effect of Desirable Work Environment for Female:.....................................25

2.6.3. Outcomes of Exploitative Working Environment for Females:....................25

2.6.4. Recommendations for Women Friendly Work Environment:......................25

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY....................................................................................27

3.1 PURPOSE STATEMENT:....................................................................................27

3.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:...................................................................................27

3.3 HYPOTHESES:..................................................................................................27

3.4 POPULATION:...................................................................................................28

3.5 SAMPLE:..........................................................................................................28

3.6 PROCEDURE AND METHOD:.............................................................................28

3.7 ASSUMPTIONS:................................................................................................28

CHAPTER 04: ANALYSIS.............................................................................................29

APPENDIX..................................................................................................................39

QUESTIONAIRE RESULTS IN TABULAR FORM..........................................................39

QUESTIONAIRE......................................................................................................40

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Table 1: Population Distribution & Growth Rate as Estimated in 2008: .................41

Table 2: Labor Force Participation Rate (%) 2008:.................................................42

Table 3: Employment % by Sector:........................................................................43

Table 4: Gender inequalities in various indicators in a sample of countries (Male aspercent of Female).................................................................................................44

REFERANCES.............................................................................................................45

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CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTIONPakistan is a varied mixture of social classes and walks of life, and women can be found working

in a broad assortment of professions. There are highly qualified women working in white-collarmanagement, administrative, and creative and academic positions; women of the middle class have

entered the ranks of retail and restaurant workers, as well as other responsible positions. And then

there are women of lower class working at the lowest level, fighting for survival.

In in this research we assess the major problems these working women face as they aim to break

traditional rules and restrictions on their employment and how they deal with such problems.

Through a the questionnaire, working women explained how and why they are facing problems at

work, which are giving them more confidence to strive for better .

The history of womens employment tells us that the very first jobs for educated women were

teaching or nursing, jobs which were considered as the extension of the household duties and

where the contact with the males was minimal. These are still referred to as traditional jobs. Things

are beginning to change: there is now a social and cultural expectation for young women to

achieve a certain level of education, even for their chances in the marriage market.

Now women have begun working at nontraditional jobs as well: many respondents in categories

two and three worked in jobs considered only a few years ago to be exclusively male employment

Culturally, household work is considered a womans primary role. Due to the increase of economic

pressures on families in the past few decades, the traditional restrictions on women have lessened

and large numbers of women have taken on paid employment; but domestic work remains a

womans principal duty.

Seventy-five percent of the women included are reported that they are physically tired out by

managing both their work at home and at their place of employment. The largest percentage of

working women across Pakistan has concentrated on occupations such as health workers,

educational professionals and clerical workers. They have entered into professions that are less

attractive to men because of poor working conditions, lower pay, lack of control, monotony, and

lack of opportunity for advancement. Women feel discriminated against in terms of their salaries

and promotions.

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A very strong factor negatively influencing the participation of women in the work force is the

practice of seclusion traditionally seclusion means wearing an over-garment that covers the whole

body, including the head and face. Women from moderately educated and/or religious

backgrounds are often found working in traditional jobs, and women from well-educated and

socially advanced families have the opportunity to pursue non-traditional jobs and careers, where

they compete with males.

Parents encouragement plays a very important role for girls pursuing male-dominated

occupations. It was found that parental support was one of the strongest predictors of young

womens career aspirations and motivations: those who were career oriented girls faced less

pressure from their parents to marry early and have children.

Women are still earning less than the male counterparts. They either feel theyre neglecting their

children. Or theyve decided to remain childless in order to focus on their careers. This could be

why were starting to see more and more professional women telecommuting, working flex time or

even getting off the job track for a few years to be stay-at-home moms. They want to do one thing

well and for many that means choosing to be with their children.

Women CEOs are still in the minority, which means fewer mentors for the younger women on the

way up. And, of course, many whove made it to the top are all too often labeled tough, hard,

difficult, cold. In other words, possessing the same skills as their successful male counterparts.

1.1 PURPOSE STATEMENT

To determine the perception of different working women about what the professional working

ladies face problems at work in Pakistan.

1.1.1.Population:

Our working places which include Beacon-house School System, Siemens Pakistan, Al-karam

textiles and Ferguson were chosen as a survey place. The sample population which we targeted

was the professional working women in these working places.

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1.1.2. Sample:

The size of our sample is 40 with 10 from each firm. 10 questioners were distributed to each firm.

