Day: March 8, 2013

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day recognises social, economic and political achievements of women and highlights the importance of providing equal rights to them.

Thousands of global events occur each year, but ongoing human rights violation provides us with a glimpse that we have not yet woken up from slumber.

Pakistan is a signatory to many international documents and has passed several national bills, particularly the National Women Rights Bill 2012 and Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act 2010, yet our society is in a state of denial. Although passing laws and initiating many landmark programmes by NGOs and the government to provide rights to women under the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Employment Scheme is an appreciable step, yet the need of time is to educate our society to respect and value women. Unless we change the mindset of people, bills and documents are of no worth.

It was the vision of Benazir Bhutto and all the people of Pakistan to provide rights to every woman. I would like to request the Chief Justice of Pakistan to provide equal justice to all women by visiting prisons and releasing all those women who were not guilty, yet trapped. At the same time, it is the responsibility of all educational institutions and the media to promote mass awareness campaign to promote respect for women.

MUNIR MOOSA SEWANI

Karachi

Source: Dawn

Karachi: The Aurat Foundation and the Democracy Reporting International (DRI) have called on different branches of the state to provide gender-disaggregated data, meaningfully consult with women’s groups and undertake additional special measures to promote women’s political participation in Pakistan.

In a jointly produced paper “Women’s participation in the upcoming 2013 elections: Pakistan’s international law commitments under CEDAW”, the Aurat Foundation and DRI presented recommendations aimed at improving fulfillment of women’s right to participate in political and public life as enshrined in the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The Aurat Foundation and the DRI have identified areas where Pakistan is not compliant with the requirements for the political participation of women protected under CEDAW, which was ratified by Pakistan in 1996.

Significant problems in Pakistan persist with regard to participation of women as voters and as candidates. Only 20 per cent of the National Assembly members and 18 per cent of the provincial assemblies are women. Merely, three percent of directly elected seats are held by women in the National and the provincial assemblies.

Moreover, there are reportedly 11 million fewer women registered as voters than men in the electoral rolls.

The Aurat Foundation and the DRI have recommend that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) provide publicly accessible gender-disaggregated data broken down by administrative units in order to enable effective scrutiny of women’s political participation; and that political parties be required to publicly provide regular and standardized information about the number and proportion of women in their executive and leadership positions.

Consultations with women’s groups could also be carried out to discuss how legislation and administrative regulations can be improved to facilitate greater participation of women in the electoral process.

The ECP carries special responsibility to promote greater participation and in protecting the rights of women voters. It could carry out specialized voter education; increase the integrity of polling stations, improve accessibility to polling (including through recruitment of female staff), undertake stronger action against those curtailing the rights of women voters, and promote scrutiny by women observers and agents.

Maria Rashid from Rozan stated that the joint Aurat-DRI briefing paper came at an opportune time when elections were around the corner and many reforms relating to women’s participation in elections remained unaddressed.

Meanwhile, speakers at the Women’s Leadership Forum called on the government to ensure development, political empowerment and leadership for women politicians.

The event was jointly organised by the Search for Common Ground Pakistan and the Insan Foundation Trust to mark the International Women’s Day (March 8) with foreground celebrations on the achievements of women leaders, especially from the provincial assemblies of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh and the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA).

“Women parliamentarians need to connect with women bureaucrats and common women of the country to establish strong communication networking among themselves,” said Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa during her keynote address.

She also launched the nationwide campaign entitled “Women’s Initiative for Learning and Leadership (WILL)” on the occasion.

Source: The News

By: Myra Imran

International Women’s Day present a grim picture of gender equality in Pakistan, more than half of women surveyed by Gallup believe they enjoy the same rights as men.

These interesting findings and many others about women were released in the Gallup Survey report issued on the eve of International Women Day.Conducted from Feb. 24 to March 2, 2013, the survey covers issues ranging from violence against women to colour preferences. In this survey, only women were asked different questions about vital issues.

The survey says around 51 per cent of women in Pakistan believe they are equal to men, while 47 per cent disagree. A majority of women (21 per cent) considered Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah as their role model, 20 per cent voted for Benazir Bhutto, 5 per cent preferred Noor Jahan, 1 percent chose Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan and Nusrat Bhutto, while 12 per cent said they had no role model.

Among prominent women who are alive, 10 per cent voted for Bilquis Edhi, Malala Yousafzai and Afia Siddiqui got 4 per cent votes, while 16 per cent said they had no ideal.In a question concerning the worst crimes against women, 39 per cent termed acid throwing, 24 considered domestic violence, 21 percent thought honour killing and 13 per cent said Vani was the worst crimes against women.

Twenty-seven per cent of women consider the birth of their child as the most important event in their lives whereas 26 per cent respondents said their wedding day was the best day they had.

Among the total number, 73 per cent of the respondents said women and students need separate transport services whereas 23 pc said there was no need for separate transport.A majority of women (32) believe lack of education is the biggest problem facing women, 21 per cent said physical abuse, while 18 per cent termed cultural practices the worst problem. For 14 per cent, lack of health facilities, for 7 per cent lack of employment whereas 6 per cent believed lack of balance between family life and employment was the biggest issue.

The question about responsibilities of men and women received interesting answers. Around 52 per cent agreed that taking care of children was the responsibility of women, 7 percent said men should take care of children whereas 40 per cent said it was the collective responsibility of parents.

About supporting the family, 58 per cent thought it was the responsibility of men, 19 per cent said women should support the family, whereas 23 per cent said they should both share the burden.

A majority (64 per cent) said women should do the household chores, 13 per cent voted against the notion and said men should be responsible for this work whereas 22 per cent said men and women should both take the responsibility.

