ISLAMABAD
According to the Gender Mainstreaming Committee meeting held in Parliament House, Islamabad, The Gender Mainstreaming Committee meeting convened on Tuesday in Parliament House, Islamabad. The Committee showed its great concern on unordinary delay in constitution of Boards of remaining Entities and urged the Secretary Cabinet to complete the constitution of Boards of the remaining Entities with 33% representation of women within three months and submit back report to the Committee accordingly. The Secretary Cabinet informed the Committee that there are total 357 Entities in Federal Government wherein 225 Entities having its BoD/BoG and 132 Entities with no Board. He further said that 41 Boards have been complied with 33% of women representation and constitution of 88 Boards of various Entities in under process. The Committee further recommended of ensuring the provision of amenities for women in all public offices and work places in letter and spirit and the Committee asked the Secretary Ministry of Human Rights to make inspection of all the Departments regarding provision of amenities for women and submit report to the Committee accordingly. The Secretary Cabinet informed the meeting that in all 42 Ministries/Divisions and 357 attached Entities have provided amenities such as separate prayer hall, washrooms and common room for women at work place.
He further said that day care centers in all the public sector entities have been established at Federal Government level.
4. The Committee discussed the underutilization of buses across various departments and proposed converting them into transport services for women in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The Committee was informed that the following underutilized buses had been identified and shared with the Prime Ministerís Office (PMO) via the PMDU portal: one bus from Pakistan Airport, one bus from IESCO, one coaster from PESCO, and 20 buses under the disposal of the Ministry of Federal Education, all of which could be utilized for female employee pick-and-drop services.
5. The Committee also expressed satisfaction with the presentation delivered by the Acting Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women regarding the Indicator Framework on the Gender Parity Report. The Acting Chairperson informed the Committee that the 237 indicators of ICT Gender Parity report cover 79% of primary and 57% of complimentary indicators of WEF. In total 62% indicators of WEF are covered by IGPR.
6. The Committee recommended that the Federal Government take measures to strengthen the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) as the central institution responsible for data collection related to gender parity, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of statistics for policy-making purposes.
7. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Nafisa Shah with Mr. Aqeel Malik MNA, Syed Hussain Tariq MNA and Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan MNA, Senator Rubina Qaim khani and Senator Fawzia Arshad attended the meeting.
