Key to development

Author:

Sir: Pakistan is going through a period of great change, with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Pakistan has natural resources, a blossoming middle class and a robust informal economy. But as a country, Pakistan will struggle to reach its full potential unless all Pakistani citizens — male, female, young, elderly — are given the opportunity to realise their rights and reach their own full potential.

This core pillar of development was set back last month when a bill to prohibit underage marriages was withdrawn from the National Assembly. This comes after a similar law was blocked in the Provincial Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan a week earlier. The minimum age of marriage is 18 year of age, as declared in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. No child should have to get married and no one should be forced into wedlock, before attaining that age. When girls are given the freedom to marry later in life, as adults, this benefits everyone.

Girls who marry later are more likely to finish school, more likely to find work, and less likely to suffer the severe health issues that often accompany having children at an early age. When girls are not contributing to society to the best of their potential, it robs them and society they live in of the opportunity to truly progress.

A research conducted by the World Bank and the International Centre for Research on Women, shows that the economic cost of the failure of the developing countries in educating girls to the same standard as boys is substantial and is particularly felt by those living in extreme poverty. This adds significant weight to the argument that investing in stopping the child marriages is essential from both a human rights perspective and an economic one.

SARWAT GHOURI

Via Email