In this way we came to know the opinion of the working professional ladies in the age group of 25-

40.

1.1.3. Procedure and Method:

The research took 3 days to complete. We asked our participants to take out time for us as we

explained our purpose of research and explained them the questioners which they filled. It took an

average 5 to 6 minutes to fill up the questionnaire by the participants. After the collection of data

from our respective working places one of our group members compiled the data and results.

1.1.4. Assumptions:

Questions have been answered honestly

The participants are knowledgeable and aware of the research topic.

There were no bias views from the participants.

The questionnaire is valid according to our research.

1.1.5. Hypotheses:

The salaries earned by the women are lower as compared to men in the same position.

They need flexible work arrangements to successfully manage work and family life.

They are provided less work based support for family responsibilities.

It is a generic thought that mothers cant be both good mothers and good workers.

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CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

The women of Pakistan have always experienced disadvantage relative to men of the same class.

Social, cultural and religious factors have reduced the number of women entering the job market.

Along with Pakistan, gender bias is a thorn in the flesh of more or less every social system, in one

or other way. It has been always realized that women has been exploited, whatever they do get the

jobs or not. There is a general perception that after getting job all the financial and social problems

are solved , however this has been exactly opposite in case of women. When Men get jobs their

problems are solved and when women get jobs their problems start.

In Pakistan there is social environment that never allows Pakistani women to come out and face the

society bravely, women remain restricted to houses. There is small ratio of the working women in

Pakistan, either they dont prefer to work or they dont have access to the opportunities.

On the other hand there is a serious need to consider why mostly women do not want to work as to

play a vital role in the countrys economic growth and why Pakistans half of the population is

sitting sluggish in the homes.

The major reason behind all is that hardships of working women are multiplied. They are supposed

to work double or sometimes triple to prove themselves as good workers at their workplaces, good

mothers for children and good care taker of homes. Despite of all, usually people dont see them

with honor and make them face even more problems instead.

This chapter describes briefly about religious, cultural & social backgrounds of working women inPakistan. Problems faced by women during their work tenure, like gender biasness, family

restrictions, lack of opportunities etc are also discussed in brief.

This chapter also includes genuine needs of working women at work place.

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2.2. SATISTICAL REVIEW OF WOMEN WORKFORCE

IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan is a federation of four provinces conjoined with the federal capital area, the Federally

Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the Federally Administered Northern Areas (FANA), and

Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

2.2.1. Demographic Trends and Developments in Labor Force Participation of

Females

Pakistans female population was estimated at 78 million out of the national population of 161

million in the year 2008 and is gradually increasing with an average annual growth rate of 2.1

percent since 2000 (Table 1 Appendix).

Approximately 45.9 million women in the country were at working age (15 years and above)

compared to 47.2 million men, in 2008. In line with the increases in the female population, the

number of women in working age is constantly growing with the largest increases in rural areas. In

2008, almost two thirds of working age women (29.8 million) was living in rural areas and just

16.1 per cent in urban areas (Table 2 Appendix).

In accordance with a increasing female working population, the female labor force participation

rate increased over time. Yet, it was with 21.8 percent in 2008 still very low if considered from an

international or regional point of view. Globally, 52.6 percent of women in working age were

economically active in 2007.

Furthermore, the regional average labor force participation of women in South Asia was with 35.6

percent, much higher than Pakistans labor force participation rate for women (Table 2 Appendix).

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2.2.2. Female Employment by Sector

Out of approximately 46 million people that were employed in the country in 2008, just 9 million

were women (19.4 per cent). Still a very small proportion of females worked in industry (12.2 per

cent in 2008 compared to 22.6 of males) and service sectors (13.9 per cent in 2008, as compared to

42.2 of males) (Table 1 Appendix).

Agriculture continues to provide the vast majority of jobs for women: 7 out of 10 women (73.8

percent in 2008) worked in the agricultural sector mainly as contributing family workers under

tough working conditions with little or no economic security. This share has frequently increased

over the last couple of years (from 64.5 percent in 2002 to 73.8 per cent in 2008), refer Table 3

Appendix.

2.2.3. The Widening Wage Gap

Wages comprise a large share of total domestic income in Pakistan. Therefore, wage inequalities

can be held responsible for much of the disparity that exists in wealth, expenditure, healthcare and

other well-being indicators associated with income. Since households with low wages and earning

are often among the poorest households in the country, weakening wages could deteriorate theiralready weak economic situations.

