A Case Study of Pakistan Determinants of Female Labour Force in South Asia 4. Women’s Labour Force Participation 4.1. Regional Outlook This study explores South Asia in particular. On the one hand, it is densely populated, dependent on agriculture and a tradition-bound region. Yet, it comprises a varied, socio-cultural, and ethnic population where religious beliefs and patriarchal gender roles hugely impact women’s lives. Moving beyond this region´s generalization, country-specific trends are a lot more puzzling(Chaudhary& Verick, 2014, p. 10). As the figure below highlights, South Asia along with Arab states has the most significant gender gaps in LFP compared to other regions of the world. Figure 1: Labour force participation rate by gender and region(%), 2020 Percentage 100 90 80 76.6 77.7 68.0 70 60 56.4 52.0 50 78.6 72.6 62.7 74.5 76.9 56.1 59.0 72.8 63.9 66.9 52.1 51.3 44.5 40 30 18.0 23.1 20 10 0 Regions Male Female Data source:(International Labour Organization, 2020) To analyze the trends in FLFP, it is interesting to draw a comparison between the countries in South Asia. The figure below shows FLFPRs in different South Asian countries. Nepal has the highest FLFPRs from 2010 to 2019(in the selected South Asian countries). Bhutan also has relatively better participation 13