Policy framework launched to 'empower' women

Minister lauds role of women health workers in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic

ISLAMABAD:

On the occasion of the International Women's Day, the federal government on Tuesday launched a national gender policy framework aimed at “empowering Pakistan women”.

“It provides a structured framework with clear-cut objectives and responsibilities assigned for improving the lives of the women of Pakistan,” tweeted Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, whose ministry launched the initiative.

The minister later launched the policy framework, accompanied by Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Fahmida Mirza, PM's aide Dr Sania Nishtar and Lt General Nigar Johar among others.

During the ceremony, Umar said the framework launched by the government aimed to translate “honest intent” into an “integrated actionable programme”.

He elaborated that six different points had been worked in the policy including education, good governance system with special focus on women, employment opportunities for them as well as security, health, promoting political participation and leadership.

The minister said the government would also address challenges faced by women in the education sector. "Enrollment of girls in schools is very low in comparison with that of boys and the dropout rate is increasing with each passing day.”

Umar said there was a need to implement the laws that ensured gender equality as women could not work to their full potential if they did not feel protected.

The planning minister also talked about the participation of women in politics, calling it an equally important challenge. He said there was a need to engage more women in politics and a strong local government system was a prerequisite to making such change.

Umar noted that women were “immensely contributing in different walks of life”. He said they were playing an important role in the economic activity which needed to be recognised.

The minister further said the women health workers also played a pivotal role in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that struck the world in Dec 2019.

“We fully recognise that our health response was delivered by a workforce, which comprises of 76% females [55% female doctors, 88% female nurses and 100% female lady health workers].”

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Umar said without engaging half the population of the country, Pakistan could not move forward on the path of sustainable development.

The minister maintained that the government was aware of the fact that gender equality was not just one goal, but the key to delivering all the 17 sustainable development goals as it was the prime enabler and accelerator for the Agenda 2030.

Umar said increasing the economic participation of 49.2 percent of the female population of the country was the top-most priority of the government.

According to statistics issued by the ministry, the total labour force participation in Pakistan was 68.76 million. The female participation in the labour force was a mere 16.36 million in comparison with 52.41 million of the male labour force.

Even within young women, aged between 15 and 29 years, only 23% were part of the labour force against 70% of men of the same age group.

Although an estimated 76 million women were of working age, only 3.2 million participated in paid labour and 72.8 million were not in any form of paid labour.

The national labour value in Pakistan’s GDP could be increased by 27% by increasing female labour force participation to 50% while completely closing the gender gap can boost the national GDP by 30% -- $85.2 billion.

Women’s unpaid work was valued -- using comparative median wages -- at Rs683 billion. This constituted 57% of all work done by women, equaling 2.6% of the country’s GDP.

(With input from APP)