The review of wage data available in the Labor Force Survey shows enormous wage discrepancies

for male and female employees in average real wages. In 2008, women generally earned almost

one third less than their male counterparts. In addition, the wage gap significantly widened since

the beginning of the decade, in particular during the most recent survey years. Between 2007 and

2008, real wages for female employees decreased from 3607 to 3419 Pakistani Rupees in average

per month whereby they increased from 4878 to 4917 Pakistani Rupees for male employees,

during the same period.

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Wage gap in average real wages of employees (PKR)

2.3. UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG WOMEN IN

PAKISTAN:

In 2008, women in Pakistan had a much higher probability of being unemployed compared to men.

The female unemployment rate stood at 8.7 percent, which was more than double as high as the

male rate of 4.0 per cent. Nevertheless, female unemployment could be halved during the last

decade from 15.8 per cent to 8.7 per cent (Table 1 Appendix).

2.4. LEGAL, SOCIAL & CULTURAL BACKGROUND

OF WOTKING WOMEN IN PAKISTAN:

The social and cultural context of Pakistani society is predominantly patriarchal. Men and women

are conceptually divided into two separate worlds. Home is defined as a womans legitimate

ideological and physical space, while a man dominates the world outside the home.

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Pakistani family life is based on the traditional roles and values of family members. The husband is

the breadwinner, major decision maker and head of the family. The wifes role is to bring up

children, take care of the household and to provide emotional nurturance to her husband. If any

family member fails to behave properly as demanded by the tradition, that person brings

disharmony and shame to the family.

Pakistani women rarely leave their home towns on their own to look for employment: they usually

move as a part of their fathers, brothers, or husbands families.

In recent years opportunities for women to attend school have increased, and as a result women

have gained higher standards in self esteem, personal goals and ideals, but most of the women

must still bury their expectations, sacrificing the opportunity to be the individuals they had set out

to be, especially after marriage.

2.4.1. Women Empowerment in Pakistan:

The position Pakistani women have achieved was not granted to them voluntarily or out of any

kindness. Pakistani women struggled hard for the rights to education and freedom of work and

earning. They went through painful experiences, sacrificing many natural rights. They have come a

long way, but they have not yet won: they still have a long way to go and must continue to struggle

in order to achieve the status they deserve.

2.4.2. Role of Women in Freedom Movement:

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan came into existence in 1947. Many Muslim women actively

contributed in this freedom fight and worked side by side with men, creating new openings for

themselves as well as for other women. They discovered and participated in new fields of

education and work, thus stirring new hopes and ideas to women of the newly-formed Pakistan.

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2.4.3. Legal Status:

New rights were given to women in the inclusion of the family law ordinance in Pakistans

Constitution in 1973. Article 27 of the Fundamental Rights stated that:

There should be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, caste or sex for appointment inthe services of Pakistan.

This gave positive support to women to enter and take part in different fields of education and

work.

2.4.4. Suppression Based on Religious Issues:

Because of misconceptions the Muslim women of Pakistan have suffered a great deal of

unnecessary restriction. Most are required to stay within the confines of their homes and forbiddento come in contact with any male outside their family.

In 1977 (when martial law was imposed in Pakistan) the countrys women, Muslim and otherwise,

faced complete social regression. The chief martial law administrator General Zia-ul-Haq

announced that Islam would be imposed in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, stressing the isolation

for women. In the name of Islam new laws and policies were designed and the legitimate family

law ordinance was suspended.

The extremist Muslim priests, who were themselves ignorant of Islamic laws which condemn

discrimination against women, persuaded people to think that modesty for women means they

should be veiled from head to foot in public or better yet, stay home. In order to practice this law,

barriers were instituted to discourage and prevent womens education, employment and

professional careers, even their taking part in activities outside their homes (particularly those

activities which involved competing with men).

Women were mostly assigned subordinate roles in the civil, political and managerial hierarchies. In

1988, when the martial law period ended, the anti-Islamic ways preached by the extremist Muslim

clerics during Martial Law remained, few people changed their minds.

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However, as democracy took hold, so did gradual changes which encouraged women to enter new

fields of education as well as professional careers. Today there are an increasing number of women

in traditional as well as non-traditional services and professions.

