Islamabad-Women empowerment is the stepping stone in achieving the elusive goal of sustainable population growth in Pakistan.
July 11th commemorates World Population Day, an occasion that draws attention to the urgency and significance of population-related matters. This year’s theme, ‘Unleashing the Power of Gender Equality: Uplifting the Voices of Women and Girls to Unlock Our World’s Infinite Possibilities’, strikes a profound chord in the context of Pakistan where women empowerment has remained a significant challenge due to low literacy rates and limited female participation in the workforce. Shockingly, 48 percent of women in Pakistan are illiterate, 79 percent are not part of the labor force, and only 10 percent can make independent decisions about their health.
This was discussed during the media coalition meeting held to mark World Population Day organized by the Population Council on Monday. Media Coalition comprises media persons from all provinces representing all major media outlets of Pakistan. The coalition highlights the cross-sectoral impact of rapid population growth periodically to raise awareness and hold governments accountable for improving the well-being of the people.
Briefing the media, Umme Kason, Senior Project Officer at the Population Council presented the data on women’s education, health, and labor force participation. She stressed the media to raise awareness of these issues through their news stories. She said, “Media should highlight the issues to remove all forms of discrimination against girls, in terms of diet, education, and healthcare. Girls should be treated as equal to boys and must be educated to plan their families according to their resources.” She also urged the media to play its part in ensuring the enrolment of all out-of-school girls and incentivization of their education till the secondary level, as 37 percent of girls remain out of school in the country. Media can also hold governments responsible to ensure service delivery of family planning services besides raising awareness to enhance male engagement in family planning.
Speaking to the media on challenges of women empowerment in Pakistan, Fauzia Yazdani, Social & Public Policy Advisor (Gender and Women Empowerment) said, “One of the most important ways to enhance women’s rights is to increase their access to education and employment. When women are educated and employed, they are more likely to be able to make their own choices about their lives and contribute to the economic development of the country. Research indicates that lack of women empowerment contributed to the country’s unsustainable population growth as educated and employed women are empowered to better plan their families.”
In his welcome remarks, the Senior Director of Programmes of the Population Council said, “Pakistan ranks amongst the lower rank of the Global Gender Gap Index 2022. Pakistan’s gender gap is particularly wide in the areas of economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment. For example, women make up only 21 percent of the labor force in Pakistan, and they hold only 20 percent of seats in the National Assembly.” He urged journalists to actively contribute to achieving development targets by simultaneously focusing on education, healthcare (including family planning), and female workforce participation.
Participants of the meeting pledged to use media as an effective tool in the promotion of women’s empowerment to ensure girls can exercise their rights and have choices to be able to balance their families’ resources and family size to reach their full potential.
They also agreed to play a positive role in increasing access to reproductive health information and services to married couples in Pakistan as media campaigns could impress upon the governments to ensure the availability of contraceptives and trained staff at all health outlets. Media Coalition Members pledged to highlight the need for legislation on pre-marital counseling, family planning, the enhanced role of men in girls’ education, women empowerment, and discouraging child marriage.
Source: The Nation
