How Do Women Decide to Work in Pakistan?

The incidence of women labour force participation is very low in Pakistan. According to the Labour Force Survey, 1999-2000 female participation rate was merely 14 percent of the total labour force. Even though average annual growth rate of female labour force participation has been increasing slightly in Pakistan; it was 4 percent in 1980-99 and has gone up to 5.1 percent during 1995-98,1 however, this rate is still very low as compared to the other South Asian countries—42 percent in Bangladesh, 41 percent in Nepal, 32 percent in India and Bhutan, 37 percent in Sri Lanka [World Bank (2002)]. This paper is an attempt to identify household related factors that lead to women participation in the economic activities. This issue has been taken up in a number of other studies.2 The innovative aspect of this paper is that it relates women’s decision to participate in economic activities with their empowerment—who makes the decision to participate in the labour force—whether it is the women themselves or others. We would like to state at the very onset that this paper is a first cut to explore the issues of women’s participation in economic activities and their and empowerment. We hope to get feedback in the conference to improve the technical aspects of this paper and explore other aspects of this issue. Some key empirical findings of this paper are that the women economic participation is significantly influenced by factors such as their age, education and marital status. The employment status of the head of the household (generally a male), presence of male member, and children of ages 0–5 are also important variables that significantly affect women’s participation in economic activities. We identified marital status, education level, family size, household’s financial status and area of residence as the main causal factors behind women making their own decisions about paid employment.

Assessing Labour Market Vulnerability among Young People

Labour market performance in Pakistan has improved markedly in recent years. This paper examines the extent to which young people have benefited from this improvement, using the labour market vulnerability framework that was recently introduced by the ILO. This framework can be used to assess the difficulties young people face on the road to decent employment, and may also serve as a basis for the development of appropriate policies and interventions. Drawing on empirical evidence from various surveys, in particular the Labour Force Survey, we conclude that vulnerability among the youth has generally been reduced since 1999-2000. Vulnerability of women has been reduced through higher enrolment rates in education, and unemployment among both men and women has declined. Far less progress has been made in reducing vulnerability among the employed, and youth still face numerous obstacles that hamper the attainment of decent employment. The paper offers recommendations on the role of labour market information in reducing youth vulnerability. JEL classification: J40, J13 Keyword: Labour Market; Youth; Pakista

How Do Women Decide to Work in Pakistan?

The incidence of women labour force participation is very low in Pakistan. According to the Labour Force Survey, 1999-2000 female participation rate was merely 14 percent of the total labour force. Even though average annual growth rate of female labour force participation has been increasing slightly in Pakistan; it was 4 percent in 1980-99 and has gone up to 5.1 percent during 1995-98,1 however, this rate is still very low as compared to the other South Asian countries—42 percent in Bangladesh, 41 percent in Nepal, 32 percent in India and Bhutan, 37 percent in Sri Lanka [World Bank (2002)]. This paper is an attempt to identify household related factors that lead to women participation in the economic activities. This issue has been taken up in a number of other studies.2 The innovative aspect of this paper is that it relates women’s decision to participate in economic activities with their empowerment—who makes the decision to participate in the labour force—whether it is the women themselves or others. We would like to state at the very onset that this paper is a first cut to explore the issues of women’s participation in economic activities and their and empowerment. We hope to get feedback in the conference to improve the technical aspects of this paper and explore other aspects of this issue

Examining Effectuation Theory: Lessons for Entrepreneurial Activity in Developing Countries

Business development and utilization of indigenous resources is directly linked with the level of economic growth of any society. Globalization and innovation have made it challenging for developing countries to keep pace of business development to attain sustainable levels of economic growth. Developing counties are faced with the problems of non-conducive external business environment, complex business registration and taxation systems, scarcity of finance, technological support and logistics, and lack of managerial skills and financial advice. Enhancing entrepreneurial effectuation can enable the entrepreneurs of developing countries to successfully create such businesses that are not only efficient in resources utilization but also have a competitive outlook. Effectuation theory is best suited to the environment of developing countries as it enables the entrepreneurs to undertake affordable losses and in the face of uncertainty, create strategic partnerships and use the contingencies to their benefit. In order to achieve this end, the governments in developing countries can play a role of insurer and confidence booster for those entrepreneurs that can create value to the indigenous resources and create employment and competitiveness

Line × Tester Analysis for Earliness Yield and Yield Contributing Traits in Gossypium hirsutum L.

The present study was carried out at Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) Tando Jam during 2016. The experimental material consisted of six lines viz., CRIS-134, Sindh-1, Sadori, Malmal, IR-901 and three testers; Bt-3701, Bt-121 and CIM-534.The crosses were made in line × tester mating design. F1 hybrids along with parents were sown in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications in 2016. Seven yield and early maturing traits was recorded like, days to 1st flowering, days to 75% boll opening, plant height(cm), sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, seed cotton yield-1(g) and lint (%) for estimating of combining ability. The analysis of variance showed that genotypes, crosses, parents, parent vs crosses, lines, testers and line × tester were significant which demonstrated that genetic difference were present in genotypes for various yield and early maturing parameters. Among the lines, Sindh-1, CRIS-134 and testers, Bt-121 and Bt-3701 were best combiners and F1 hybrids like CRIS-134 × Bt-3701, Malmal × Bt-3701, CRIS-134 × Bt-121 were best combiners for all characters

Line × Tester Analysis for Earliness Yield and Yield Contributing Traits in Gossypium hirsutum L.