2.4.5. Cultural & Social Standing of Women:

For Pakistani women, their domestic, parental, and conjugal roles have the highest priority,

whereas the professional and society roles are secondary. A married womans primary role is to

maintain her marriage, she is held responsible for its quality, whether it is considered successful.

As a wife and mother she is expected to be selfless, ever-nurturing and unflagging.

A Pakistani woman is usually perceived as existing as a member of a kin group rather than as an

individual: a typical Pakistani woman grows up in a sheltered environment, with most decisions

affecting her life made for her by others. She learns moral and social codes of behavior early in

life. After certain age, usually during or after high school, fathers become responsible for their

sons, whereas mothers are responsible for their daughters upbringing and training.

Mothers teach their daughters household chores and have high expectations from them in terms of

domestic responsibilities and child care. Older daughters are given the responsibilities of raising

their younger brothers and sisters as if they are their own sons and daughters, and if money is

scarce then the son and the daughter are also sent to work outside the home to provide additional

income as well as taking care of their younger siblings. A married woman faces the same

responsibilities, earning money if required and taking care of her children.

But all these women are subject to the same degrading and discriminatory laws, customs and

prejudices against women prevailing in the country. Due to the male breadwinner ideology,

women are persistently undervalued as wage earners, their abilities to conduct themselves in aprofessional capacity and make decisions for themselves regularly under-appreciated. The ability

to earn income has helped some women increase their independence and maintain self esteem, but

if her familys economic condition requires her to work, then she has to work double days,

performing multiple roles.

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2.5.3. Maternal Wall:

The strongest and most explicit bias in todays workplace is against mothers. Generally, maternal

wall bias is triggered when motherhood becomes obvious to managers and colleagues. This

typically occurs when a woman announces that she is pregnant, returns from maternity leave, or

adopts a part-time or flexible schedule.

Maternal wall bias stems from assumptions that mothers are not as competent as others, not as

committed to their jobs and fit in at home because they cannot be both good mothers and good

workers simultaneously. Fathers may run up against a comparable set of assumptions when they

take an active role in caring for their families.

2.5.4. More Evidences of Skills:

The truth of the common saying women must try twice as hard to achieve half as much is

documented by more than a quarter century of social science. Women need to provide more

evidence of job-related skills than their male counterparts before they are viewed as competent.

Additionally, women are allowed fewer mistakes than men before they are judged incompetent.

2.5.5. Behavior Curbs/Unspoken Norms:

Behavior that is acceptable in men often is considered unacceptable in women. A woman in a

traditionally masculine job may be called a witch, hard to work with or too ambitious for the

same behavior that helps a man establish himself as assertive and having leadership potential.

The unspoken view in such situations is that women should be helpful, warm, understanding, and

kind. In some workplaces, women are seen either as likable, dependent traditional women who

are nice but incompetent or as dominant, nontraditional women who are competent, but are

disliked for violating unspoken norms that women should be inclusive and nurturing.

2.5.6. Hidden Biasness:

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Most gender bias is understated rather than explicit like policies and procedures that appear to be a

facially neutral but objective to may be applied in ways that lead to fewer hiring and promotion

opportunities, lower compensation, poor performance evaluations, more frequent disciplinary

actions, and greater termination rates among women. These patterns result when managers base

their employment decisions on biases rather than job performance.

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2.6. WORKING WOMEN NEEDS AT WORK PLACE

As societies become more advanced technologically, women depend increasingly on their

individual talent and inventiveness for their progress and development. While inflation is

compelling women to join the work force, its the unfavorable social and work place conditions

that handicap them at many instances.

Although the number of female students graduating from Pakistani universities keeps increasing9

each year but due to adverse social conditions they are hesitant in working outside of the home.

As conventional gender roles dictate that females perform all chores related to household and

dependent care without any help from the male family members, but women have to undertake

paid employment at the peril of carrying triple burden of professional, domestic and reproductive

work. The dual roles of the working women can lead to additional stress in their lives.

Conflict arising out of performance of divergent roles can affect a workers mental and physical

health limiting her ability to perform her duties efficiently especially when her work environment

is not supportive of her needs.

With this context, working women needs can be identified quite differently and somewhat more

than men doing the same work.

2.6.1. Practical Needs of Female Employees:

In this report work place needs for women are figured out on the basis of problems that a working

woman faced while performing job tasks. Most important of these are mentioned below:

Transport Facility

Baby care facilities & Facilitation in balancing work with family responsibilities

Remedial measures for resolving specific female problems

Protection from sexual harassment at the workplace

Better maternity leave benefits

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Shorter/Flexible working hours & less stressful work

2.6.1.1. Transport Facility:

When a female gets into the job, transport is the first need that should be addresses immediately.

