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“Women hold up half the sky”
By SADIA WALI
International Women’s Day is
celebrated worldwide on 8th March. What is needed to be pondered is that it is
not only a day celebration; it is a lifelong commitment to end injustice
against women. For an average woman in Pakistan this might be an ordinary day.
Pakistani society is still polluted with
unheretical beliefs in the name of religion and culture, social
constraints and discrimination based on deeply entrenched values and
perceptions about women’s role in the society have created deep- rooted gender
disparity. Pakistan has been ranked the second worst country in the world for
gender equality for a second year in a row.
Gender parity is at the core of the MDGs. MDG 3
focuses upon the key challenges faced by women in three major areas: education,
employment and political participation. Female education not only results in a
large segment of society (women) having access to labour opportunities, enhance
employment opportunities and higher wages for women. MDG3 aims to eliminate
gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2025.
According Global Gender Gap Report 2017, Pakistan
continues to rank second worst country with the rank of 143 out of 144 countries
in economic participation and opportunities and 135 in educational attainment. Providing
equal opportunities for better quality education is critical for women and
girls to improve their employment options. The report described Physical violence
as the most shameful of all rights violations and one of the most intractable
to eliminate fully.
The study conducted by the United Nations indicates
that one third of the over 30 million working aged women in Pakistan are deemed
economically active. The report emphasized how women spend 90% of their salary
on their children and the health, education and well-being of their family. Owing
to deep-rooted gender disparities pertaining to availability of opportunities
and resources, only a small number of women in Pakistan are able to start and
sustain an entrepreneurial venture. The report highlighted that investing in
women’s economical participation is a direct way to gender equality, poverty
reduction and inclusive economic growth; we need to give girls and women the
equal opportunities to which they are entitled.
Pakistan is changing rapidly. Sixty per cent of the population
under the age of 25 has high access to cellphones and internet. Women have
begun to have awareness to their rights and now they can no longer be hold
back. Young girls are going to college and schools. Even in the remotest of
villages, young girls have come up to lead a better life. They want greater
economic independence; they wish to take decisions regarding education,
marriage and improve their social status.
We cannot forget the great revolutionary woman,
Comrade TahiraMazhar Ali under whose leadership the international women’s day
was observed first time in Pakistan on March 08, 1948. The struggle was
continued by Mai Bakhtawar, Comrade Shanta and Asma Jahangir.
Hats off to young talented women in Pakistan who
have high aspirations to bring social change in the country. There are
countless other Pakistanis women who are working either as individuals or in
teams in urban areas and far flung areas of the country.
In the year 2017,
women from diversified backgrounds have diligently worked in various fields.
Let’s look at their notable achievements.
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Syeda Ghulam Fatima. general
secretary of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front Pakistan (BLLF), was
presented with the Clinton Global Citizen Award 2015 for leadership in civil
society
Marium Mukhtar- Although the
24-year-old Flying Officer was martyred when her training aircraft crashed
near Mianwali in November, Marium will always be remembered as the first lady
pilot of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to attain the great honour
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Dr
Nergis Mavalvala-Pakistan-born astrophysicist played a part in discovery of
gravitational waves
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Sharmeen
Obaid Chinoy became the first Pakistani to win two Oscar awards. Sharmeen won
in the Best Documentary Short Subject for A Girl in the River: The Price of
Forgiveness in the 88th Academy awards. The documentary which sheds light on
honour killings in Pakistan follows the story of a teenage girl shot in the
face by her own family
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Minhal
Sohail-The 21-year-old became Pakistan’s first female shooter to compete at
Olympics 2016. Although, she couldn’t win gold and secured 28th position in the
10m air rifle event. Minhal has made us proud by qualifying for the Rio Games
Ayesha
is Pakistan’s first ever female war-ready fighter pilot. The 26-year-old
fighter, hailing from Bahawalpur, is one of the 19 women who have achieved
the ranks of pilots in the Pakistan Air Force over the last decade – there
are five other female fighter pilots but they have yet to take the final
tests to qualify for combat
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Shazia
Asif Khan is an Educationist and Human Rights Activist. She is the founder
and President of AAB- the need of life, an NGO in Karachi. She is the founder
of Minerva Education System, a model school for underprivileged children in
Gulshan, Karachi
Saba
Gul is the Founder and CEO of Popinjay, a social enterprise that empowers
marginalised underprivileged girls in Pakistan with education and provides
them with employment opportunities by selling their goods (embroidered
handbags currently) to a high-end market
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Today, the world mobilizes to accelerate gender
parity in every sphere of influence. Women’s economic empowerment requires bold
and sustained action to advance women’s opportunities and rights and to ensure
that women can participate and be heard.
Given the
current economic challenges in Pakistan, there is an urgent need to focus on
women’s economic participation, their rights and empowerment. To increase their
economic opportunities, women need access to more and better jobs, a business
climate that financially supports them in starting a business. Women have
unique skills; their economic contribution can make a difference in GDP. As
they can play a vital role for economic growth, government and private sector
should provide innovative program to provide equitable access to high-quality
education, healthcare, jobs and justice to women.
In a big rally staged today by the Home Based Women Workers Federation
(HBWWF) in Karachi demanded to end all
discriminatory laws against women, and accept them as equal citizens. The
speakers reiterated that the society could only prosper if discriminatory laws and biased attitudes
against women is eliminated. Sadly, there is no section in the labor laws of
this country to end harassment of women at workplace. Women workers are
deprived of social security, EOBI, health and safety and all basic rights which
male workers enjoy at workplace.
They came up with important decisions such as:
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The feudal and tribal system should be
ended from the country, as this system has kept women enslaved for centuries. All anti women traditions should be
ended, discrimination to women. KaroKari, WataSata and honor killings should be
ended. The legal system should be improved and
its access to common citizens ensured. Effective legislation should be carried
out to end the religious extremism and it should also be implemented.There should be equal wages for equal
work and the wages of workers should be increased.
Empowering women and girls is the only way to
protect their rights and make sure they apprehend their full potential and
utilize their skills in constructive purposes.
The writer works as Assistant Editor at Innovative
solution, Karachi. She can be contacted at sadiawali@hotmail.com
