Gender equality: ‘Pakistani women lag behind men in every field’

KARACHI:

The women of Sindh and Pakistan in particular, lag behind men in every field, but this does not mean that any war against men should be started for keeping women behind them.

Mehnaz Rehman from Aurat Foundation said this while speaking at the concluding session of a five-day training session on Human Rights. Rehman believes that men and women should rather work together to achieve the basic human rights. The event, organised by Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) and Development Alternative Inc - The Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Civic Engagement, concluded on Wednesday.

While speaking at the concluding session, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) chief executive officer Karamat Ali talked about the time when he once asked a government minister that when will they offer free and compulsory education for all. Ali said that the minister told him that though it is easy to make education free for all, but making it compulsory is a challenging task. Referring to the minister’s reply to his question, Ali said, “The government will [have] to first provide social security to the masses to make education compulsory.”

Referring to the equality of men and women, Ali said, “Once I had the chance to talk to a Hindu, who told me that they can marry a girl of the lower caste but cannot allow their sister or daughter to marry a person of lower caste.” Addressing the trainees at the session, Ali said that on one occasion he asked the participants at a trade union workshop, whether they thought that all people in the world are equal. The participants replied in affirmative. However, when he asked them if they thought that women are equal to men or not, hardly a few of the participants said yes while some could not even answer his question, Ali said.

Asad Iqbal Butt from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan believes that demanding rights is considered a sin in Pakistan. “One becomes a traitor and conspirator if he talks about one’s language,” he said. According to him, such nations lack in democratic values, which does not allow the freedom of speech. Butt further said that all NGO’s must unite to attain the similar goals.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Sughara, who came to attend the training from Jacobabad, said, “Coming from an area which faces the worst human rights violation in the province, I am lucky enough to attend the course.” She added that women have no rights in her area like the women of any metropolitan city have, but now she plans to struggle for the women of her area to educate them about their rights.

Those who conducted various sessions during this workshop included Justice (Retd) Majida Rizvi, Abdullah Shah from provincial ombudsman, journalist Wasut Ullah Khan, human rights activist Iqbal Detho, DCHD director Tanveer Jahan, journalist Qazi Khizer and programme coordinator Arshad Mehmood.

 

Around 35 human rights participants, mainly from Umerkot, Jacobabad, Larkana, Ghotki and Khairpur districts, were trained on human rights, national and international framework and reporting and investigation of human rights violation. The participants were awarded with certificates for attending the course, in the concluding session.

Gender equality

‘Pakistani women lag behind men in every field’

Speakers discuss human rights at the concluding session of five-day workshop

Our correspondent

KARACHI

The women of Sindh and Pakistan in particular, lag behind men in every field, but this does not mean that any war against men should be started for keeping women behind them.

Mehnaz Rehman from Aurat Foundation said this while speaking at the concluding session of a five-day training session on Human Rights. Rehman believes that men and women should rather work together to achieve the basic human rights. The event, organised by Democratic Commission for Human Development (DCHD) and Development Alternative Inc - The Enhanced Democratic Accountability and Civic Engagement, concluded on Wednesday.

While speaking at the concluding session, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) chief executive officer Karamat Ali talked about the time when he once asked a government minister that when will they offer free and compulsory education for all. Ali said that the minister told him that though it is easy to make education free for all, but making it compulsory is a challenging task. Referring to the minister’s reply to his question, Ali said, “The government will [have] to first provide social security to the masses to make education compulsory.”

Referring to the equality of men and women, Ali said, “Once I had the chance to talk to a Hindu, who told me that they can marry a girl of the lower caste but cannot allow their sister or daughter to marry a person of lower caste.” Addressing the trainees at the session, Ali said that on one occasion he asked the participants at a trade union workshop, whether they thought that all people in the world are equal. The participants replied in affirmative. However, when he asked them if they thought that women are equal to men or not, hardly a few of the participants said yes while some could not even answer his question, Ali said.

Asad Iqbal Butt from Human Rights Commission of Pakistan believes that demanding rights is considered a sin in Pakistan. “One becomes a traitor and conspirator if he talks about one’s language,” he said. According to him, such nations lack in democratic values, which does not allow the freedom of speech. Butt further said that all NGO’s must unite to attain the similar goals.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, Sughara, who came to attend the training from Jacobabad, said, “Coming from an area which faces the worst human rights violation in the province, I am lucky enough to attend the course.” She added that women have no rights in her area like the women of any metropolitan city have, but now she plans to struggle for the women of her area to educate them about their rights.

Those who conducted various sessions during this workshop included Justice (Retd) Majida Rizvi, Abdullah Shah from provincial ombudsman, journalist Wasut Ullah Khan, human rights activist Iqbal Detho, DCHD director Tanveer Jahan, journalist Qazi Khizer and programme coordinator Arshad Mehmood.

Around 35 human rights participants, mainly from Umerkot, Jacobabad, Larkana, Ghotki and Khairpur districts, were trained on human rights, national and international framework and reporting and investigation of human rights violation. The participants were awarded with certificates for attending the course, in the concluding session.