K-P govt to empower women through Women Empowerment Policy 2017

Provincial director SWWED lauds UN Women for its support in developing K-P’s first Women Empowerment Policy

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Thursday claimed it was committed to empowering women and advance progress towards ending gender disparities with effective implementation of its Women Empowerment Policy (WEP) 2017.



Director Social Welfare, Special Education, Women Empowerment Department (SWWED) of K-P Abdul Ghafoor Shah while addressing an orientation session on WEP 2017 said the province's Women Empowerment Policy substantiated the government’s strong commitment towards dealing with challenges in the way to achieving women’s empowerment.

Shah acknowledged and appreciated UN Women for its invaluable contribution and support in developing the province’s first Women Empowerment Policy, and reiterated the government’s commitment to implement the policy effectively.

“Women Empowerment is a cross-cutting and cross-sectoral theme and the policy serves as a guiding document for harmonising the government’s efforts in the administrative, legislative, judicial and political spheres to ensure equal opportunities for women and eliminate barriers that hinder women from benefiting equally from the social and economic empowerment opportunities.”

“Knowing the importance of women empowerment and the government’s responsibilities towards it, the Department of Social Welfare will provide monitoring and reporting support to measure progress on the policy both for government and donor-funded projects implemented in the province,” the SWWED director added.

On behalf of the Gender Mainstreaming Steering Committee constituted for ensuring implementation of Women Empowerment Policy Chairperson K-P Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW) Riffat Sardar said K-P government and the SWWED were fully committed with a strong resolve to cooperate with and support other government departments at every level so that altogether they could effectively contribute to gender equality and the women empowerment.

Head of UN Women Provincial Office K-P Zainab Qaisar Khan also stressed on the importance of policy.



“UN Women is striving to eliminate violence against women and girls and taking action through supporting legislative reforms and policy initiatives as well as implementing prevention and response programs”.

The orientation session on WEP 2017, jointly arranged by the SWWED and UN Women Pakistan, was attended by representatives from relevant provincial government departments and civil society stakeholders.