‘Childcare, gender equality ensure high productivity’

Women constitute almost half the population in Pakistan and it is essential that they be included in the workforce to stimulate and boost the economy for posterity. In a recent survey conducted by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, of 140 employers in Pakistan it was discovered that 27 per cent offer child care support to their employees.

Furthermore, among those that offer childcare, almost all report positive outcomes for businesses, employees, and society.

Participating employers, including 13 companies that joined an IFC-led peer-learning collaboration and made commitments to become more family-friendly employers, cited improvements in employee retention and productivity, even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic .

However, 48 percent of employers who do not provide childcare support in the survey said they do not see the need nor the benefit of doing so, pointing to low levels of awareness about the business case for employer-supported childcare.

Increasing women’s employment is one of Pakistan’s national development goals. In 2020, according to data from the International Labour Organisation, less than 23 percent of Pakistani women of working age were part of the labour force, the lowest rate in the region and one of the lowest in the world.

Raising this rate in line with the country’s development objectives will require cross-sector collaboration and approaches, including a focus on employer-supported childcare, paid maternity and paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, safe transportation, and other family-friendly policies.

The findings are discussed in two new reports released as part of IFC’s 'Tackling Childcare Pakistan' initiative. “Despite the devastating impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on businesses, these employers found that creating family-friendly workplaces was critical to protect the wellbeing of workers as well as ensure business continuity,” said Shabana Khawar, IFC’s Principal Country Officer for Pakistan.

“IFC’s global research shows that significant opportunities exist for the private sector when leaders view childcare and other family-friendly policies as an investment rather than a cost,” she added.

According to Pakistan Business Council (PBC) CEO Ehsan Malik, in Pakistan, where women do 90 percent of unpaid care work, access to affordable childcare for them is critical for the country’s future development and also for business productivity.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2021.