Especially females from middle and lower class who cannot afford personal cars to reach theirwork place and get back to home late in evening.

Public transport in this regard is not considered as reliable. As there are too many barriers and

issues to women using public transport. This includes cost, expediency, and most considerably,

terror of physical abuse, predominantly at night.

It must also be recognize that many women must walk through, or wait in, unsafe areas in order to

access public transit. Moreover, at odd times of day and in isolated places, public transit may be

unreliable.

Despite all women who has none other option except using public transport have to face mental

torture twice a day. They have to face physical & mental harassment, run for a seat in the bus or

van, in the rush often get pushed and bumped, and more often do not get a seat and left standing at

the bus stop waiting for the next bus or van.

Mirrors are a must in every public van. It is extremely annoying for women to have a driver staring

at them all the time through the mirrors fixed at places convenient to him in different sections of a

bus. The traffic police are heedless to women's complaints against a bus or van driver, a conductor

or even the general public.

A safe transport provided by employer can reduce an immense stress from female employees in

terms of getting into work place without any fears of harassment and all physical & mental

tortures.

Yet generally transport facility is not provided by the companies especially for female employees

having low salaries.

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2.6.1.2.Day Care & Facilitation in Balancing Work with Family Responsibilities:

In particular working women who are married and those who have young children are at risk of

facing job-burnout and employment disruptions. Most of the time, these working women returning

to work are increasingly becoming less efficient and reliable. They are unable to find adequatechildcare or any responsible person to take care of their children during their working hours,

causing lowered productivity at work. Their job satisfaction is also affected. Some mothers

consistently arrive at work late and leave early in order to drop-off and pick-up their children at

day-cares or to any relative. Arriving and leaving work at irregular hours poses a threat to their job

security and lowers possibilities for promotions and bonuses.

Among such women perceptions of family-friendly organizational environment and Day Care

facility can lower absenteeism, reduce intention to turnover, increase job satisfaction, improve

affective commitment and enhance job involvement.

While if current scenario is taken mostly females workers are not provided with day care facilities

and feasible environment at a work place that immensely impacts their performance. Instead they

have to work as tough as male employees or even more as they have to do their work well before

time to get back to home on time.

2.6.1.3.Remedial Measures for Resolving Specific Female Problems:

There should be trained medical staff such as a nurse to first aid female workers in case of

emergencies.

Currently medical facilities provided are not sufficient and usually factories are having male

nurses/doctors to whom female workers hesitate to consult.

2.6.1.4.Protection from Sexual Harassment at Workplace:Sexual harassment is a form of discrimination as well it happens when one employee makes

continued, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical

conduct of a sexual nature, to another employee, against his or her wishes.

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Incidents of sexual harassment at work place are most often committed by people in authority who

are perceived to have the power to influence womens job security in the institution.

Female workers are usually reluctant to share such issues with anyone as they fear that their

families will get to know about it, their morality will be questioned, if the girl is unmarried then it

will be difficult to get her married. Generally when women, after all hurdles, take step to complaint

against sexual harassment, face victimization in the workplace. Such women are disrupted through

different tactics by other colleagues.

There is strong need to protect female worker from sexual harassment and convince them to break

the silence without any fears.

Government needs to explicitly identify the procedures and practices to solve the issue of sexual

harassment for women at work. There is a dire need for a legal framework to check the practice

and ensure a safe working environment for half of the countrys population.

An organization also has the responsibility to take each complaint of sexual harassment seriously

and investigate.

2.6.1.5.Maternity/Parental Leave Benefit:

Female workers must be provided with maternity paid leaves. But most of the time females have to

sacrifice from their jobs.

2.6.1.6.Shorter/Flexible Working Hours & Less Stressful Work:

Woman needs to find a comfortable balance between the kitchen and boardroom. The challenge of

balancing the demands and stress of a working life and family requirements is at best tricky. For

women the situation gets even trickier as their responsibilities include having to be homemakers,

wives and professionals all rolled into one, as well.

Therefore female employees should be facilitated with shorter/flexible working hours so they can

have margin to deal with both family and work. But unfortunately this not the case in real world

which is one major problem being faced by working women.

