Day: November 10, 2012

As the world expresses solidarity with Malala Yousafzai’s stand on female education, Pakistan finds itself in the bottom 10 of new country rankings for the education of poor females, according to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) report.

Unesco’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report (EFAGMR) revealed Pakistan is in the bottom 10 countries, according to the proportion of poor girls who have never been in school. According to the report, only six African countries fare worse than Pakistan in this respect. It revealed 62% girls in Pakistan, aged between seven and 15, have never spent time in a classroom. This is compared to 30% in India and 9% in Bangladesh.

The report showed Pakistan was also in the bottom 10 countries ranked according to the time young women spend in school in their lifetime. It stated girls, between the ages of 17 and 22, on an average spend one year in school in Pakistan. Girls in India and Bangladesh, in comparison, spend 2.9 and 4.4 years in school on an average.

“Almost two-thirds of Pakistan’s poor girls have never been to school,” said EFAGMR director Pauline Rose in a press release.

“Without a real step change by the government … they will be denied equal opportunities in work and life forever,” she added.

“As we stand together on ‘Malala Day’, it is vital to stand up for what she believes in, and highlight difficulties many poor girls and young women face in getting to school.”

The Express Tribune

By: Waqas Naeem

ISLAMABAD: Women peace activists and human rights campaigners from Pakistan, Afghanistan and India met at a regional dialogue on Friday to share their experiences and construct common agendas for peace and stability in the region.

The regional dialogue, titled “Women building peace within and around us”, was organised by Women’s Regional Network (WRN) and focused on militarisation, insecurity and corruption and how they impact women.

“There’s a history of shared conflict in the region,” said political economist and rights campaigner Feryal Ali Gauhar. “War is a manifestation of human insecurity, but it is rooted in inequities and injustice in our societies.” She said the dialogue aims to share the experiences of women in the three countries and come up with recommendations to fight injustice.

The participants came up with several recommendations, such as disarmament, social audits for accountability, state policies to combat terrorism, inclusion of women in peacemaking processes and protesting militarisation of foreign aid.

The situation got emotional as participants from Afghanistan and Pakistan recounted their experiences of dealing with the loss of loved ones and harassment as a direct consequence of militarisation.

However, the talk soon moved from stories of sorrow to struggle and courage, with Abha Bhaiya, an activist from India, giving examples of women in the Indian state of Orissa who successfully warded off attempts by the South Korean steel conglomerate POSCO to usurp their land.

The participants also stressed on the need for women to unify across ethnic, class and geographical divides to bring down patriarchy. They discussed issues such as social inclusion of women, deweaponisation of cities, rise of religious movement among women in Pakistan and engaging the youth in women’s movement. Human rights activist Samar Minallah, in her presentation, said there is a need to provide space for discourse where women’s voices are amplified.

“Women’s voices are important and crucial for any peace process,” she said. Participants were also shown Minallah’s documentary, which showed testimonies of Afghan women refugees as well as schoolgirls of Swat who fight for their right to education.

The issue of redefining the definition of “security” also came up during the event.

“There is a lack of consensus on the definition of security. It has been defined by men,” said WRN convener Patricia Cooper. “It doesn’t represent the reality of women’s lives.” She said through community conversations, WRN hopes to document a new definition of security from women’s point of view.

The Express Tribune

By: Mubarak Zeb Khan

ISLAMABAD: The participation rate for women in the workforce is only 28 per cent, placing Pakistan in the group of countries with low job creation rates.

The female participation in labour force, particularly in urban areas of Pakistan, is low as compared to even Vietnam, which has a rate of 77 pc, says Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. He was talking to newsmen at the inaugural session of the release of World Development Report here on Friday.

According to report, over 80pc of Pakistani women cited household duties as one of the reason for non-participation in labour force. Lack of education was another reason for their non-participation, the World Bank director said.

Jesko Hentschel, Sector Director, Human Development, South Asia, who is also co-author of the report, listed a number of studies which established that countries with more women participants in labour force contributed positively to development.

He said it had been observed that women spend more money on education, health of children as compared to male. This, he added, had an impact on development, clearly suggesting increasing participation of women in labour force.

Sector Manager, Social Protection and Labour, South Asia Region, Pablo Gottret pointed out three bottlenecks in creation of jobs in Pakistan. On demand side, he said shortage of electricity; governance issue and political instability are top three constraints in the creation of jobs in Pakistan.

While on supply side, Mr Gottret said there was mismatching of skills, malnutrition and low women participations in economic activities. The creation of jobs, according to Mr Hentschel, was a collective responsibility of the government ministries.

“Job creation is not the sole responsibility of the labour minister,” he pointed in response to a question that what will be a key message for a labour minister to create jobs in Pakistan.

According to the report, jobs are a cornerstone of development, with a dividend far beyond income alone. They are critical for reducing poverty, making cities work, and providing youth with alternatives to violence.

