Speakers at a workshop here on Thursday stressed the need to empower women with the hope that it will change the dynamics of their homes and communities and eventually lead to promotion of peace and tolerance in the society.
The event tiled ‘Dukhtaran-e-Pakistan: Role of Women in Peace-Building’ was organised by the University of Karachi. The basic objective of the activity was to highlight the role women can play in establishment of a peaceful and stable society by helping counter the prevalent challenges including hatred, extremism, violence and terrorism.
University of Karachi Director Dr Balqees Gill, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Dean Dr Iqbal Afridi, Sindh Commission on Status of Women Chairperson Dr Nuzhat Shireen, Dr Rubina Kidwai of Agha Khan University, Islamic Research Institute Director General Dr Ziaul Haq and University of Karachi Vice Chancellor Dr Ajmal Khan were prominent among those who spoke on the occasion.
In their speeches, the speakers maintained that the women are ‘influencers and change-makers’ in a society as well as an integral part of a sustainable nation-building exercise.
The women constitute almost half the population of Pakistan and therefore have a significant role to play in societal development, they opined, adding that the women, being potential bearers of peaceful messages in communities, can help shape the values of peace, tolerance, unity and inclusiveness.
The speakers said women are the main source of building a complete panorama of social and ethical values, and highlighted the need to create an urge for participation of women in all walks of life. They said a woman, as a conduit of culture and belief, can play a central role in shaping attitudes of children toward non-violence, since in some cases mothers are the first to recognize the early signs of violence.
The speakers maintained that the promotion and achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment was a means to the elimination of extremism and terrorism, which glorify violence and aggression in the society. They said empowerment of women is crucial to advancing the culture of peace in all its vectors and at all levels in a family, community, country, region and globe. The speakers said the women have been awarded with great respect in Islam, as paradise is associated with the feet of a mother, daughters are the symbol of blessing and wife is the better half. They said women can best teach their children to work together, live peacefully and deny all kinds of extremism.
Published in Daily Times, March 1st 2019.