President Dr. Arif Alvi on Friday called for economic and financial empowerment, property rights, health and nutrition, coupled with quality education and skills and a harassment-free workplace to motivate women, who make up almost 50% of the population, to play their due and active role in business, trade and services sectors of the country.
He expressed these views while addressing the launching ceremony of the Federal Ombudsperson Secretariat for Protection against Harassment (FOSPAH’s) Annual Report, launched in coordination with UN Women here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The President expressed his solidarity with flood victims around the country and expressed his condolences and offered prayers for those who had lost their lives during the devastating floods. The participants also observed one-minute silence in solidarity with the flood victims.
Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment Ms Kashmala Khan, UN Women’s Country’s Representative in Pakistan, Ms Sharmila Rasool, and Country Director of United Institute of Peace (USIP), Pakistan, Adnan Rafiq, also spoke on the occasion.
Members of the diplomatic community, media persons and women from different walks of life attended the ceremony.
The President, along with Ms Kashmala Khan, and other speakers launched the Annual Report of FOSPAH.
Addressing the ceremony, the President said that their social and cultural attitudes and intellectual biases towards women’s rights, their economic and financial empowerment and gainful employment, and the country’s moral and ethical values needed correction on the basis of Islamic teachings which called for equal education opportunities for both men and women and allowed women to seek gainful employment by following Hazrat Khadija (RA) as a role model who was a successful businesswoman.
He said that women’s inclusion in the economy could be enhanced by improving their mobility and providing them equal opportunities in the business, trade and services sectors and creating a safe and secure work environment to enable them to realizing their fullest potential and by taking affirmative action wherever necessary.
The President said that in Pakistan, only 24% of women were working in the formal and informal sectors of the economy which was very low compared to men whose economic participation was around 90%.
He said that no country can make meaningful socio-economic progress without the full participation of women in the economy. The President further said that women should be treated as equal citizens as ordained in Islam and in the Constitution of Pakistan. He said that the practice of women voluntarily resigning from their property rights in favour of their male family members should be discouraged to stop the exploitation of women’s rights on inherited properties.
The President said that over 80% of the admissions taken in professional colleges were by women but their retention in gainful employment was very low due to social and domestic constraints. This trend, he added, needed to be reversed on priority basis through collective action by the government, families and women themselves.
He also called upon the industrial and services sectors to create a harassment-free work environment in their establishments where their own female family members and their women employees could contribute their share in creating wealth for their company and the country.
The President appreciated the Federal Ombudsperson for taking concrete steps for the expansion of its offices to Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore to provide relief to women complainants at their doorsteps.
He also commended the Federal Ombudsperson for its hard work, commitment and introducing IT-based solutions for filing appeals, taking statements and recording evidence, which had increased the number of 500 cases filed from 2010-2018 to 5000 cases from 2018-2022.
The President advised FOSPAH to continue its efforts and improve upon it to create awareness in the society on the importance of women’s education and their economic role in society and to encourage them to approach Women Ombudsperson for resolution of their issues relating to property rights and workplace harassment.
Earlier, Ms Kashmala Khan addressed the ceremony and highlighted that FOSPAH was an autonomous quasi-judicial body that provided justice to aggrieved persons in cases involving harassment at the workplace and denial of property rights to women within 60 days.
She said that the establishment of a women-specific institution was indicative of the state’s resolve towards protecting women’s rights and ensuring their participation in the workforce.
Ms Sharmila Rasool, Country Representative UN Women Pakistan in her address said that enhancing women’s participation in the workforce would help improve Pakistan’s economy, besides helping it achieve Sustainable Development Goals.
Adnan Rafiq from the United State Institute of Peace (USIP) highlighted that members of the society needed to be more sensitive to the difficulties faced by women during their movement and while performing their duties at the workplace.