The Global Gender Gap Report 2016 has ranked Pakistan 143 out of 144 countries
LAHORE: The Global Gender Gap Report 2016 has ranked Pakistan 143 out of 144 countries. It ranks countries on gender gap and includes factors such as economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment — all of which Pakistan doesn’t provide its female population.
It’s surprising to know that we ranked much better a decade ago. So what exactly changed in 10 years? Though we can blame the instability — political and economic — for a fall in the ranking, perhaps it is the feeling of self-importance of its male population and the deceiving religiosity that makes them look at a progressive woman as a threat.
In an attempt to own one’s culture that many thought was being invaded and eliminated, the patriarchal system pushed back Pakistani women. An independent, empowered women appeared as a threat. Even though Islam in its truest sense empowers women, the misleading ideology that is being spread is far from the religion.
Mohammad Alam
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2017.
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