ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a backdrop to the sociocultural environment in which pharmaceutical manufacturing grew in the Punjab. The indigenous pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is of fairly origin, for few firms were operating in this northwest comer of the South Asian subcontinent prior to Partition in 1947. Though the exigencies of Partition caused much of the traditional society to undergo change, it was unclear whether the increased usage of allopathic pharmaceuticals would be welcomed as part of that change. As Gary Gereffi has documented, the goals of many transnational pharmaceutical firms are often at variance with those of the state in the Third World. Many of the contemporary leaders of this industry have made the transition from traditional orientations towards work and trading to modern forms of industrial management and expansion. Relations with male factory workers are integrated into a traditional pattern. There are many contradictions inherent in women’s working in factories, though often they are resolved in a traditional manner.
