Female Participation in Housing Activities: Some Assessment ofthe Socio-economic and Cultural Impact

The economic and social importance of shelter provision isuniversally wellestablished. For an individuaVfamily the acquisition ofshelter is, on the basis of its financial magnitude, among the mostcritical economic decisions. This decision is usually permanent and inmost cases made once-in-a-lifetime. The importance of housing decisionis even more pronounced for women in Pakistan, as a vast majority ofthem are classified as ‘housewives’ and thus considered responsible forthe up-keep of the house. The quality of housing, therefore, is taken asbeing reflective of their competence and, hence, social status. It is inview of the foregoing that one expects an extensive and willingparticipation of women in housing activities. However, a number ofsocio-economic and cultural factors constrain this participation. Thepurpose of this paper is to assess the impact (positive and negative) ofsocio-economic and cultural factors upon female participation in housingactivities in Pakistan. The study is divided into the followingsections: Section I highlights the role of women in the housingactivities, emphasising the types of participation, the nature ofactivities in which women generally participate and the varioussocio-cultural and economic factors which influence this participation.Section II presents the methodology and data. Section III contains theresults and the conclusion.