Beyond Welfare? Civil Society Organizations and Structural Constraints to Women’s Economic Empowerment in Pakistan

Abstract

Despite the increasing participation of civil society organizations and development initiatives, women's economic empowerment in Pakistan remains limited due to the ongoing structural inequalities. Current strategies have mainly been directed towards welfare provision, vocational assistance, and microfinance schemes, but women's employment is still highly skewed towards the informal sector, they are still financially marginalized, and socially excluded. This study critically explores the role and constraints of civil society organizations in addressing economic vulnerabilities of women in Pakistan. The paper draws on Feminist Political Economy Theory and uses a qualitative exploratory design using thematic analysis of secondary sources such as reports from the World Bank, International Labor Organization (ILO), Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), government policy documents and academic literature. Special focus is placed on organizations like the All Pakistan Women's Association (APWA), Kashf Foundation, Aurat Foundation and Akhuwat. The results indicate that CSOs have made a significant impact on the provision of localized welfare support, vocational training, legal awareness and some financial inclusion programs. But these interventions are still limited by reliance on donors, lack of institutional coordination, poor labor protection, and lack of structural reform. The paper suggests that the majority of the empowerment programmes run by NGOs in Pakistan are welfare-based, which reduces the short-term risks faced by women, but fails to significantly change the structural conditions that create gendered economic inequality. The study adds to the discussion on gender and development by critically examining the institutional constraints of civil society empowerment models in Pakistan and its relationship with women's economic marginalization.