Women enumerators ‘insignificant’

Commission on the Status of Women Neelum says proper women count will help in better planning

PESHAWAR: The number of women enumerators is insignificant against the size of the country’s women population, chairperson of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women Neelum Toru said on Wednesday.

A press release issued by the commission stated that without a proper women count, outreach in remote areas would yield distorted results.

It stated that the commission was satisfied that the presence of 200,000 soldiers along with police personnel would be enough for providing proper security in sensitive areas.

According to the commission, proper women count would help in better planning in education and health sectors besides providing better data for job creation.

Neelum Toru said that the commission appreciated the government’s move to include Sikhs among other religious minorities as well as the transgender community for the first time.

She said that the commission was also concerned that women and children among the displaced population should also be properly reflected in the census data.

She suggested that schoolteachers and health workers should be inducted in the census process “if other options are not available”.

“Population census is (being) conducted during office hours when men are away from home. There is a likelihood that women will not allow male enumerators to enter their houses or fill census forms.

“Information related to disability, permanent address, and employment is missing from (census) forms. We urge for quickly including missing categories.”