KARACHI: Amina Sohail veers through heavy traffic to pick up her next passenger - the sight of a woman riding a motorcycle drawing stares in Pakistan’s megacity of Karachi.

The 28-year-old is the first woman in her family to enter the workforce, a pattern emerging in urban households coming under increasing financial pressure in Pakistan. “I don’t focus on people, I don’t speak to anyone or respond to the hooting, I do my work,” said Sohail, who joined a local ride-hailing service at the start of the year, transporting women through the dusty back streets of the city. “Before, we would be hungry, now we get to eat at least two to three meals a day,” she added. The South Asian nation is locked in a cycle of political and economic crises, dependent on IMF bailouts and loans from friendly countries to service its debt. Prolonged inflation has forced up the price of basic groceries such as tomatoes by 100 percent. Electricity and gas bills have risen by 300 percent compared to July last year, according to official data. Sohail used to help her mother with cooking, cleaning and looking after her younger siblings, until her father, the family’s sole earner, fell sick.