ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the Pakistani context for women's entrepreneurship, including its policies. It draws on extensive secondary materials from different public and policy sources in Pakistan, published in Urdu or English, and other internationally published references. The chapter describes an overview of how the current formal institutional context in Pakistan emerged in relation to entrepreneurship and gender issues. It explains some core characteristics of the country's patriarchy which as informal institution constrains women entrepreneurs in practice. The gender gap in entrepreneurship refers to the difference between men and women in terms of numbers engaged in entrepreneurial activity, motives to start or run a business, industry choice and business performance and growth. The low rate of women's entrepreneurship in Pakistan rather appears to be a consequence of two phenomena, namely the formal institutional environment regarding gender equality and entrepreneurship as well as the informal institutional set-up restricting the role of women in Pakistani society.
