Daily Times

A focused approach, with coordination at the federal and provincial levels, towards gender equality and promoting the rights of women is the need of the hour. Any policy framework aiming to work towards the betterment of women must be interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral. The success of any policy framework depends on the strength of its proposed implementation mechanism; in the case of the NGPF, it is essential for reporting lines and implementation bodies to be clearly defined and all relevant stakeholders to be represented in its Sub-Advisory Committee for Gender Development. Hence, tailored policies, with specific goals, targets and timelines are required. Consultations with key stakeholders, including government representatives, academicians, subject specialists, religious leaders, youth leaders etc. are essential for consensus building, correct identification of key priority areas and sustainability of endeavours. As far as the way forward is concerned, it has to be bifurcated into two parts i.e. medium & long-term approaches.

Medium-term

(a). Conduct a stock-taking exercise that maps out planned or in progress efforts towards gender parity and women empowerment by various provinces, as well as ministries and sectors of Pakistan, to streamline the NGPF’s initiatives, and ensure there is no duplication. (b). Re-evaluate and prioritize proposed strategic priorities and timelines bearing in mind Pakistan’s cultural context and Provincial disparities. (c). Organize a consensus-building exercise with stakeholders from successive governments for sustainability and smooth implementation of the framework. (d). A conference of all political party leaders, as well as provincial heads, is to be convened at the earliest by the MoPD& SI. (e). Integrate social media in all awareness-building and behavioural change campaigns and initiatives. (f). Targeted skill development of women in the Cottage and livestock industry is essential, particularly as their products are a major contributor to Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). (g). Provinces to work in collaboration with Local governments for maximum women participation ensuring implementation through women-operated programs.

The success of any policy framework depends on the strength of its proposed implementation mechanism.

There is a crucial need to broaden the definition of ‘gender’ in the conceptualization of this framework to include transgender and develop tailored strategies for their inclusion and well-being; otherwise, the title of the policy should be restricted to ‘National Women Development Framework’.

Long-term: (a). There is a need to cement strategic interventions with grassroots changes in relevant legislations at the National and Provincial levels and ensure compliance with said laws, such as those that pertain to child marriage and sexual harassment. Dedication of resources is required to address root causes behind strategic interventions, such as defusing widely prevalent myths and misinformation to promote greater participation of women in the formal workforce, ensuring gender equity and equality in education, training, employment and wages etc.

(b). Adoption of a gender perspective in budgeting exercises and increased investment towards interventions that promote women’s access to essential SDGs services, like education, healthcare and justice. For this, improvement of institutional frameworks for data collection for regular use and adoption of gender-disaggregated data in policymaking is also needed.

(c). and last but not the least, strategic priorities and KPIs to be made measurable, achievable and time-bound in consultation with all the provinces, Aid-donors and NGOs. Consequently, review and update the framework every five years in line with regular assessment of implementation status and mid-course corrections.

Amid all these critical issues, Kudos to President Alvi and Former Prime Minister Imran Khan for this timely initiative of NGPF as it proves to be a much-needed and timely intervention following the disproportionately high socio-economic impact COVID-19 has had on women and girls, compared to men. It has elevated ‘gender’ from a previously relegated and often sidelined national agenda to a high-priority one that deserves to be front and centre in discourse.

Likewise, NGPF utilizes an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to improve gender sensitivity in various sectors of the economy, as it is impossible to fix women’s issues with a myopic or one-dimensional perspective. More importantly, it also triggered traditionally stigmatized and neglected topics, such as mental health issues, maternity leave, female representation in leadership and reporting of women harassment in workplaces.

On a broad level, the framework highlights the need for coordination at the Federal and Provincial levels through the establishment of a national-level gender accelerator/action lab. And it also draws attention to the need for evidence-based and data-driven policymaking in all sorts of interventions

(Concluded).

The writer is a teacher and can be reached at ghaniausman786@gmail.com.