The Gendered Organization of Work and Space in the Office Sector in Pakistan

Abstract

The article examines the increasing market integration of women, particularly from the lower middle classes, into technical and secretarial occupations in the office sector in urban Pakistan. It shows that gender constructs and gender relations inherent in the social order of Pakistani society - inter alia, the lack of socially sanctioned modes of communication between the sexes, a strong sexualization of gender relations outside the kinship system, and the ubiquitous harassment of women in the public sphere - surface inside the offices. Female office workers use many strategies to accommodate the purdah system and its concepts of gender segregation and female seclusion to the office environment, thereby establishing themselves in a traditionally male field of employment, namely, the office sector.