An African proverb goes, ‘if you are educating a woman, you are educating a nation.’ For centuries, women were denied fundamental education and a significant role in the society that could, indeed, help as an anchor of change in just about all spheres of development. Even today, most of us verbally claim to be fostering equal rights – which we all inherit whether it’s lawfully or religiously – but the epilogue of women’s social, political, and economic interaction is not phenomenal. One might wonder if it is the complicity or hypocrisy being the impediment.
Pakistan ranked at 151 out of 153 countries regarding the inequitable societies for women to live in, stated a Gender Gap report of 2020 released by World Economic Forum. The context of this survey roams around access to education, health, economy, and politics. Moreover, at the 2015th Oslo Summit on education and development, Pakistan was classified among the “worst’s performing countries in education.”
In primary school age, thirty-two percent girls are deprived of education, by sixth grade, the figure ranges up to fifty-nine percent, much less than the staggering rise of eighty-seven percent by ninth grade, reported Human Rights Watch. However, boys’ performance is slightly better. In Balochistan, eighty-one percent of women have not completed primary education, compared to fifty-two percent of men, and seventy-five percent have not attended the school at all, compared to forty percent of men. Therefore, Pakistan continuously lags in removing this significant gender disparity in educational institutes, and it is apparent that women are most affected by the gender inequity in the country.
Women could play a decisive role in the development of a country, and for that to happen, a significant change and acceleration of parity are required. The optimal and binding route for change starts from educational institutes because the best of theories and revolutions start from the lecture halls and laboratories. Universities breed ideas, theories, and philosophies; that affect the generations to come. Therefore, women in universities can bring constructive change for the country and the upcoming generations.
There are a handful of arguments on how women could change the course of a nation, and one of them includes economic development. According to the World Bank, Pakistan can brisk up its economic growth only when its women are working side by side with men in the workplace. Pakistan’s half of the population is women, although, it could have been more if the people did not kill their women in the name of honor. The so-called honor killings in Pakistan are estimated to be 1000 per year. However, IMF says Pakistan can elevate its GDP by up to a third if the gender gap is removed. Presently, women only make up a scanty 22 percent of the labor force in the country. Thus, more educated women could rapidly enhance economic growth. Along with the economy, the scientific development will also flourish on the campuses, and with the competition, there will be more challenges and more positive and affirmative outcome. Moreover, in a comprehensive study by Alice Eagly, an American professor of psychology, she states that women are more likely to perform well in problem-solving and transformational management and leadership skills than men.
Consequently, the strengthening economy will also eradicate poverty and illiteracy in the country. Therefore, with empowered and well-educated women among the community, prosperity will be attracted automatically in plenty of different ways.
One must rewind the African proverb and think of the milk and honey a nation could achieve by just nurturing women’s education and removing gender disparity.
Pakistan is a democratic state, and as said by the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan will only thrive if its women played a crucial role in society. The stability of democracy and political development is another critical factor that will create balance, and with more women in the system, their rights will be guarded.
Subsequently, the medieval and socially constructed system of patriarchy, such as defining work as ‘men’s work’ and ‘women’s work’ and subjecting women to homes and dependence on their male counterparts for basic life necessities, will be uprooted.
The government of Pakistan has initiated several programs to encourage women to take part in universities, but sadly, the result is not pragmatic. First, the expenditure on women universities could be increased by the federal government, and they could keep a tight rein on the provincial governments to achieve the goal of eradicating gender disparity.
Many families are afraid to send their daughters to the schools because of the insecure environment; thus, safety should be the second step.
An organization to encourage women’s education could also be developed to analyze and then work accordingly for the cause. Another restriction for women comes with the marriage concept in early age, and the government could increase the minimum age of marriage to 18.
And lastly, an active campaign could be originated to educate the families in backward areas, especially, to let their women study. Pakistan’s 60 percent of the population lives in rural areas; hence, they could be aimed first.
Hence, is it iniquitous to say that empowering women in universities could play a pivotal part in improving the fate of the nation? One must rewind the African proverb and think of the milk and honey a nation could achieve by just nurturing women’s education and removing gender disparity.