The report stresses the role of strong private sector led growth in creating jobs and outlines how jobs that do the most for development can spur a virtuous cycle. The report finds that poverty falls as people work their way out of hardship and as jobs empower women to invest more in their children.

A good job can change a person’s life, and the right jobs can transform entire societies.

Governments need to move jobs to centre stage to promote prosperity and fight poverty, says World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim in a written statement released by Islamabad-based World Bank office.

“It is critical that governments work well with the private sector, which accounts for 90pc of all jobs. Therefore, we need to find the best ways to help small firms and farms grow. Jobs equal hope. Jobs equal peace. Jobs can make fragile countries become stable,” Mr. Kim further said.

The report authors highlight how jobs with the greatest development payoffs are those that raise incomes, make cities function better, connect the economy to global markets, protect the environment, and give people a stake in their societies.

More than 3 billion people are working, but nearly half work in farming, small household enterprises, or in casual or seasonal day labour, where safety nets are modest or sometimes non-existent and earnings are often meagre.

The report advances a three-stage approach to help governments meet these objectives: First, solid fundamentals, including macroeconomic stability, an enabling business environment, human capital and the rule of law – have to be in place. Second, labour policies should not become an obstacle to job creation, they should also provide access to voice and social protection to the most vulnerable.

Third, governments should identify which jobs would do the most for development given their specific country context and remove or offset obstacles to private sector creation of such jobs.

Dawn

SWABI: PPP Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Friday said economic prosperity could not be achieved unless women were given due place in the society.

“If we really want to materialise our dreams of economic prosperity, then we will have to give due place to the women in the society and if we fail to do so, it might be difficult to achieve our objectives,” he said while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of GIKI Model United Nations Conference at Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology on Friday.

The three-day conference is organised by the students’ Society for the Promotion of Higher Education in Pakistan, GIK Institute chapter. The PPP leader said the great issue was that the woman was considered a problem instead of assisting and enabling her to play her constructive role for the strengthening of the society.

“When the services of the half of the country’s population are not be utilised, then how could it possible to make our dreams true,” he said.

“We must change our mindset to confront the challenges and achieve a valuable place in the comity of the nations,” he said. Mr Ahsan said besides giving due place to women, the society should work for promoting the culture of tolerance.

“This is very vital because we have suffered and faced numerous problems owing to lack it. Tolerance is the key to put the nation on the track of progress and political stability. We should realise that where we stand right now and what possible could be taken to put our nation on a right track,” he said.

The PPP senator said the government had some problems with the judicial system of the country. He, however, didn’t elaborate on it.

He said around 2,000 educational institutions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been destroyed by militants and among them, majority was of girls. Mr Ahsan asked how a country could progress when its educational institutions were targeted by militants and girls were stopped from going to school.

He said youths should not see the continued deteriorated situation in the country silently and must play their due role because the future belonged to them. He said the country expected a lot from its youths, who should live up to those expectations.The PPP senator said the prevailing confused environment demanded that youths come forward and help the country meet its current issues and challenges.

Rector of GIK Institute Jehangir Bashir said the UN Model Conference was a platform where students from across the country exchange their views about international issues, role of the world body and foreign policy dynamics of the different counties and their impact on the world politics.

He said the conference promoted awareness among participants of women’s role in society and also inspired them to work for peace in the country.

Pro-rector (academics) Professor Fazal Ahmad Khalid spoke about the role of the UN and appreciated the world body for preventing the third world war and resolving numerous regional and international disputes peacefully.

He also highlighted the challenges faced by the world community, especially developing countries. He said the UN admitted that poverty generated various problems and its eradication was vital for prosperity.

Dawn

LAHORE: As world celebrates ‘Malala Day’ on Saturday (today), Education for All Global Monitoring Report reveals that Pakistan is among the bottom-10 countries in a new ranking for education of females facing financial hardship.

Report director Pauline Rose says: “As we stand together on Malala Day, it is vital to stand up for what Malala believes in and to put the spotlight on the extreme disadvantage that many poor girls and young women face in getting to school.”

She said the report as well as the new interactive website – www.wide.com, World Inequality Database in Education (WIDE) — presented a global ranking on the extent of education poverty around the world.

She said Pakistan was among the bottom-10 nations with regard to proportion of the poorest girls who had never been to the school. The country, she said, was also among the last 10 for the amount of time that its young women spent in school in their lifetime. She said only six African countries had lower ranking than Pakistan’s.

Ms Rose said almost two-thirds of the poorest girls in Pakistan had never been to school. She said the long-term neglect of education meant the poorest young women in the country had only spent around a year in school on average.

“Without a real step to give poor children and young people the education and training they need, including a second chance for those who missed out, the government will be denying them equal opportunities in work and life forever,” she warned.

Dawn