PurposeThis paper is an attempt to analyze the study of low female work participation rate in Pakistan due to the religious, traditional, cultural values, the colonial ideology and the evolution of social institution that restrain women entry into the labour market.Design/methodology/approachIn order to explore the objectives, the paper develops the classification of male and female age groups into three main categories, and analyze with the help of descriptive and mean methodology.FindingsThe findings of this paper show that the women are suffering from market discrimination and hence are pushed to separate low‐paid and low‐status jobs. Majority of women are employed in the unorganized sectors. Mostly, women are concentrated in sector known for low level of productivity, less income stability and low security of employment due to their dual role at home and workplace. Organized services sector is mostly government services, and provides employment to a small proportion of women. The rate of unemployment among women is consistently higher than that of men, both in rural and urban areas.Research limitations/implicationsThe statistics are reflective of two hard‐core realities. The first factor is that women with no education or with some basic education are allowed to work due to intensive poverty and high rate of inflation; and the second factor is that the existing socio‐cultural norms continues to strengthen gender discrimination and are a source of a massive wastage of the human capital available in the country.Practical implicationsAn analysis of structure of women employment reveals some qualitative improvement in the employment, due to high literacy rate and educational levels.Social implicationsIncreasing levels of female labour force participation rate is a poverty‐induced phenomenon; a larger part is to be traced by improvement in literacy and education levels of women. There is some qualitative improvement in the employment, as women's share in secure and better paid jobs in the organized sector appears to be higher. With the increase in educational levels of women, faster growth of women's employment is observed in modern sectors and white‐collar jobs. Government machinery, non‐governmental organizations and progressive political parties should focus on the education of women if they want to enhance the status of women in Pakistan by implementing special schemes and programmes for absorbing them into different occupations, particularly in organized sector so as to improve their structures of employment as well as status of jobs.Originality/valueClassification of male and female age groups is done into three main categories, i.e. age ten to 14, 25‐29 and 55‐59 for young, adult and old groups, respectively. This paper provides the clear picture of women problems and causes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to obtain empirical evidence on the impacts of socio-economic and demographic factors on the fertility decisions taken by a common family in developing countries like Pakistan. Also, this study contravenes the conventional orthodoxy of childbirth decisions of a family by enlarging the canvas and conjectures the fundamental nexus amongst female’s education, fertility and contraceptive use. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on micro-level data, obtained from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (2012-2013) which is the third survey carried out in Pakistan. Demographic and socio-economic profiles of 13,558 ever-married women, aged 15-49 years, were randomly selected from Gilgit Baltistan and the four provinces of Pakistan. Three dependent variables are used in empirical analysis i.e. current use of contraceptives, total fertility and cumulative fertility. In order to estimate the probability of contraceptive use maximum likelihood, Probit technique is employed with ordinary least squares on reduced form specifications of total fertility and cumulative fertility models. Findings The empirical results proved the hypotheses that educated females practice more family planning through modern contraceptives which leads to a decrease in total fertility rates. Some significant links among females’ education, contraceptive use and fertility define the quantity – quality trade-off and opportunity cost of time. Evidently, female education provides maturity and awareness of family size which is necessary to take crucial economic decisions. Research limitations/implications The empirical evidence suggests that maximum efforts should be made toward women’s education. The current standard of education in Pakistan is not enough to overcome the long-standing problem of excessive child birth. This could be done with the help of public – private partnership as the measures taken by the government alone are insufficient. The government should initiate some adequate measures such as education and awareness about contraceptive usage at the secondary school level that could be a vivacious step to support fertility reduction. Practical implications The framework used in this study provides a broader intra-household income–expenditure approach. With a smaller family size, the household’s income would be shared among fewer individuals. It is highly probable that parents would be more attentive if they need to look after a few children. That is the best way to progress their children with limited resources. Social implications From the socioeconomic perspectives, educated parents plan the ideal family size which allows them to spend more on their children’s upbringing. Originality/value This study captures the magnitude of fertility decisions with the relevance of the wife’s education because the present practice in Pakistan does not allow higher education for married women. This is why this study could be used as a benchmark for further study in the same area.

Purpose of the study: This paper primarily aims to recognize, develop, and examine the impacts of spouses’ education and maternal health status in cooperation with a variety of other covariates (demographic, social, economic, cultural, and attitudinal) on fertility in Pakistan. Methodology: This study mainly aimed to discover how spouse’s education and maternal health inputs help in controlling high fertility using four data sets of Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (1990-91, 2006-07, 2012-13 and 2017-18) through count data model (Poisson regression). Main Findings: Our empirical results proved the hypotheses that educated spouses and healthy mothers practice family planning tools (contraceptives) to lower down the total fertility rates. Application of this study: Educated husband and wife will keep their family size smaller to devote more on children’s nutrition, health, and education. In general, rise in intentional birth control method make the education policy more helpful in reducing fertility. Findings draw government attention for embarking on public enlightenment campaigns to generate wakefulness regarding the long-term significance of fertility regulation in Pakistan. Novelty/Originality: The study is one of its kind because it attempted to explore the link among spouse’s education, maternal health inputs, and child’s health outcomes with fertility that could be used to benchmark for additional research in Pakistan.