Daily Times

Gender disparity in Pakistan is widespread owing to the patriarchal nature of society and male dominance in almost all the spheres of public life. Women in our country are not encouraged to make full use of their abilities and get financially independent. It has been reported by various NGOs that women in rural areas are forced to marry early so they cannot seek education and those who find this opportunity are not permitted to get themselves employed anywhere. The established notion among the society that women who are financially independent become liberal and outrageous has impeded them to come forward. Gender inequality exists in different dimensions in the country-health, education, employment, remuneration, etc–and has diminished their capabilities and confined their existence to home. When gender inequality increases, it affects the economic status of a family. Analysts say that when there will be a sole breadwinner in the family and women will not be allowed to work independently to generate income, poverty increases and economic prosperity decreases.

Research has shown that gender disparity is proportionately linked with economic disparity. It has been found that those families where only men are working to earn livelihood are experiencing more poverty as compared to those where both are contributing equally. The prospect of economic prosperity decreases when the onus to earn is shifted on a single member of the family that enjoys a limited income, making it difficult to survive in these times of rising inflation in the country. According to World Bank, poverty rises to over five per cent in 2020 as over two million people have fallen below the poverty line. Poverty in Pakistan has increased from 4.4 per cent to 5.4 per cent in 2020, the World Bank stated. The surge in crisis has also happened due to the Covid-19 pandemic that made millions of people lose their jobs, dealing with gender inequality on top of it.

The law of the land clearly protects a special place for women by promoting gender equality.

Analysts maintain that women who are employed and have access to income and financial resources can work far better than men in promoting the welfare of their families and producing livelihoods. It has been proved through research that women have a natural leaning to invest in their family and children. Therefore, it is more likely that financially secure women will spend on their children’s education and health and also strive for female education and employment. Analysts say under such circumstances, there will be more school enrollment statistics, high nutrition levels in children, and increased female education. While contrarily, working women who experience gender gap are suffering from poor health conditions and environment, less food, impoverished lifestyles that ultimately create limited opportunities for their children as well. Experts say that 60 per cent of those in the world who go hungry are females.

The incumbent government, the critics suggest, is vehemently working on Ehsas Programme to alleviate poverty in the country but the concerned authorities are not paying attention to the actual cause of poverty. They need to find out that what is it that can significantly control poverty in the country. Apart from giving subsidies and introducing facilitating cards to the public, it should be learnt by the government from other countries that gender disparity has become the most prominent factor that leads to poverty.

The developed countries in the world have worked on ensuring gender equality by eliminating discrimination from their country and helped women play equal roles by providing them equal opportunities as compared to their male counterparts. The constitution of Pakistan, analysts say, does provide equal opportunities to all; eliminating discrimination based on sex in all spheres of life yet there are no formal strategies present in the governance to implement it. Article 25 of the 1973 constitution of Pakistan ensures special protection for women and children and maintains that there will be no discrimination based on sex in the country. Critics suggest that the law of the land clearly protects a special place for women by promoting gender equality. However, no proper arrangements by the government have been seen to execute such laws that uphold gender equality.

Britta Petersen, director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Pakistan office in Islamabad, states that it will take time for Pakistan to feel a change from its old traditions and customs before it sees any significant improvement in its affairs. “The current government is also trying to improve the situation of women in Pakistan. But many of the problems persist because of old customs and traditions,” she said.

“We have accomplished much more than we expected, but it will still take time before all women in Pakistan profit from that,” Petersen added. “We must not forget that it wasn’t that long ago that in Germany men had to give their approval if a woman wanted to open up a bank account,” she pointed out. And just like Germany, a complete transition in Pakistan will take some time.

It has been observed by various experts that countries who strongly monitor gender equality as a major part of development tend to have higher income levels and several regions have shown that creating gender equality has resulted in a poverty reduction. Realizing that a strong connection between poverty and gender equality exists, the United Nations has defined the agenda for all countries to achieve gender equality by 2030. For a developing country like Pakistan whose ranking is regretfully as low as 151st in the world, the target seems difficult to achieve. It appears that a lot of effort is required to bring about reforms that lead to reducing poverty through gender equality.

Former Federal Secretary Rukhsana Shah said that it is high time the state should work towards improving conditions for women when especially this factor controls economic welfare. “The state needs to emerge from its stupor to stop this shameful slide of half of its population into the dark ages, considering not only global requirements but also its economic imperatives,” she said.

If the government wants to alleviate poverty, it needs to create a safe and enabling environment for women to work. Women form almost half of the population of the country which means if we decide to harness their potential by promoting their talents and appreciating their contribution, we can make this country more prosperous than it would be if the present situation continues. Poverty can be best put to an end when women are allowed to contribute freely without any threat or intimidation. It has become vital to suppress the patriarchal codes of conduct so that women can exercise their rights and gender inequality can be controlled. The government must work on improving its Gender Gap Index by properly addressing the factors that are responsible for its low ranking. Our country needs a gender-inclusive environment that makes women and men behave alike and paves way for all to have collective participation in the economic development of the country.

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