The purpose of this study was to explore social, cultural, and institutional barriers to female labour force participation in Lahore, Pakistan. A qualitative analysis using semi-structured interviews was carried out on nine women, who were employed and had been working for at least three years in education, banking, and manufacturing sectors. The data were analyzed by the NVivo software program. Thematic analysis revealed that cultural barriers (male dominance, gender stereotype, joint family system, and the influence of relatives), social barriers (viz., children upbringing, care of older family members, social acceptability, social isolation, and interfamily challenges), and institutional barriers (policies and procedures, opportunity biases, rewards and awards, and behavior of male colleagues) affected female labor force participation. This study suggests that nongovernment organizations, governments, and society in general, should play an active role to create viable conditions for women to work.