The Politics and Practices of Zakat: Distributional Biases and Gender Equity in Pakistan

Zakat, an annual mandatory payment on productive wealth and one of the five pillars of Islam, represents the largest non-state welfare system in the world. Despite its significance as a redistributive mechanism, little is known about its actual distributional impacts. The decentralized nature of zakat distribution in some contexts raises critical questions about whether it overcomes or reinforces social and economic exclusions by favoring certain groups over others. This paper examines the distributional patterns and biases in zakat giving in Pakistan, a key case for understanding non-state welfare provision in a large Muslim-majority country with predominately decentralized, individually-based zakat giving. Drawing on a novel nationally representative survey of 7,500 Sunni Muslims and employing conjoint survey experiments, supplemented by qualitative data, we assess who is most likely to receive zakat and explore potential biases based on gender and ethnicity. Our findings reveal that zakat giving is widespread, surpassing the scale of Pakistan’s largest social protection program, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and international development assistance. Despite women being marginalized in society and less visible in public spaces, women, particularly widows, are disproportionately likely to receive zakat. We find limited evidence of systematic ethnic bias, though partisan affiliations appear to shape giving patterns. These findings contribute to debates on non-state social welfare and redistribution in low-income contexts. They highlight the need to conceptualize zakat as a major redistributive institution and underscore its policy implications for state welfare, development actors, and social equity in Pakistan and beyond.