Daily Times

The international community is celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 [today] under the theme ‘Think equal, build smart, innovate for change’.

The innovative theme shows us the way to fight the hardened culture of gender inequality and ensure empowerment of women and their unhindered access to all services and facilities enjoyed by their counterparts.

The day highlights the socio-economic and politico-cultural achievements of women and calls for united global efforts to eliminate or minimize gender inequality and give women their due share in different walks of life.

It also reminds us of the fact that everyone has a role to play in ensuring a more gender-balanced world where women match their counterparts stride for stride for collective development and prosperity.

According to a World Economic Forum [WEF] report, Pakistan is the second worst country when it comes to gender equality. Ranking 148 out of 149 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2018, which incorporated the latest statistics from international organisations along with a survey of executives to look into education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment, the number of women holding managerial positions is one of the lowest.

The country is placed two notches lower than the war-battered Syria and ranks even lower than countries like Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where women are less visible in the workforce and public life. It was also the lowest-ranked country in South Asia, as it closed 55pc of its overall gender gap, compared to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka that closed just over 72pc and nearly 68pc of their overall gender gap.

While the country made some progress in wage equality and the education attainment sub-index, it ranked 146 in economic participation and opportunity, and 145 in health and survival. In terms of political empowerment, the country was positioned at 97.

A recent gender audit by the Women’s Action for Better Workplaces found that our labour laws do not create an enabling working environment for women.

Another UN report from earlier this year found that 4.9 million women between the ages of 19 and 49 years were disadvantaged in four SDG-related dimensions, including health.

It found that around 48 percent of women and girls between age groups of 15 and 49 have no say in decisions about their own health, with those in rural areas being particularly disadvantaged.

It has also been found that up to 70 percent of the population facing poverty are none but women who receive 17 percent less salary for the same work as men do.

The above figures paint a dim and grim picture of the situation we are in. Though a single-minded sincere struggle is on at the public and private sector level to give women their due place and rights in the male-dominated society, good results are not accruing as per expectations.

On its part, the Pakistan Red Crescent Society – the country’s largest humanitarian organization – is also working on all cylinders to ensure gender parity while launching human welfare projects in different parts of the country and promote women empowerment by taking in talented women as program managers, officers and volunteers and recognizing and encouraging their contribution and services in different assigned areas.

It is indeed a feather in the PRCS cap that a total of 1,246,084 women have so far benefitted from a number of projects launched in different parts of the country. A total of 18,752 girls have been registered and trained as volunteers in the recent years.

The PRCS engages them off and on for different human welfare projects like imparting first aid training to common citizens, encouraging people to register as volunteer, motivating the general public to donate blood, setting up blood donation camps, providing psychosocial support to distressed families during natural or manmade disasters, motivating and sensitizing the general public to different sensitive issues, visiting old homes in different parts of the country for distribution of gifts and other items of daily use.

The PRCS also has to its credit of launching its Women’s Forum on November 25, 2015 to address the specific needs of women and girls in times of disasters [whether natural or manmade] such as distinct healthcare needs.

It is also promoting women’s reproductive health rights, striving for their economic empowerment, addressing their vulnerability in disasters, supporting their inter/intra-organizational activities for effective communication and networking, providing a platform for integrated efforts on women issues, liaising with the government for women related legislation and developing and enhancing their capacity.

The forum encourages women from all walks of life to join it in order to develop their entrepreneurial skills through capacity building trainings, workshops, seminars, networking sessions and conference, enabling them to project and exhibit their skills and become part of a strong networking mechanism.

Despite all these efforts, we feel that there are still some hurdles that we cannot push back alone without concerted, coordinated efforts of all state institutions.

We propose that the legislative and humanitarian organizations should work hand in hand so that an exhaustive approach can be had to defeat gender discrimination and its ills.

The writer is acting secretary general of PRCS

Published in Daily Times, March 8^th 2019.