Editorial
Pakistan’s digital economy is growing faster than most sectors of the national economy, and the question of who participates in that growth is no longer a matter of social policy alone. It is an economic question with consequences the country cannot afford to ignore.
International Girls in ICT Day, marked globally on April 23, carried a pointed theme this year: girls shaping the digital future through artificial intelligence. The framing matters. It does not speak of access. It speaks of authorship. The distinction is significant. Giving girls a seat in a classroom is not the same as giving them a hand in building the systems that will define how economies function, how services are delivered, and how entire industries are structured in the decades ahead.
Pakistan’s digital economy is projected to contribute up to seven percent of GDP by 2030. IT exports and freelancing are already driving services growth of over eighteen percent in the current fiscal year. The sector is expanding. The talent pipeline feeding it is not expanding fast enough, and it is especially thin where women are concerned. If half the population continues to be marginalised from this transformation, Pakistan’s growth story carries a structural ceiling it will never break through.
The business case is equally clear. Diverse teams build better products. In artificial intelligence particularly, where bias embedded in design can scale across millions of decisions, the presence of women as builders, researchers, and product architects is not a nicety. It is a quality requirement.
Industry must take responsibility alongside government. Skills investment, mentorship structures, and genuine career pathways for women in technology are not corporate social responsibility exercises. They are competitive necessities. Pakistan’s digital ambitions will only be realised when the women of this country are not merely consuming the digital economy, but actively constructing it.
