PM Shehbaz renews commitment to gender equality, women empowerment
Pakistan
He announces establishment of working women’s endowment fund
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reaffirmed his commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, saying it could only be achieved by providing them an equal access to education, skill development and employment opportunities.
“It’s our mission and an unwavering commitment to ensure emancipation of the country’s female population,” he said in his address at an event of International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements of women and to make a call for their rights.
Prominent women from diverse fields including cabinet members, legislators, entrepreneurs and activists joined the event at the Prime Minister’s House, which was organised by the Ministry of Human Rights and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The prime minister also launched the capital’s first-ever Gender Parity Report prepared by NCSW and UNFPA, which identifies challenges and recommends solutions in key areas such as education, health, governance, political representation and justice.
He said his government would collaborate with provinces for a collective action to promote women’s integration in programmes contributing to national economy.
He announced the establishment of a Working Women’s Endowment Fund in a bid to help them compete with the contemporary challenges.
He termed the PM’s Women Empowerment Package a “revolutionary step in eliminating discrimination against women” in areas of employment and for making special provisions to provide them facilities at par with men.
“Our fifty percent women population can be turned into a productive workforce if given a level-playing field,” he said.
To facilitate working women, he highlighted that daycare centres were set up across public and private departments in Islamabad, with a plan to further expand the scope of facilities.
The prime minister regretted that a large number of highly-qualified women in the country quit professional careers in their struggle to balance work and families, resulting in a huge loss of skilled human resource.
“My message to the educated [women] segment is to come forward and join hospitals, banks and other professions of their expertise in order to positively contribute towards a stronger economy,” he said.
PM Sharif paid tribute to the country’s women champions, who played a prominent role in shaping the landscape of female empowerment.
In this regard, he particularly named the leading women of Pakistan Movement Fatima Jinnah and Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan, Benazir Bhutto as the first woman prime minister of Pakistan and the Muslim world, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Kulsum Nawaz as icons of resistance against dictatorship, social workers Bilquis Edhi and Dr Ruth Pfau, lawyer Asma Jahangir, country’s youngest IT expert Arfa Karim, former National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, first woman Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz, first woman chief justice of Lahore High Court Justice Aalia Neelum and first female judge of Supreme Court Justice Ayesha Malik.
“These ‘daughters of the nation’ are a remarkable symbol of women empowerment who made their mark in their respective fields,” he said.
Shehbaz Sharif recalled the steps taken for women’s emancipation during the earlier tenures of his party in power including the establishment of Punjab’s first anti-violence centres for women, enhanced women quota in boards of government departments, increased stipend for girl students, and ending child labour at brick-kilns by enrolling 90,000 such children to schools.
Minister for Law, Justice and Human Right Azam Nazeer Tarar also spoke on the occasion. He said in line with PM Shehbaz Sharif’s directive, the ministries and departments had been tasked last year to ensure women-inclusive policies. The initiative, he said, successfully led to higher proportion of women’s representation in the departmental boards.
He pointed out that Pakistan was ranked 145th out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index, next to Afghanistan, which “did not reflect a true picture and was contrary to ground reality”. He called upon the relevant organizations to revisit the ranking and expressed the government’s readiness to share the required data.
