Work, Gender, and Well-Being: An Empirical Study of Working Women in a Patriarchal Society

Abstract

Women labor market participation in Pakistan is phenomenally low. Those women who have somehow managed to make into the job market after overcoming numerous odds. Therefore, retention of women in labor force is a daunting task, despite aggressive organizational reward and recognition programs in place. In this study, we attempt to assess the effects of rewards (monetary benefits) and recognition (non-monetary benefits) on the job satisfaction and/or happiness among the working women, both in the absence or presence of various odds and hurdles faced by the by the working women. We predict women job satisfaction and/or happiness in two different scenarios, i.e. absence and presence of odds. To achieve our objectives, we use original micro-data, collected through random sampling, from over 600 respondents. We assess the effects of rewards and recognition on the job satisfaction and/or happiness, both in the presence and/or absence of the odds and hurdles i.e. constrained and unconstrained analysis. We find that rewards and recognition are effective, both constrained and unconstrained scenarios but the former has diminishing effects on the job satisfaction and/or happiness.