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2.6.2. Effect of Desirable Work Environment for Female:

Besides positive individual employee outcomes, perceptions of a desirable work environment for

female employees help in gender mainstreaming.

Advantages of gender mainstreaming for an organization include more gender diversity which in

turn improves competitiveness in acquisition of a skilled workforce and increases the

organizations internal capacity and ability to manage change.

Work attitudes of male and female employees are better in gender-balanced work environments

than in environments where gender parity is skewed in either direction.

2.6.3. Outcomes of Exploitative Working Environment for Females:

Inability to deal with gender diversity issues can produce many negative consequences for an

organization such as:

Losing competent female employees and having to sustain high cost to recruit and train their

replacements

Creating a reputation that the organization is not a good place to work;

An organizational climate in which effort digresses away from work performance toward politics

of how to attain justice

Inability of the management to create a good bond with female employees

2.6.4. Recommendations for Women Friendly Work Environment:

One should not assume that all women want to work; it is safe to say that women want to be given

the same freedom as men to choose to work if they want to and if they do choose to work, they

should have the same chance of finding decent jobs than men.

General guidelines for maintaining gender equity should be adapted according to specific needs of

each organization. However, provision of services such as separate toilets for male and female

staff, transport and daycare facilities should be made mandatory.

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Not only should there be wider broadcasting of information regarding opportunities for career

development of female employees, but the organizations should also actively encourage females to

take up these opportunities by facilitating them.

Gender sensitization training which aims to make workers more understanding and responsive of

womens need

Educated women with should be encouraged to work professionally.

Employers should promote equal treatment of men and women in the workplace in respect of

employment, remuneration, training and promotional opportunities in order to discourage risky

behavior amongst women workers who may be disadvantaged by any form of social exclusion

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CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY

3.1 PURPOSE STATEMENT:

To determine the perception of different working women about what the professional working ladies face

problems at work in Pakistan.

3.2 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

Do the salaries earned by women are lower as compared to men in the same position?

Do they need flexible work arrangements to successfully manage work and family life?

Are they provided little work-based support for family responsibilities?

Do the strongest and most explicit bias in todays workplace is against mothers, because it is believed that

they cant be both good mothers and good workers?

Do they need to provide more evidence of job related skills than the male counterparts before they are

viewed as competent?

In addition to being employed do they find their selves performing the majority of house hold

responsibilities?

3.3 HYPOTHESES:

The salaries earned by the women are lower as compared to men in the same position.

They need flexible work arrangements to successfully manage work and family life.

They are provided less work based support for family responsibilities.

It is a generic thought that mothers cant be both good mothers and good workers.

They need to provide more evidence of job related skills than the male counterparts before they are

viewed as competent.

The employed women in addition to their jobs perform the majority of house hold responsibilities.

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3.4 POPULATION:

Population is basically the sum of all the people inhabiting a specified area. It was too difficult for us to

attempt to survey all the members as all of us are working. So we choose a small, but carefully selected

sample that can be used to represent the population as the result reflects the characteristics of the

population on which our report is based on.

Our working places which includes Beaconhouse School System, Simens Pakistan, Al-karam textiles and

Ferguson where chosen as a survey place. The sample population which we targeted was the professional

working women in these working places.

3.5 SAMPLE:

The size of our sample is 40 with 10 from each firm. 10 questioners were distributed to each firm. In this

way we came to know the opinion of the working professional ladies in the age group of 25- 40.

3.6 PROCEDURE AND METHOD:

The research took 3 days to complete. We asked our participants to take out time for us as we explained

our purpose of research and explained them the questioners which they filled. It took an average 5 to 6

minutes to fill up the questionnaire by the participants. After the collection of data from our respective

working places one of our group members compiled the data and results.

3.7 ASSUMPTIONS:

Questions have been answered honestly

The participants are knowledgeable and aware of the research topic.

There were no bias views from the participants.

The questionnaire is valid according to our research.

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CHAPTER 04: ANALYSISQ1:

The salaries earned by women are lower as compared to men in the same

position.

Q1 Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly

Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 0 1 3 10 26 4.525

INTERPRETATION:

Average rate of 4.525 indicates it clearly that the most of the working women are in strong

agreement with the statement that their salaries are lower than the men in the same position.Our survey included multi nationals and local industries however the reply is same and

confirms the salary disparity among the men and women

29

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

StronglyDisagree

Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

QUESTION 1

Responses


30/45

Q2:

Women employees need flexible work arrangements to successfully manage

work and family life.