Among the total respondents, 21 per cent said women were responsible for taking care of education and the upbringing of children, 28 per cent voted for men whereas 50 per cent said both were equally responsible.

Keeping in mind the past 100 years, 66 per cent said it was education that mainly improved the lives of women, 23 per cent said family planning and the same number considered employment as the basic reason for women development. Interestingly, 8 per termed Internet or social media access and 12 per cent said use of mobile phone had a major role to play in the improvement of a woman’s life.

Regarding child preference, 45 per cent said the total should be not more than three to four, 23 per cent preferred five to eight, 21 per cent said one to two, while 2 per cent said more than eight. Seven per cent who preferred none.

A majority (40 per cent) believed two boys was the right number for an ideal family, 23 per cent preferred one boy whereas 17 per cent voted for at least three boys. Four per cent of the respondents believed eight boys made an ideal family whereas 8 per cent said having a boy was not necessary for an ideal family.

Similarly, for a girl child, 37 per cent thought two girls were enough for an ideal family, while an equal number of respondents (37 per cent) said one girl was the right number for a perfect family. Around 10 per cent preferred three daughters whereas 11 per cent voted for the option ‘none.’ Only 1 per cent said more than four daughters made the right size.

Answers to question “In which of the following circumstances is divorce by a man justified?” also had interesting responses. Around 63 per cent believed it should happen only when a woman starts taking drugs, 41 per cent said when a woman becomes angry and argumentative, 37 per cent said when there was no love between the husband and wife whereas 36 said a husband had a solid reason to divorce his wife when she is unable to bear children.

When asked about colour preferences, 17 per cent termed red their favorite, 16 per cent said black while an equal number of respondents voted for pink. Around 16 per cent said they would prefer to wear pink on the most special day of their life.

Source: The News

By Farzana Raja

It is truly a matter of immense pride and satisfaction to me that Pakistan has made quite vital inroads in the cause of women empowerment and emancipation during last few years. Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is one of the largest interventions in the social sector of Pakistan. This breakthrough has special significance to me because the programme has not only laid the foundations for sustainable poverty reduction but also been able to change the hearts and minds of the people in general regarding status of women in our society.

While marking International Women’s Day, I would like to recall that mainstreaming of women and their socio-economic uplift was envisaged as one of the prime objectives of BISP at the very beginning of this unique initiative in the social sector besides poverty alleviation. We as a nation are grateful to Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan and Mother of Democracy Lady Nusrat Bhutto who played significant role in the women empowerment… Inspired by the dynamic leadership and vision of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, the programme was designed to achieve the desired goals through empowering women folks of society.

There is no denying of this reality that women empowerment is a key phenomenon of bringing about sustainable socio-economic progress of every nation or society. This forward-looking approach is helping such societies to get fully benefited from the active participation of women from every walk of life.

It is also worth watching that the women today are more aware of their role, existence and rights than ever before.

International Women’s Day has equally special significance for Women of Pakistan that have made an epic struggle to protect and safeguard the rights of millions of voiceless women of our society. Some historic achievements have been made during this momentous struggle but still there is a long way to go uplift the status of women in society further.

During recent years, some landmarks have been achieved regarding protection of the rights of women. It is quite an encouraging advancement to achieve the ultimate fruits of women empowerment and emancipation as it was envisioned by the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Our great Quaid was of view that “No nation can ever be worthy of its existence that cannot take its women along with the men. No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.”

The history of Pakistan is evident of the fact that it was the democratic government of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that had revived the vision of Jinnah in its true spirit by taking practical measures to protect rights of women and by making the welfare of women an integral part of social, political and economic reforms.

Later, after a long era of tyranny in which women of the country suffered the most, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto introduced various women-friendly policies to revive their status in society and to reduce their socio-economic hardships. She was indeed an ardent believer of women right and empowerment and thus served the cause of women by making it foundation stone of the policies of her government.

The commitment of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto for the cause of women has always been a great source of inspiration for me. The first ever Ministry of Women in Federal cabinet was also introduced our Shaheed leader. Besides, she introduced several revolutionary policies aiming to empower women of the country.

While highlighting the significance of women empowerment, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto once said that “Empowerment is the right to be economically independent”. Empowerment is the right to be educated and make choices. Empowerment is the right to have the opportunity to select a career. Empowerment is the right to own property, to start a business, to flourish in the marketplace.”Today BISP, through its multi-pronged poverty reduction and women empowerment strategy has incorporated this entire vision of Shaheed BB in the form of its different components i.e. Waseela-e-Haq, Waseela-e-Rozgar, Waseela-e-Taleem as well as health and life insurance covering millions of beneficiary families with women as primary recipients.

In the pursuit of same vision of Shaheed leader, the PPP led democratic government, during its constitutional era of five years, has introduced number of new laws aiming to protect and safeguard the rights of women. The women of Pakistan are still facing with a number of challenges, however, it is being anticipated that the negative societal behaviors and anti-women mindset would finally get defeated with the collaborative dedicated efforts at various levels.

Benazir Income Support Programme as a comprehensive social safety net has played most vital and much needed role in enhancing the cause of women socio-economic uplift and empowerment. By virtue of making women heads of the family prime beneficiaries, this initiative has been proved s a giant leap and this fact has won the recognition from credible international organizations all over the world.

Thank God, more than 1.5 million women have obtained their Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) during last four years only to be eligible to get registered with BISP as beneficiary of the programme. BISP is determine to give women their lost identity in the future development of Pakistan.

International Women’s Day provide us a chance of re-evaluating our endeavors for empowering women of the country and to further re-established our commitment with the cause of uplifting the status of women in our society.

INSHALLAH, Pakistan will emerge as a responsible welfare state of the modern era…

The writer is a federal minister and Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP)

Source: Daily Times