Threading Change: Women Leading in Pakistan’s Textile Sector

Insights from Phase 1 of the Women Leadership Programme

Written by Mahjabeen Bilal

The textile industry in Pakistan is one of the largest export-led industries in the country, employing 40% of  the workforce[1]. It is a key player in Pakistan’s economy and significantly contributes to 60% of the country’s exports and industry growth, accounting for the largest skilled workforce that includes women; however, there is a limited talent pool of women available for hiring in the textile industry due to systematic irregularities and underutilisation of the female workforce. Most women hold blue-collar positions, which offer limited scope for financial development in addition to limited opportunities for mobility in terms of career opportunities and professional growth.

Women in Pakistan face a variety of socioeconomic, political, and cultural barriers to their development, which significantly impact their quality of life. Historically, the textile industry has faced challenges regarding gender equality, working conditions, and recognition of women’s labour. As part of the Women Leadership Programme, supported by GIZ Pakistan and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the LUMS Centre for Entrepreneurship (LCE) is collaborating with factories across Punjab to improve women’s career mobility, focusing on imparting soft skills on leadership, creating agents of change that can support greater gender-sensitive decision-making, and encouraging more females to join the industry.

The GIZ Women Leadership Programme (WLP) is designed to equip participants with the practical skills, strategies, and confidence needed to step into leadership roles. This project offers trainings that are a structured yet interactive learning experience, focusing on real-world problem-solving, financial decision-making, negotiation tactics, team management, and workplace equity. Through engaging discussions, hands-on activities, and industry-relevant case studies, participants will gain insights that go beyond theory, helping them take actionable steps toward professional growth. The training provides a platform to connect, learn, and develop leadership capabilities that will drive both individual success and broader industry change.

During Phase 1 of the project, the LCE team conducted onsite needs assessments with textile industry employees and provided an awareness session to higher management. The aim of the needs assessment activities was to understand both top-down and bottom-up challenges to women’s career growth. Insights from these activities informed the instructional design and development of the training content. The aim was to integrate these learnings to create tailored leadership curricula that addressed locational, cultural, educational, and industry-specific challenges that these women face.

Phase 1 covered five cities: Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot. There were 110 women, and 55 executives across 31 factories participated in the need assessment surveys and focus groups onboarded from  the aforementioned cities in this program.

Our needs assessment activities provided us with nuanced insights relevant to the textile industry with an added layer of city-specific context. The focus groups highlighted issues such as lack of confidence and  lack of autonomy in male-dominated environments entrenched in cultural stereotypes. Women shared that prejudices regarding work-life balance and what is culturally expected of women often constrain their career growth. These challenges are not isolated but are situated within a broader socio-economic context where this intersection of gender, labour, and culture plays out. For example, caregiving and domestic responsibilities are disproportionately placed on female family members, which impacts their work-life balance. Women also spoke about the gender bias involved in the promotional processes and raised concerns regarding psychological safety, due to which many women reported having internalised insecurities regarding the way they present themselves at work.

“Self-doubt is real. We don’t even ask for promotions because we feel we’re not good enough.” — Textile Worker, Lahore

Similarly, the workshops with the textile executives provided important insights into the kind of barriers women have to face in their career advancement, including organizational culture, harassment, and the presence or absence of mentorship programs. Individuals from decision-making roles spoke about how company culture is significantly determined at the “top” and relies heavily on the leadership’s attitude towards women’s development. Executives from larger, export-oriented firms suggested greater exposure and willingness to invest in women’s professional development, while representatives from mid/smaller companies spoke about the “Seth” (male company founder) culture dominating decision-making. Executives reported that investing in leadership training for women led to measurable improvements in their performance as well as the overall workplace morale and culture.

“Women tend to be more focused and exhibit higher productivity.” — Executive Workshop, Sialkot

“Women in leadership roles tend to exhibit higher levels of commitment and empathy.” — Executive Workshop, Lahore

The findings from the needs assessment surveys showed a high interest in career growth across cities, with 100% of the women in Karachi expressing interest in leadership roles. Across cities, participants stated their main motivation for job mobility was financial benefits. Additional motivators included learning, skill acquisition, and appreciation. The main systematic barriers identified were a vacuum in mentorship, unclear promotion policies and career pathways, and a lack of developmental support.

Through our primary research surveys, it was found that women have limited participation in managerial positions, due to which, overall, there was a low interest in technical or skill training. Participants were more inclined towards training that helps them acquire soft skills such as emotional intelligence to help overcome insecurities and be more resilient; effective communication and negotiations to communicate effectively and assert themselves; and lastly, conflict resolution and workplace navigation to help navigate the conflict and prejudice in the workplace. These skills were  perceived to help them communicate more effectively and strengthen their positions in the workplace.  By focusing on these trainings, LCE’s Women Leadership Programme expects to put in place immediate micro interventions by overcoming bottlenecks and hopes to facilitate short- term behavioural changes to influence organizational culture in the long run.

The LCE team faced operational and cultural barriers to women’s participation during the training through this phase of the program. This included factories not releasing female employees for trainings due to either cultural constraints or lack of availability. City-to-city barriers and the size of the textile company were also a determinant of participation—smaller companies showed more resistance to sending in women without male guardians; others did not have enough workforce to spare female workers to go attend these sessions. It was also found that institutional biases were present when it came to factories investing in future leadership trainings, which posed as a challenge due to the lack of diversity amongst participants.

While soft skills development is essential to empower women to navigate barriers at the workplace, considering the top-down culture of the textile industry, sustainable change eventually depends on macro interventions through long-term policy reform. Company executives need to invest in organizational structures that support women’s career progression, alleviate the socioeconomic barriers to entry, and provide opportunities for capacity-building that in turn lead to an environment where women can excel. Yet, interventions such as the LUMS Women Leadership Programme supported by GIZ play an important role in bringing about cultural change—by exposing participants to tailored capacity building training on soft skills, individual agents of change are empowered. Participants will learn how leadership skills can be effectively utilised to advocate for more diverse, enabling work environments thereby acting as role models within their respective companies and social circles at large.

[1] https://ebiz.punjab.gov.pk/textile