Pakistani couples: Different productive and reproductive realities?

Abstract

Gender system in Pakistan are posited to be unequal in favour of men, because of strong patriarchical systems which ordain that men and older persons make all major decisions. As a result, women's status is argued to be low in most dimensions: poor educational attainment, few economic opportunities apart from family-based employment, which is largely unpaid, and the virtual seclusion of women from the public spheres of life especially those involving financial transactions. Spheres of life are quite separate, with men having the primary responsibility of breadwinning and women to be primarily responsible for within-household routine chores such as those involving cleaning, cooking, animal care, and child care. We propose to look closely at the two spheres of production and reproduction in rural Pakistan. It uses responses from matched husbands and wives to test whether in fact there is a difference between spouses in their perceptions, goals, and orientation about production and reproduction. It is found that the spheres of men and women do overlap much more than they are likely to admit. Men, however, are the main decision-makers in both spheres, though women are increasingly able to make decisions autonomously, if they are older, live in a nuclear family, and in a locality which is more exposed to modern influences. The type of employment is important in discerning whether it is associated with empowerment: paid employment outside the home leads to higher decision-making in the outside sphere and higher mobility, while women in home-based employment are likely to be more assertive in expressing their desire to stop childbearing.