Women’s economic participation starts with mobility

Picture a woman in Karachi with a degree and a job offer. The workplace is several kilometres from her home, and getting there means walking to find transport, waiting for a bus or rickshaw and navigating a crowded commute. The journey may involve multiple connections, take considerable time and raise concerns about safety and convenience. She has to contend with these hassles twice a day, every working day.

For many women, these challenges can become a barrier to accepting a job. Pakistan’s Labour Force Survey 2024-25 puts women’s labour force participation at 22.7%, compared with 68.7% for men. In urban areas, the figure for women falls to 12.8%. The reasons are varied, from social expectations and limited employment opportunities to family responsibilities and workplace conditions. But mobility barriers also play a role and deserve greater attention.

Research suggests that improving access to mobility can make a measurable difference. In a 2025 working paper, economists from Duke University and the World Bank examined the effect of transport access on women seeking jobs in Lahore. When women were offered transport directly between home and work, their job applications increased by 70% from a low base. When the transport was women-only, applications rose by roughly 150%. The response was similarly strong among women who had not previously been looking for work.

The findings point to an important distinction. A woman may have the qualifications and willingness to work, yet the practical demands of getting to a workplace can prevent her from pursuing the opportunity. Mobility is not simply a matter of convenience. It can influence whether employment is a realistic option in the first place.

Over the years, the ride-hailing industry has stepped up to address these mobility gaps. By connecting passengers with drivers for trips to specific destinations, it has expanded people’s options. For women, this added flexibility can make it easier to plan their daily commute around work schedules and other commitments.

Ride-hailing has become an important part of how people move around cities, giving commuters another way to access employment, education and other opportunities. But mobility is not just about reaching a destination. Feeling safe along the way is equally important, particularly for women who may weigh personal safety when deciding whether to accept a job or travel independently.

At inDrive, we see this as part of our responsibility to make everyday mobility more accessible and to keep improving the safety tools available to our users. Passengers can review driver profiles, ratings and ride histories before choosing a driver, share trip details with family and access safety tools through the app.

In July, we rolled out trip audio recording across Pakistan through our Safety Centre. We also monitor rides for unusual pauses and route deviations and send notifications to riders and drivers when such activity is detected.

These measures give users additional tools and information during a journey, while recognising that safety requires continued attention and investment across the industry.

The ride-hailing industry has considerable room to grow in Pakistan. The proportion of the population using these services remains relatively small, at around 5%, compared with approximately 20% globally.

The industry has an opportunity to extend mobility access to more people. Its contribution should be understood not simply in terms of the number of rides completed, but in how it helps people reach work, universities, hospitals and other essential destinations.

For that contribution to grow, ride-hailing must be recognised as a necessity in people’s everyday lives, not merely a convenience. Policymakers can play a major part in creating an environment that enables the industry to expand responsibly and improve access to mobility.

If we want more women to participate in Pakistan’s economy, we must look beyond the workplace itself and consider what it takes to reach it. For many women, mobility is where the opportunity begins.

The article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Business Recorder or its owners.