Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reaffirming his commitment to gender equality said women\u2019s empowerment could only be achieved by providing them an equal access to education, skill development and employment opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our mission and an unwavering commitment to ensure emancipation of the country\u2019s female population,\u201d he said in his address here at an event of International Women\u2019s Day, marked globally on 8th March to celebrate the achievements of women and to make a call for their rights.<\/p>\n
Prominent women from diverse fields including cabinet members, legislators, entrepreneurs and activists joined the event at the Prime Minister\u2019s House, which was organized by Ministry of Human Rights and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).<\/p>\n
The prime minister, on the occasion, launched the capital\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
PM Sharif said his government would collaborate with provinces for a collective action to promote women\u2019s integration in programmes contributing to national economy.<\/p>\n
He announced to establish a Working Women\u2019s Endowment Fund in a bid to support working women and help them compete with the contemporary challenges.<\/p>\n
He termed the PM\u2019s Women Empowerment Package a \u201crevolutionary step in eliminating discrimination against women\u201d in areas of employment and for making special provisions to provide them facilities at par with men.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fifty percent women population can be turned into a productive workforce if given a level-playing field,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 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 national economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
PM Sharif paid tribute to the country\u2019s women champions, who played a prominent role in shaping the landscape of female empowerment.<\/p>\n
In this regard, he particularly named the leading women of Pakistan Movement Fatima Jinnah and Begum Raa\u2019na 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese \u2018daughters of the nation\u2019 are a remarkable symbol of women empowerment who made their mark in their respective fields,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Shehbaz Sharif recalled the steps taken for women\u2019s emancipation during the earlier tenures of his party in power including the establishment of Punjab\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Minister for Law, Justice and Human Right Azam Nazeer Tarar said in line with PM Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s 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\u2019s representation in the departmental boards.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that Pakistan was ranked 145th out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index, next to Afghanistan, which \u201cdid not reflect a true picture and was contrary to ground reality\u201d. He called upon the relevant organizations to revisit the ranking and expressed the government\u2019s readiness to share the required data.<\/p>\n
UN\u2019s Resident Coordinator Mohamed Yahya said the UN was committed in supporting Pakistan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 related to gender action plan.<\/p>\n
He said gender equality needed to be recognized not as a woman specific matter, but a human issue. The launch of Islamabad\u2019s Gender Parity Report is significant in identifying the challenges that further need attention, he added.<\/p>\n
Chairperson Special Committee on Gender Mainstreaming Dr Nafisa Shah said women\u2019s representation across various governmental bodies and departments remained below the targeted 33 percent benchmark. She termed their representation was essential for effective governance and smooth policy-making.<\/p>\n
Chairperson NCSW Umme-e-Laila spoke about Pakistan\u2019s gender parity situation, saying the women were breaking barriers in multiple sectors. As steps of empowerment, she highlighted the launch of Pink Buses for women commuters exclusively and the \u2018Women on Wheels\u2019 project which provided skillset to women for their easy and independent mobility.<\/p>\n
Chairman Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Akif Saeed said under PM\u2019s Women Empowerment Package, the SECP was tasked to nominate the private companies who had implemented family-friendly policies at their workplace. He said the companies would serve as role models in promotion of a safe working environment.<\/p>\n
The prime minister gave away the Family Friendly Awards to 10 best private companies, including Alpha Beta Core Solutions, Arfa Karim Technology Incubator, Aviation MRO, Blink Capital, Funverks Global, Gift Educational, Kistpay, Laiba Enterprises, Ladies Fund Energy, and Li & Fung Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The awards were based on an online survey and a scoring matrix prepared by SECP in collaboration with UN Women and Pakistan Business Council. Over 230 companies participated in the survey launched in 2024, out of which 10 were short-listed through a transparent process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reaffirming his commitment to gender equality said women\u2019s empowerment could only be achieved by providing them an equal access to education, skill development and employment opportunities. \u201cIt\u2019s our mission and an unwavering commitment to ensure emancipation of the country\u2019s female population,\u201d he said in his address here at an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465908,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-465898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n