Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reaffirming his commitment to gender equality said women’s empowerment could only be achieved by providing them an equal access to education, skill development and employment opportunities.
“It’s our mission and an unwavering commitment to ensure emancipation of the country’s female population,” he said in his address here at an event of International Women’s Day, marked globally on 8th March to celebrate the achievements of women and to make a call for their rights.
Prominent women from diverse fields including cabinet members, legislators, entrepreneurs and activists joined the event at the Prime Minister’s House, which was organized by Ministry of Human Rights and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
The prime minister, on the occasion, launched the capital’s first-ever Gender Parity Report prepared by NCSW and UNFPA, which identifies challenges and recommends solutions in key areas such as education, health, governance, political representation and justice.
PM Sharif said his government would collaborate with provinces for a collective action to promote women’s integration in programmes contributing to national economy.
He announced to establish a Working Women’s Endowment Fund in a bid to support working women and help them compete with the contemporary challenges.
He termed the PM’s Women Empowerment Package a “revolutionary step in eliminating discrimination against women” in areas of employment and for making special provisions to provide them facilities at par with men.
“Our fifty percent women population can be turned into a productive workforce if given a level-playing field,” he said.
To facilitate working women, he highlighted that daycare centres were set up across public and private departments in Islamabad, with a plan to further expand the scope of facilities.
The prime minister regretted that a large number of highly-qualified women in the country quit professional careers in their struggle to balance work and families, resulting in a huge loss of skilled human resource.
“My message to the educated [women] segment is to come forward and join hospitals, banks and other professions of their expertise in order to positively contribute towards national economy,” he said.
PM Sharif paid tribute to the country’s women champions, who played a prominent role in shaping the landscape of female empowerment.
In this regard, he particularly named the leading women of Pakistan Movement Fatima Jinnah and Begum Raa’na Liaquat Ali Khan, Benazir Bhutto as the first woman prime minister of Pakistan and the Muslim world, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Kulsum Nawaz as icons of resistance against dictatorship, social workers Bilquis Edhi and Dr Ruth Pfau, lawyer Asma Jahangir, country’s youngest IT expert Arfa Karim, former National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, first woman Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz, first woman chief justice of Lahore High Court Justice Aalia Neelum and first female judge of Supreme Court Justice Ayesha Malik. “These ‘daughters of the nation’ are a remarkable symbol of women empowerment who made their mark in their respective fields,” he said.