Q1 Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly

Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores0 1 4 14 21 4.375

INTERPRETATION:

The response to this question is in agreement to the given statement. Our survey included

women professionals however for Pakistani women her family is indeed a priority even if she

is a working women. Our religion and culture both have taught the life time lesson and has

built this quality among the woman that they manage their family life and their work life too.

Flexible working hours enable women to maintain the work life balance.

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

QUESTION 2

Responses


31/45

Q3:

You are provided little work-based support for family responsibilities.

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly

Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 0 2 1 12 25 4.50

INTERPRETATION:

It is evident from the average rate of 4.5 that women under go immense pressure for keeping

the balance between their profession and family responsibilities. They have a hard time as

they are not given provided with the support. Due to pressure her family life and professional

life may suffer and result in decreased output or low quality work.

Behavioral Sciences indicate that employees work efficiency can be increased by facilitating

them and accommodating their human requirements and responsibilities.

31

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


QUESTION 3

Responses


32/45

Q4:

The strongest and most explicit bias in todays workplace is against mothers,

because it is believed that they cant be both good mothers and good workers.

Responses

StronglyDisagre

e

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

StronglyAgree

(5)

AverageRate

Scores 0 1 9 16 14 4.075

INTERPRETATION:

The vote in strong agreement and agreement is evenly distributed. Results in neutral

category may infer that the responses are due to inexperienced situation. Still the average

score mentions that the women face problems against this natural fact that they can be a

mother at the same time they are a working women.

32

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Strongly

Disagree


QUESTION 4

Responses


33/45

Q5:

You have to provide more evidence of job related skills than your male

counterparts before you are viewed as competent.

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 1 6 5 20 8 3.70

INTERPRETATION:

The average rate shows that more than 50% of women are in agreement and

authenticate the problem that they have to justify their existence in the

organization by providing evidence of skills as compared to the male

colleagues. The responses in disagreement are most likely due to the industryor sector these women work in such as in education sector this may not be the

case.

33

0

5

10

15

20

25


QUESTION 5

Responses

0

5

10

15

20

25


QUESTION 5

Responses


34/45

Q6:

In addition to being employed women has to perform the majority of house

hold responsibilities.

Responses

StronglyDisagre

e

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

StronglyAgree

(5)

AverageRate

Scores 4 7 4 14 11 3.525

INTERPRETATION:

The result is not completely in agreement with the stated problem. This indicates towards thefact that in present era a number of working women has trend of keeping maids to perform

their house hold jobs. This also indicate the women empowerment that they are not only

there to perform house hold jobs once they are earning they may afford or contribute to their

family in difernt ways.

34

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16


QUESTION 6

Responses


35/45

Q7:

Family restrictions are the main reason behind females not doing jobs.

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 6 9 1 11 13 3.40

INTERPRETATION:

The result shows that the problem stated is not equally applicable to the complete women

working class. Our survey includes professional coming from different type of families and

back grounds. Karachi is a modern city with educated families, which understand the

importance of education and are in agreement with women employment and carrying out

their professions.

35

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14


QUESTION 7

Responses


36/45

Q8:

Females have less job opportunities then equally educated males.

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 1 2 0 9 28 4.525

INTERPRETATION:

The result indicates that all the sectors and industries have same situation for women

employment. However education is a sector where women are encouraged and employed but

gain for professional institutes and universities the competition becomes tough and the statedproblem is faced by women.

36

0

5

10

15

20

25

30


QUESTION 8

Responses


37/45

Q9:

Females do not prefer to work because of work place environment.

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 5 9 1 14 11 3.425

INTERPRETATION:

The result may be interpreted that the work place environment is not only the issue for

women not working. Votes in agreement and strong are still on the higher side. Our

population is from one of the biggest city of Pakistan where we have various multi nationals

working. Good Work place environment is one of the focus of organization and this

decreases the stated problem. However still there is a large number of organizations where

the stated problem is encountered by female employees.

37

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16


QUESTION 9

Responses


38/45

Q10:

Our society accepts and respects working women

Responses Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly Agree

(5)

Average

Rate

Scores 10 12 1 11 6 2.775

INTERPRETATION:

We belong to the culture where working women were not accepted in history. Over the

period of time the acceptance level has improved but the results still indicates that the

women worker still undergo this problem and mental pressure that she is not accepted and

respected for her efforts.

