By Amin Ahmed
Published in Dawn on July 17, 2025
• Gender pay gap at 25pc hourly, 30pc monthly
• Women make up only 13.5pc of workforce
ISLAMABAD: Women in wage employment earn substantially lower wages than their male counterparts in Pakistan, according to a report launched by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Wednesday.
The ‘Pakistan Gender Pay Gap Report 2025’ estimates the gender pay gap at approximately 25 per cent based on hourly wages and 30pc based on monthly wages. The gender pay gap in Pakistan is also significant by international standards. In comparison, lower-middle-income countries — the income group Pakistan falls under — have an average gender pay gap of 21pc based on monthly wages and 17pc based on hourly wages.
While launching the report, Secretary of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis Nadeem Aslam Chaudhary reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to ensuring equal pay for work of equal value.
He said the report and accompanying action plan represent a vital step towards identifying and addressing the barriers that hinder women’s participation in the economy.
This, he added, would support Pakistan in progressively fulfilling its obligations under the ratified ILO Convention on Equal Remuneration and the Convention on Discrimination.
ILO Country Director Geir Tonstol said: “We now have the evidence, the commitment, and the partnerships to move from promise to practice. The ILO stands ready to support Pakistan in advancing fair and transparent wage-setting systems, formalising informal work, and creating real opportunities for women across all sectors.”
Alongside a large gender pay gap, women’s employment is limited in Pakistan. In 2021, women’s employment rate was around 23pc compared to 79pc for men.
This reflects a gender gap in employment of 56 percentage points, higher than the gap in other countries in the South Asia region. This means that Pakistani women are substantially less likely than men to have paid jobs and that, even when they are in wage employment, women earn substantially lower than men.
The report also finds that women account for just 13.5pc of employees in Pakistan.
Data in the report also showed that women who are in wage employment are more likely than their male counterparts to have a high level of education.
Moreover, women employees are more likely than men to work in the public sector and in formal employment, as well as in jobs with permanent contracts, in professional occupations and in larger firms
