Sidra Mazhar, Mysbah Balagamwala and Haris Gazdar won the Best Paper Award for “The Hidden Economic Backbone - Women in Agriculture” presented at the LUMS International Conference on Gender, Work, and Society in April 2017. This LANSA paper argues that despite efforts on the part of national data collection organisations, flagship surveys such as the Labour Force Survey continue to undercount women’s contribution to the economy. Fresh approaches are needed for the proper enumeration and analysis of women’s work – approaches which are based on a grounded theoretical understanding of existing social norms and narratives about work.