Gender Inequality in the Public Sector

in Pakistan
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 Gender Inequality in the
Public Sector in Pakistan
Representation and Distribution
of Resources

Khalid Chauhan
gender inequality in the public sector in pakistan
Copyright © Khalid Chauhan, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-42646-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-49083-7 ISBN 978-1-137-42647-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137426475
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: August 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 To my mother for her selfless contribution toward the
education of many a poor girl, and her vision that we must
get involved in turning people’s lives around and giving them
hope for a better future.
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 Contents

List of Tables ix
Preface xi
List of Abbreviations xv

Chapter 1 Introduction 1
Chapter 2 Gender and Development 13
Chapter 3 From Gender Mainstreaming to Training 41
Chapter 4 Patriarchal Pakistan: Women’s Representation,
Access to Resources, and Institutional Practices 57
Chapter 5 Echoes of Patriarchal Benevolence, Fierce Resistance
to Equality, and Institutional Inertia 89
Chapter 6 Gender Inequality: The Effect of Patriarchy 133
Chapter 7 Conclusion 155

Appendix 1 Interview Questionnaire 165

Appendix 2 The General Linear Model Used in the Research 169
Notes 171
References 191
Index 223
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 Tables

4.1 Federal government civil servants by gender and service level 60

4.2 Federal government divisions/organizations,
gender, and management levels 61
5.1 Support for quotas for women, percentage of opinions
by location and gender 91
5.2 Support for quotas for women, percentage of opinions
by organization and training 95
5.3 Support for quotas for women, public
service levels, and training 99
5.4 Percentage demand for changes in policies 101
5.5 Need for change in policies and practices,
percentage responses by organizations 105
5.6 Need for women-specific strategies by level of
employees and training 109
5.7 Gender meetings held in two years 112
5.8 Time spent on gender issues in 30 days 115
5.9 Time spent on gender issues by level of employees 118
5.10 Perceptions on gender discrimination 120
5.11 Cases of discrimination 125
5.12 Perceptions on sexual harassment 126
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 Preface

T
his book examines the problem of gender inequality in the public
sector of Pakistan in relation to the increasingly applied develop-
ment solution of gender training of public sector employees. The
three main development approaches, that is, Women in Development
(WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development
(GAD), and the corresponding labor market theories of gender
­inequality—social, economic, and political—consider the ­solution to the
problem of gender inequality to be, respectively, the integration of women
in institutions, women’s access to economic resources, and the reorgani-
zation of gender relations through dismantling of entrenched patriarchy.
In practice, gender training has increasingly become the development
­solution and there is a belief that training will result in institutional
transformation and the elimination of gender inequality.
The research for this book was concerned with how gender training
relates to the problem of gender inequality in terms of issues of women’s low
representation, access to resources, and institutional policies and practices.
Interviews of 198 public sector employees in Pakistan were conducted to
seek their views on increase in women’s representation as a vehicle for prog-
ress toward gender equality; the changes and policies that might be required
for gender equality; and the changes that might have occurred as a result of
gender training showing signs of progress toward gender equality. The data
captured the views of both male and female employees, with and without
gender training, belonging to two geographic locations, ten organizations,
and at three levels within the organizations.
The book shares some interesting findings such as, rather then creating
congenial environment and a desire to promote gender equality, training
xii   l   Preface

provoked and reflected inherent resistance to women’s representation and

access to resources. Training did not bring about significant changes in
practices of research participants to show that it had promoted equality,
instead practices training promoted continued to be determined by insti-
tutional inertia caused by existing/unchanged organizational policies.
Similarly, an interesting finding was of a contest between the opposing
interests of men and women about the issues of women’s representation
and access to resources: both men and women in junior-management lev-
els unequivocally opposed steps for any increase in the representation of
women in organizations through quotas; women asked for greater access to
institutional and social resources; men in similar positions opposed women’s
greater access to institutional and social resources. These findings point out
that gender inequality is inherently political and willingness to promote it
would be deterred if it clashed with the interest of individuals regardless of
their gender. This finding was also supported by the finding of what I call
“Patriarchal benevolence” shown by men in senior-management positions in
their support for increased women’s representation and resources, because
their elite status was not challenged by interventions at the lower level, and
such a move did not clash with their interest. There were not any signs of
transformation in organizational practices after gender training and as a
result gender-trained research participants merely returned to work in the
same old existing patriarchal male-dominated public sector.
These findings seek a refocus of development interventions by suggest-
ing that it would be naive to think that more and better training can cure
the problem of gender inequality, or that women’s low representation and
limited access to resources are the standalone causes of gender inequality, as
assumed in the WID and WAD approaches to development. Instead, there
is a need to think of women’s low representation and less access to insti-
tutional resources as the effects of the patriarchal control of institutions,
by the vested interests, mainly the men. The political theories of gender
inequality in the labor market and gender inequality as a political problem
around the issue of interest are supported. While training is important,
the problem of gender inequality first requires political interventions cast
around changing the patriarchal processes, policies, and procedures that
secure the vested interests of the few, mainly men, and thus disenfranchise
majority of women. At a time when there is an increased focus on develop-
ment-aid effectiveness and results-based management, to achieve progress
 Preface   l   xiii

toward the goal of gender equality, rather than the amount and numbers
of gender s­ ensitivity trainings, development agencies, government, and the
NGOs must consider and focus simultaneously on the extent of women’s
equitable representation, their access to resources, and equity-oriented
­policy frameworks as indicators of progress toward gender equality.
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 Abbreviations

AASHA Alliance against Sexual Harassment

ADB Asian Development Bank
AJK Azad Jammu and Kashmir
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
BPS Basic Pay Scale
CBOs Community-based organizations
CCA Cabinet Committee on Agriculture
CCE Cabinet Committee on Energy
CCOI Cabinet Committee on Investment
CCOP Cabinet Committee on Privatization
CCRB Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Bodies
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women
CGA Country Gender Assessment
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
COE Council of Europe
CPS Country partnership strategy
CSP Civil Service of Pakistan
ESTACODE Civil Establishment Code
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Areas
GABRIELA General Assembly Binding Women for Reforms,
Integrity, Equality, Leadership and Action
GAD Gender and Development
GBG Gender Based Governance Systems
GDP Gross domestic product
GGI Gender-gap index
xvi   l   Abbreviations

GMP&DD Gender Mainstreaming in Planning and Development

Project
GOP Government of Pakistan
GRAP Gender Reform Action Plan
GSP Gender Support Program
HRCP Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
ICG International Crisis Group
ICPD International Conference on Population and
Development
INGOs International nongovernmental organizations
INSTRAW International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women
KPK Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
NCGR National Commission for Government Reforms
NGOs Nongovernmental organizations
NORAD Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
NTCIP National Trade Corridor Improvement Program
NWFP North West Frontier Province
PPAF Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund
PRM Pakistan’s Resident Mission
PWNG Women’s National Guard
PWNR Pakistan Women’s Naval Reserve
RHRP Rural Housing Reconstruction Program
RNE Royal Netherland Embassy
RWGD Rural Women’s General Directorate
SEWA Self Employed Women’s Association
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences
SSCC Social Sector Coordination Committee of the Cabinet
UN United Nations
UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WAD Women and Development
WID Women in Development
WPS Women Political School