'Individually-led' or 'female-male partnership' models for entrepreneurship with the BISP support: The story of women's financial and social empowerment from Pakistan

The findings reveal that although the BISP support has significantly increased familial income, women appear only as indirect beneficiaries of the program. They pass on allocated funds to their male family members or nominate them as active business partners. In a few cases, women have started their own businesses. Several factors influence women's decisions while selecting business options under “individually-led” or “female-male” partnership models. Newly started enterprises have increased family income dramatically, although this does not alter the patriarchal division of labour within families nor does it empower women financially as well as socially.