Laila clocks out from her office at 5pm., but her second shift begins now. This is the capitalist bargain for the modern woman. The system needed more workers for its machine. It encouraged women to leave their homes, and this was sold as liberation. In reality, it was a raw deal. Capitalism wanted women’s paid labour in the office, but treated their unpaid labour at home as worthless. The promise of empowerment became a trap of double duty.
Her day had started hours before the office, waking at 5 a.m. to make breakfast, get her children and husband ready for the day, and clear the previous night’s mess. Now, when she reaches home by 6, tired from her commute, she cannot afford to sit. She makes tea, checks on the children, and starts preparing dinner. After feeding her family and eating herself, she cleans the kitchen, irons clothes for the next day, and rarely finds her bed before midnight. This relentless cycle of unpaid labour is the real price of her ‘liberation’.
In Pakistan, the weight of unp
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