A Case Study of Pakistan Determinants of Female Labour Force in South Asia of such investment. In this case, the direct costs would involve, for instance, university fees etc., and the benefits would be good employment prospects so on and so forth. Hence, a rational individual would weigh the two sides and invest in human capital if the value gained would exceed the cost incurred. One major factor that would influence this cost-benefit analysis is the unpaid care work. So, it is very important that an analysis of paid and unpaid work be carried out to better understand FLFP for which the theory of labour supply can be useful. 3.2. Theory of Labour Supply The traditional neoclassicals through their theory of labour supply analyze the decision for LFP by women through the framework of allocation of time between paid work and leisure. An individual is faced with the choice of either market activities that provide income or leisure that provides utility. Since time is a limited resource, the individual faces the tradeoff between the two. The labour supply decision is reached by choosing an optimal allocation between the two alternatives which maximizes one’s utility. Psacharopoulos and Tzannatos(1989) further explain this model, highlighting an opportunity cost involved in choosing one alternative over the other. For instance, spending too much time on leisure is costly in terms of lost income from working in a market economy. Hence, if the remuneration from work is higher than the gains in utility then an individual may choose to participate in the labour market. Hence, higher wage rates(possibly from the higher education) encourage people and stimulate higher participation. However, this labour supply decision is based on women’s preferences, tastes and personal characteristics such as race, age, marital status etc.(Sprague, 1994). This explains that even if two individuals are offered the same wage, but their decision of participating or not participating would differ given that each would place a different value on the market and non-market activities. The two theoretical explanations describe factors that influence women’s decision for LFP. The theory of labour supply simply highlights the tradeoff between work and leisure. A rational individual would maximize their own utility would choose an optimal allocation between the two alternatives. However, in the practical world, is it always about utility maximization or rational decision making? The theory of human capital also needs to be looked at from a critical perspective. 11