The present study was carried out at Agriculture Research Institute (ARI) Tando Jam during 2016. The experimental material consisted of six lines viz., CRIS-134, Sindh-1, Sadori, Malmal, IR-901 and three testers; Bt-3701, Bt-121 and CIM-534.The crosses were made in line × tester mating design. F1 hybrids along with parents were sown in Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications in 2016. Seven yield and early maturing traits was recorded like, days to 1st flowering, days to 75% boll opening, plant height(cm), sympodial branches plant-1, bolls plant-1, seed cotton yield-1(g) and lint (%) for estimating of combining ability. The analysis of variance showed that genotypes, crosses, parents, parent vs crosses, lines, testers and line × tester were significant which demonstrated that genetic difference were present in genotypes for various yield and early maturing parameters. Among the lines, Sindh-1, CRIS-134 and testers, Bt-121 and Bt-3701 were best combiners and F1 hybrids like CRIS-134 × Bt-3701, Malmal × Bt-3701, CRIS-134 × Bt-121 were best combiners for all characters

Characterization of Elite Upland Cotton Genotypes for Earliness and Yield Traits

Short duration cotton genotypes increased the chances to harvest crop before cold and rainy weather conditions. However, earliness in cotton is a difficult character, which is assessed by determining many plant traits. The current experimental was conducted at Cotton Section, A.R.I. Tando Jam, during kharif season 2013. The eight cotton genotypes including CRIS-342, Sindh-I, Haridost, Malmal, Bt-121, Bt-3701, TS-501 and Shahbaz were sown i n randomized complete block design with four replications. In a total, seven quantitative traits were measured such as days to first flowering, node number to set first sympodial branch, node number to set first flowering, sympodial branch length (cm), sympodial branches plant-1, number of bolls plant-1, seed cotton yield plant-1(g). The mean squares from analysis of variances showed that genotypes differed significant (P 0.01) for all the studied traits, demonstrating a vast genetic variability in tested genotypes. The genotypes, Sindh-1, CRIS-342, Bt-121 and Bt-3701 were characterized as early maturing or short duration cotton varieties. However, the correlation between yield and earliness traits were best criteria for developing the short duration cotton yield varieties

Characterization of Elite Upland Cotton Genotypes for Earliness and Yield Traits

Short duration cotton genotypes increased the chances to harvest crop before cold and rainy weather conditions. However, earliness in cotton is a difficult character, which is assessed by determining many plant traits. The current experimental was conducted at Cotton Section, A.R.I. Tando Jam, during kharif season 2013. The eight cotton genotypes including CRIS-342, Sindh-I, Haridost, Malmal, Bt-121, Bt-3701, TS-501 and Shahbaz were sown i n randomized complete block design with four replications. In a total, seven quantitative traits were measured such as days to first flowering, node number to set first sympodial branch, node number to set first flowering, sympodial branch length (cm), sympodial branches plant-1, number of bolls plant-1, seed cotton yield plant-1(g). The mean squares from analysis of variances showed that genotypes differed significant (P 0.01) for all the studied traits, demonstrating a vast genetic variability in tested genotypes. The genotypes, Sindh-1, CRIS-342, Bt-121 and Bt-3701 were characterized as early maturing or short duration cotton varieties. However, the correlation between yield and earliness traits were best criteria for developing the short duration cotton yield varieties

Influence of Varying Temperature on Life Stages of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) under Laboratory Conditions

A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the influence of different temperatures on life stages of Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) on frozen eggs of Sitotroga crealella. The study was conducted under laboratory conditions at | department of Plant Protection, SAU, Tandojam Sindh, Pakistan during 2013-14. The result revealed that the maximum hatching 88 % of eggs was recorded at 28 ºC followed by 25, 31, 22, 34 and 37 ºC. The highest mortality (dx) was recorded in first instar at 34 ºC followed by at 22, 31, 37, 25 and 28 ºC, whereas, minimum (dx) was recorded in third instar and pupal stages as well. The highest and lowest apparent mortality (100qx) was observed in the first instar and egg stages at 37 ºC. The data further depicted that the highest survival fraction (Sx) was recorded as (0.98) in second instar, third instar and pupa at 28 ºC, whereas, the lowest (Sx) was observed as (0.13) in the first instar at 37 ºC. The maximum indispensable mortality (IM) was 42 in egg stage at 37 ºC and lowest 1.0 in pupal stage at all temperature regimes. The number of the surviving at the beginning of the stage (lx) was highest 39 adults emerged at 28 ºC followed by 31, 24, 20 and 5 adults emerged at 25, 31, 22 and 34 ºC, respectively. On the other hand, minimum total generation mortality (K) was recorded as 0.11 at 28 ºC followed by 0.21, 0.32, 0.40, and 1.00 at 25, 31, 22 and 34 ºC, respectively. The minimum duration from egg to adult emergence was 12.0 days at 34 ºC and maximum 23.5 days at 22 ºC. There was significant difference between the duration and treatments (