Daily Times

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Romina Khurshid Alam on Saturday said gender inequality is an international issue which requires targeted policy interventions with a bottom-up approach. She was addressing a consultative workshop on “Gender Policy and Economic Development: Applying the Disaster Resilience Lens” organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), in collaboration with British High Commission’s Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade (REMIT) programme. She said that women being half of population are at the center of development agenda and pivotal for effectively catalyzing change. She highlighted that lack of gendered data hinders effective policy implementation to address climate disaster issues and inequalities. She said that collaboration and knowledge sharing can help strengthen responses to novel and evolving challenges. She also informed that the Parliamentary Taskforce on SDGs and SDPI are collaborating to initiate a regional parliamentary consortium to overcome gender inequalities in the region and join forces on the issue. Naghma-e-Tehniat, Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), REMIT, reiterated British government’s commitment to addressing gender and climate issues. She said that since the floods in 2022, the focus has been directed to review of policies for gendered impact analysis and address these issues. Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Joint Executive Director, SDPI said that with higher incidence of climate disasters, current knowledge must be utilized to develop responses to sporadic climate instances. He stressed that disaster lens for gender-focused economic development should be holistic, and not be confined to a single ministry’s framework. Ali Kemal, Chief SDGs, Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiative said that gender disaggregated data is already available but lack of evidence on impacts of policy actions and responses is needed. He said that care economy and financial inclusion must be targeted for rural women to address social and gender inequalities. Bilal Anwar, CEO of NDRMF informed that NDRMF now ensures gender dimension in project design and implementation which has demonstrated success.

He emphasized the need for training and capacity building to sensitize partners, public and private organizations to consider gendered approach in project planning and implementation. Khawaja Imran Raza, Secretary NCSW said that sensitivity to gender issues is at the heart of effective policy implementation. He emphasized the need for disaggregated data and sharing resources based on the inequalities for climate equity. Gulalai Khan, Gender and Social Inclusion Lead, REMIT emphasized the need for consolidation of efforts and data for meaningful policy-making at all levels and welcomed the initiative of the SDGs focus on gender and climate at the parliamentary level through a consortium. Dr Fareeha Armughan, Head Centre for Evidence Action Research, SDPI, highlighted the need for gender-specific shock-responsive data and hotspot mapping for targeting investments in areas where women are highly vulnerable. She stressed that Gender Action Lab can address systematic inequalities in employment. She urged for coupling decent work with Care economy’s 3Rs “Recognize and Reduce unpaid work by women and Redistribution of gender roles ” to reduce women’s vulnerability. Prof Gary Dymski, from Leeds University, UK in his presentation highlighted that gender inequality is a multi-scalar issue exacerbated by crisis. He suggested conducting case studies at local and urban levels to strategize resilient socio-economic development of women. He further stressed increasing access to finances for resilient economic development in an inclusive manner. Minahil Usman from Leeds University, UK while presenting her study ‘The Amplification of Gender-based Economic Disparities during Pakistan’s 2022 Floods’ said that recent floods have significantly exacerbated the existing gender disparities and have made women even more vulnerable due to damage to agriculture where women are intensely employed. Usman Khan, Team Lead, Investment and Climate, REMIT concluding the session said that weak coordination between public institutions creates policy isolation and urged for scaling up and strengthening indigenous sector to support economic resilience and development especially for gender-related interventions.