Empowering women: Natural, man-made disasters combine to deny rights

Consultation for State Report on Beijing +20 held.

ISLAMABAD:

Rising militancy, recurrent natural disasters, gaps in governance and poor implementation of pro-women laws have undermined women’s access to rights, justice and participation in decision-making in public and private spaces.

This was the crux of a discussion at a one-day consultation for the State Report on Beijing +20, organised by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) on Thursday at a local hotel.

NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz said, “Pro-women bills that are meant to give them protection and rights are not properly implemented. She was of the view that these were the main hurdles in women’s empowerment.



NCSW is heading the process of compiling the Pakistan State Report +20 based on progress and achievements, setbacks and challenges in each of the 12 thematic areas of the Beijing Platform for Action.  The document serves as a guideline for actions to be taken by national governments, in the 12 critical areas of concern that list the strategic objectives and proposed action.

Sabra Qureshi, an independent consultant, expressed concern over the lack of communication between departments working on women’s development both at the federal and provincial levels.

“There is a need to restructure these departments and provide them with standard guidelines,” she suggested. “The majority of programmes on women’s empowerment in the country are project-based which end within a short span of time.”  She stressed the need for creating awareness on pro-women bills among police officials.

Speakers were of the view that poor and rural women were unable to access information, resources and justice.

Women’s Organisation for Rights and Development (WORD) Director Aqsa Khan, expressed concern over the absence of sex-segregated data and the data which is being collected is not analysed with a gender lens.

She said the success of the policymakers and other stakeholders attempting to reduce gender-based inequalities depends on ready access to quality gender-related information and analysis.

The event was attended by government officials, parliamentarians, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.