Daily Times

Gender equality is integral to the economic stability of the country. It plays an instrumental role in raising the standards of living of a country’s masses and helps them generate resources for well-being. In Pakistan, owing to the prevalent gender disparity and continued denial of resources for women, the country has been poorly performing in achieving a good ranking on Global Gender Gap Index. The recent report on Global Gender Gap released by World Economic Forum for this year placed Pakistan at 145 out of 146 states, making it the second-worst country in the world. The report also added that there is a sharp increase in gender disparity for literacy, secondary and tertiary education enrolments. Pakistan has made no considerable progress in this regard as the previous report on gender disparity also painted the same dismal picture. It seems as if the government has been negligent in making relevant arrangements that can close the gender gap with significant improvements.

Due to the patriarchal nature of the society in Pakistan and regressive cultural norms, a woman is not given equal access to education, health and other economic opportunities as she is considered to be a weak segment of society that should not be given liberty to exercise her free-will and choices of life. Experts say that the widespread poverty and unsafe social environment also create hindrances for women to step out, seek education and gain financial security. Social pressure and religious backlash are the most prominent factors for increased gender disparity in Pakistan. There exists a wide gender gap between men and women in key areas-health, education, economy and politics.

A sophisticated system of education in Pakistan for women remains an elusive dream.

According to a report titled “25 Million Broken Promises” by Alif Ailan (an alliance that works for education reform) informed that there are currently 25.02 million boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 16 who are not in school. It has been observed that among these children, 13.7 million (55 per cent) were school girls and 11.4 million (45 per cent) were school boys.

Roshaneh Zafar, founder and managing director of Kashf foundation complained about the low literacy rates of women in the country. “The perceptions that investing in girls’ education does not result in the economic uplift of families deter parents from sending girls to school”, she said. She further added that there is a need to raise awareness of the importance of educating women and girls and the positive results it brings to women and their families.

A similar level of discrimination can be seen in the health sector as well. According to a WHO report, girls are at higher risk of death at 68 per cent compared to 57 per cent of boys. There is an evident gender bias present in the availability of social determinants of health, and relevant health facilities including access to safe drinking water.

“Huge health disparities exist within and between the provinces along the lines of class, rural-urban divide, gender, caste and religion. With increasing poverty and high unemployment, people’s purchasing power with regards to healthcare is diminishing fast”, states the report.

Experts suggest some remedies in this regard that Pakistan can adopt to gain a better position in the ranking. First, they approve, it should put the entire focus on making women economically empowered. The informal economy should be regularized keeping in the centre, the provision of economic opportunities to women that can also bring fruitful results to the country’s economy. Those areas where women can easily participate in making themselves independent should be made convenient for them to adopt so that they can make good use of such opportunities. Second, women who want to be entrepreneurs but do not have financial support should be provided soft loans by the government so that they can establish their businesses with convenience.

Third, the education gap should be abridged so that men and women receive the same levels of learning. Technical skills, apart from higher education, should be imparted to women that can open all sorts of avenues for women to choose and compete. A sophisticated system of education in Pakistan for women remains an elusive dream. Neither the society supports it nor does there the government make arrangements to improve the access and standards of education. According to UNICEF, almost 22.8 million children aged 5-16 are out of school and around 60 per cent of them are females. Given the patriarchal norms being dominant in Pakistan’s society, people feel reluctant in investing in the education of a female child. Local schools emphasizing on females, and their well-being during learning should be opened up by the government.

Fourth, the gender disparity can also be reduced if every female gets the required health benefits equivalent to their male counterparts. Women are more susceptible to exposure to various diseases, which makes it quite convincing that they need better health conditions and services. There should be proper health care units and advanced hospitals with full provision of medical facilities. Lady doctors and female attendants should also be deployed to facilitate female patients. Aiding in improving maternal health should be the biggest concern of authorities. Fifth, developing a safe environment for women to move in society, learn and grow economically is the most important step in this direction.

The writer is a sociocultural critic with a focus on human rights. She can be reached at mehmilkhalid@gmail.com