ISLAMABAD: Women in wage employment in Pakistan earn nearly 30 percent less per month than men despite often having higher levels of education and working full time, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), one of the most comprehensive studies of the country’s gender pay gap to date.

Published in July 2025, the ‘Gender Pay Gap in Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis’ found that on average, women earn 25 percent less per hour and 30 percent less per month than male counterparts, “even when they have similar qualifications and experience, and are employed in comparable roles.”

“The magnitude of the gender pay gap in Pakistan is among the highest when compared to other lower-middle-income countries,” the ILO said.

The study used data from Pakistan’s Labour Force Surveys from 2013 to 2021, examining hourly, monthly and annual earnings across public and private sectors, including both formal and informal employment. The authors concluded that the wage disparity is only partially explained by observable factors such as age, education, occupation and hours worked.

“The majority of the wage gap between men and women in Pakistan remains unexplained, suggesting that discrimination or other unmeasured factors may be at play,” the report said.

The wage gap is also compounded by extremely low female participation in the labor force. 

According to the report, women account for just 13.5 percent of wage employees, despite making up nearly half the working-age population.

As of 2021, the female employment rate stood at 23 percent, compared to 79 percent for men.

“The overall employment gap — defined as the difference in employment-to-population ratios between men and women — has hovered at 56 percentage points over the last decade,” the report found, adding that women face “multiple challenges when entering, staying in, and progressing in wage employment.”

In many cases, the ILO noted, women with higher levels of education still earned significantly less than men with similar or even lower qualifications, “indicating entrenched biases in hiring and promotion decisions.”

INFORMAL SECTOR

The study found that the gender pay gap is widest in the informal sector, where women earn over 40 percent less per hour than men. In the formal private sector, the gap is slightly narrower, and lowest in the public sector, where wage structures are regulated and pay scales standardized.

“The informal sector, where a significant proportion of women are employed, exhibits the highest gender pay gap, primarily due to the lack of oversight, low unionization, and absence of formal wage-setting mechanisms,” the report said.

The ILO also cited the impact of occupational segregation. Women are underrepresented in higher-paying roles and overrepresented in sectors such as domestic work, education, and agriculture, which are often undervalued.

To address these gaps, the report outlines a number of recommendations, including expanding formal employment opportunities for women, enforcing minimum wage laws and pay transparency measures and developing gender-responsive social protection systems. It also recommends strengthening labor inspection and legal enforcement, particularly in the informal sector, and investing in sex-disaggregated data collection to better monitor wage trends and disparities.

The ILO also urged Pakistan to ratify and implement international conventions on equal pay and non-discrimination, including ILO Convention No. 100 (Equal Remuneration) and No. 111 (Discrimination in Employment and Occupation).

The report underscores that eliminating gender-based wage disparities is not only a matter of justice, but also critical for boosting economic productivity and household welfare.

“Addressing the gender pay gap is essential to achieving inclusive economic growth and meeting Pakistan’s commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals,” the ILO concluded.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan plans to overhaul its pilgrimage travel policy to Iraq, Iran and Syria after authorities confirmed that around 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims went missing or overstayed in the three countries over the past decade, raising serious diplomatic and security concerns, a senior immigration official said. 

Each year, thousands of Pakistani Shia pilgrims travel to regional religious shrines, but host governments have repeatedly flagged the issue of undocumented or unreturned visitors. The problem resurfaced this week after Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf revealed that 40,000 Pakistani pilgrims had either overstayed or gone missing in these countries without any official record of their whereabouts.

In response, authorities have scrapped the long-standing “Salar system,” in which private group leaders managed travel logistics, and are introducing a new centralized, computerized structure to track and regulate pilgrim movement more effectively.

“Approximately 40,000 of the pilgrims who went on pilgrimage in Iraq, Iran, and Syria never returned during the last almost one decade,” Mustafa Jamal Kazi, Director General of Immigration and Passports, told Arab News.

He said most of the disappearances occurred in Iraq and that Pakistani authorities had formally requested details from the Iraqi government. 

Once confirmed, passports of the missing individuals will be digitally and physically blocked, and they will be placed on the border control list.

“Last year, 50 such individuals were deported from Iraq, and we have taken further action against them,” Kazi said.

He added that the lure of employment in Iraq’s booming construction sector, bonded labor involving women, and the exploitation of religious tourism for begging were among the most common motives for absconding.

To curb the trend, a new Ziyarat Management Policy has been finalized, after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi discussed the plan during a recent pilgrimage coordination meeting in Iran.

Under the new policy, pilgrims will only be allowed to travel in organized groups, and licensed tour operators will be held directly responsible for ensuring that all group members return to Pakistan before their visas expire.

Any operator found violating the policy or failing to ensure the return of all pilgrims will have their license canceled.

Only tour operators that meet new regulatory standards will be registered as Ziyarat Group Organizers (ZGOs), according to the religious affairs ministry, which said the new system would fully replace the traditional, unregulated Qafila Salar model.

“Due to the lack of proper data regarding the number of pilgrims, travel schedules, and their return after completing the pilgrimage, various concerns have been raised by host countries and relevant institutions,” the religious ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The new registration process, approved by the federal cabinet, will enable more effective monitoring of pilgrimage traffic and prevent individuals from using religious travel as a cover for illegal migration or unauthorized cross-border movement.

The ministry said all pilgrimages would now be conducted under a structured system led by government-registered Ziyarat Group Organizers (ZGOs), which would also “help curb illegal stays in host countries or any attempts to cross into neighboring countries under the guise of religious pilgrimage.”