JAVED KHAN
PESHAWAR
An event was arranged in the provincial metropolis on Thursday to mark International Women’s Day.
The speakers and participants highlighted the roles and contributions of the women in different walks of life and called for acknowledging them.
The event was organized by the provincial Ombudsperson Peshawar office in collaboration with United Nations Women Pakistan (UN Women) KP chapter.
Blue Veins, Directorate of Social Welfare & Women Development Department KP and Bolo Helpline, women lawyers, students, journalists and youth volunteers attended the programme.
The participants discussed women’s effective and full participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
Rakhshanda Naz, Ombudsperson KP shed light over the objectives of the Ombudsperson KP and called for equal opportunities for women. She said that under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Act, 2019, the Ombudsperson office has been given additional jurisdiction to ensure women’s property rights.
“The Ombudsperson Secretariat is ensuring safe working places for women and protecting women’s rights to ownership as guaranteed in the constitution of Pakistan,” she added.
Sharmeela Rasool, country representative of UN Women Pakistan, said “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a very lucky province. We are very lucky that we have major female representation in the justice sector. There are more women judges in the district courts. What has the judiciary done to achieve that thing and now let’s think about other institutions? We have examples of police. In the KP police force there should be a 10 per cent quota for women but unfortunately, currently there is less than one percent representation of women in the force”.
Sahar Khan Project Director Bolo Helpline government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that BOLO Helpline 0800-22227 is established at Provincial level for the victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and persons with disabilities at Directorate of Social Welfare and Women Empowerment KP.
She added that the helpline is providing the services of a centralized database of victims of GBV and persons with disability across KP, integration of services, immediate psychological support, referral services, awareness on basic rights and legal aid in consultation with the lawyer’s panel 24/7 via toll-free number. International Women’s Day falls on March 8 annually.
The theme of the 2023 International Women’s Day was “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. The gender digital divide prevents women from fully reaping the benefits of the digital transition.
It is to note here that in 1975 the UN celebrated its first official International Women’s Day. Later in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution that proclaimed a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States under their historical and national traditions.
Finally, following its adoption by the United Nations in 1977, International Women’s Day was marked on March 8 as an official UN holiday for women’s rights and world peace.
