Women Empowerment

Women are a vital part of Pakistani society. They are assigned a revered status and many socio-cultural norms are associated with them. Take any sphere of life and you would find it colorful with the contributions made by the daughters of the Eve. They are engaged in both formal and informal sectors of economy. But when it comes to their rights every one just turns a blind eye and a deaf ear. To talk about women’s rights in our society is nothing less than a blasphemy. Although many strides have been made in a positive direction and ceaseless efforts of civil society have considerably materialized in achieving a better place for women in our society but the ultimate goal is far too away.

In education sector the gender gap in primary and secondary education has been reduced .Similarly; women enjoy greater participation in elected assemblies and state institutions. In addition, women have a growing presence in the labour market. But ground realities point to a very grim situation, particularly in rural areas of Pakistan. The gender disparity in education sector is painfully greater than projected. As a consequence women continue to remain a marginalized part of our social fabric. Their employment rate in formal sector remains low and as a result a wider part of population fails to make a real contribution to economic progress of the country. Women in our society continue to be dependent on their families and are largely considered to be a financial burden. Their dependency travels with them even after they are married. According to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals Report 2005: “Women’s access to paid employment is lower than men’s in most of the developing world…. Women are less likely than men to hold paid and regular jobs and more often work in the informal economy, which provides little financial security”  Their low status affects not only their health but also of the offspring they breed.

Some Sad Statistics:

Our findings suggest that women at large:

•        have less access to basic infrastructure and social safety nets;

•        face greater exposure to common contingencies (e.g., illness, property loss, disability and death);

•        have less access to the means to address these contingencies (e.g., health, property, disability or life insurance);

•        have less access to financial, physical and other productive assets;

•        have fewer rights and benefits of employment;

•        Face greater exclusion from state, market and political institutions that means their voices remain unheard and unheeded;

•        Maternal mortality rate in Pakistan is alarmingly greater;

•        Women suffer from domestic violence and ages old traditions;

•        Women are worst hit by poverty, whether poverty of resources or of opportunities;

•        Have lesser access to micro credit and finance;

•        68% rural women are most vulnerable, poor and voiceless – lack assets, access to services, options and economic opportunities;

•        Of 32% urban women, majority live in slums or katchi abadis or just above poverty line – lack basic needs and economic options;

•        Both rural and urban women suffer from socio-cultural gender biases, inequalities, and injustice.

The Way Forward

Anwar Jannat Memorial Foundation (AJMF) believes firmly that for any nation to prosper and stand in the comity of civilized world empowerment of its women folk is a precondition. Our commitment is given credence by the Millennium Summit of 2000 which reaffirmed gender equality and women’s empowerment to figure large in the Millennium Development Agenda (MDG3) and underlined their importance as a means to achieve all of the other MDGs. We stand in accord with these words of Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of The United Nations, “It is impossible to realize our goals while discriminating against half the human race.” 

We commit to make all out efforts to bring women at an equal position with men in our society and win for them the status which God has assigned them by birth. To translate our vision into reality we would appeal Government of Pakistan to focus on:

•        Need for gender budgeting, policy and programming in vital areas, e.g.  Law, Agriculture, Industries, Production;

•        Social protection, social safety nets and mechanisms to address increasing feminization of poverty;

•        Need to address increasing incidents of violence against women and inadequate law enforcement;

•        Wider & easier availability for women: micro-credit, small-to-medium loans, technical vocational skills, and entrepreneurship options;

•        Achievement of Constitutional guarantees of women’s equality through affirmative action; proactive legislation; access to justice and governance; political participation;

•        Increasing girls enrolment, retention and attainment rates;

•        Decreasing infant mortality rate & mother mortality rate by increasing girls’ & women’s access to primary health care;

•        Implementing, in letter and spirit, the constitutional provisions on women rights and also international conventions and treaties on women protection and empowerment to which Pakistan is a signatory.

On our part we envision to empower women through their economic uplift. For that we will target rural women which, so far, remain a neglected bulk and thus most marginalized class of our society. We would reach out to them at their doorsteps and set up schools to educate them. It is through education that the real and lasting change can be brought in their lives. An educated woman would be far better poised to demand and defend her rights. At the same time she would also be immunized against all other social, cultural and health vulnerabilities. We also plan to establish training institutes to enrich their skills so that they are independent economically and can complete their transit from informal to formal economy.

At the same time we, as a part of a vibrant civil society, would continue to play our role in highlighting the plight of women in Pakistan and sensitize society at large and women in particular of their rights through media campaigns, talk shows, seminars, workshops, walks and writings.