38

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

StronglyDisagree


QUESTION 10

Responses


39/45

APPENDIX

QUESTIONAIRE RESULTS IN TABULAR FORM

Question

Number

Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly

Agree

(5)

Total

Average

10 1 3 10 26 4.525

20 1 4 14 21 4.375

30 2 1 12 25 4.5

40 1 9 16 14 4.075

5

1 6 5 20 8 3.7

64 7 4 14 11 3.525

76 9 1 11 13 3.4

81 2 0 9 28 4.525

95 9 1 14 11 3.425

10 10 12 1 11 6 2.775

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QUESTIONAIRE

QUESTIONAIRE

Name:

Age:

Years of Professional Work Experience:

Industry:

Strongly

Disagree

(1)

Disagree

(2)

Neutral

(3)

Agree

(4)

Strongly

Agree

(5)

Total

Average

1The salaries earned by women arelower as compared to men in the same

position.

2

Women employees need flexible work

arrangements to successfully managework and family life.

3You are provided little work-basedsupport for family responsibilities.

4

The strongest and most explicit bias in

todays workplace is against mothers,because it is believed that they cant be

both good mothers and good workers.

5

You have to provide more evidence of

job related skills than your malecounterparts before you are viewed as

competent.

6

In addition to being employed women

has to perform the majority of house

hold responsibilities.

7Family restrictions are the main reason

behind females not doing jobs.

8Females have less job opportunities thenequally educated males.

9Females do not prefer to work because

of work place environment.

10

Our society accepts and respects

working women

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Table 1: Population Distribution & Growth Rate as

Estimated in 2008:

Source: FBS, various years, Pakistan labour force survey.

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Table 2: Labor Force Participation Rate (%) 2008:

Source: FBS, various years, Pakistan labor force survey.

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Table 3: Employment % by Sector:

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Table 4: Gender inequalities in various indicators in a

sample of countries (Male as percent of Female)

Source: World Bank, Social indicators

44


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REFERANCES

http://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/womenchal.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=working+women+problems

http://cws.emu.edu.tr/en/conferences/2nd_int/pdf/Iffat%20Hussain.pdf

http://www.policyproject.com/pubs/countryreports/ARH_Pakistan.pdf

http://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/9781847189165-sample.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtml

http://blogs.payscale.com/content/2008/09/working-girl-a.html

http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2005/q1/section3e.pdf

http://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Country_Briefing_Papers/Women_in_Pakistan/chap01.pdf

http://www.lmis.gov.pk/publications/PETFW.pdf

http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_10/16_Population.pdf

http://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/8%20FARIDA%20Perceptions%20of%20Work

%20Environment.pdf
http://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/womenchal.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=working+women+problemshttp://cws.emu.edu.tr/en/conferences/2nd_int/pdf/Iffat%20Hussain.pdfhttp://www.policyproject.com/pubs/countryreports/ARH_Pakistan.pdfhttp://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/9781847189165-sample.pdfhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtmlhttp://blogs.payscale.com/content/2008/09/working-girl-a.htmlhttp://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2005/q1/section3e.pdfhttp://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Country_Briefing_Papers/Women_in_Pakistan/chap01.pdfhttp://www.lmis.gov.pk/publications/PETFW.pdfhttp://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_10/16_Population.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/8%20FARIDA%20Perceptions%20of%20Work%20Environment.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/8%20FARIDA%20Perceptions%20of%20Work%20Environment.pdfhttp://www.businessknowhow.com/growth/womenchal.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=working+women+problemshttp://cws.emu.edu.tr/en/conferences/2nd_int/pdf/Iffat%20Hussain.pdfhttp://www.policyproject.com/pubs/countryreports/ARH_Pakistan.pdfhttp://www.c-s-p.org/flyers/9781847189165-sample.pdfhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_work_01.shtmlhttp://blogs.payscale.com/content/2008/09/working-girl-a.htmlhttp://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/rr2005/q1/section3e.pdfhttp://www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Country_Briefing_Papers/Women_in_Pakistan/chap01.pdfhttp://www.lmis.gov.pk/publications/PETFW.pdfhttp://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapter_10/16_Population.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/8%20FARIDA%20Perceptions%20of%20Work%20Environment.pdfhttp://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pesr/PDF-FILES/8%20FARIDA%20Perceptions%20of%20Work%20Environment.pdf

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