Daily Times

According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Gender Gap Report, 2016, the world is facing an acute misuse of talent by not acting faster to tackle gender inequality, which could put economic growth at risk and deprive economies of the opportunity to develop. The yearly report measures progress toward gender parity in four areas including educational attainment, health and survival, economic opportunity and political empowerment. First published in 2006, the Global Gender Gap Report ranks 145 countries according to their gender equality in these four sectors. Illustrated through the degree of equality achieved between men and women in closing this gap, the report’s Gender Gap Index classifies countries based on how well they cater to their female pool based on economic, educational, health based and political indicators.

According to the report, Iceland took the top spot for the eighth consecutive year, closing more than 87 percent of its overall gender gap, followed by Finland at second and Norway at the third place. Pakistan’s scores on the four pillars of the global gender gap index have not improved much from last year, both on the economic participation and opportunity Pakistan scores at 143rd rank and education attainment at 135th, as the country has not changed from last year, the report said.

Pakistan’s poor ranking presents a bleak portrait of the state of modest progress made on female empowerment and gender equality. In Pakistan, discrimination against woman starts since her birth. In most families, a boy is considered more important compared to a girl. While girls face restrictions at all stages of their lives, they are, mostly, not allowed to take independent decisions in their lives. Too much emphasis is put on the way women dress and not on the way men ogle at them for their appearance. Women are asked to cover up; many women are not allowed to leave their houses without permission. Women exist among countless restrictions whereas men are born with a licence to do as they please.

Girls are constantly fed lessons on how to live in society, and until that changes, there will be no real change in treatment of females in Pakistan. The horror of honour killing haunts the narrative of women empowerment, which would remain ineffectual unless there is a change in mindsets. A majority of women cannot move beyond the status patriarchy assigns to them, thereby remaining excluded from developing necessary skills to be part of the workforce. Employment is also a very important fact to be considered in gender discrimination. In Pakistan, 98 percent top managers in banks and other financial institutions and industrial units are males. This clearly shows that women are not treated equally as candidates for top management positions. Males are given priority over females in a country where females are more in number. Government should introduce laws that prohibit gender discrimination and offer remedies for such behaviour in employment as well as in educational and financial institutions. Although there are signs that male behaviour is changing and gender discrimination is decreasing, yet a great deal more needs to be done. Solid measures need to be taken so that females feel free to take decisions about their life.

To change the mindset of society, the process has to begin at home. It starts with the mother; in every home, mothers need to educate their sons. Teach your sons what to do instead of forcing girls to learn what not to do. *