For Punjab’s Minority Women, the Largest Gap Was Access

When working with older datasets, the most important story is often not the absolute number but the difference between groups.

I was recently looking at a 2018 survey conducted by the Punjab Bureau of Statistics among minority women in Punjab (primarily Christian women).

Given how much Punjab has changed since 2018, the exact percentages are less important today than the gaps they reveal.

The largest gaps were not in voting or civic participation. They were in access to the tools of modern economic life.

Compared to women in Punjab overall, minority women were:

📱 14 percentage points less likely to use a mobile phone
⚖️ 12 percentage points less likely to be aware of inheritance rights
💻 6 percentage points less likely to have computer literacy
🌐 6 percentage points less likely to have access to the internet

By contrast, gaps in voter registration and CNIC possession were relatively small.

Interestingly, the survey also found that minority women were slightly more likely to have worked for cash or in-kind payment and reported similar or higher levels of participation in household decision-making.