“The best countries at closing the gender gap are the most peaceful. The best countries at closing the gender gap are the most prosperous. The most peaceful countries are the happiest. The most peaceful countries are the happiest. The most peaceful countries are the best on the environment.”
Laurie Levin, Call Me a Woman: On Our Way to Equality and Peace
In March 2021, the World Economic Forum released its annual Global Gender Report. Many daunting and not-so-daunting findings were presented in the report. For Pakistan, the news primarily was bad. Pakistan was placed in the 153rd position on the global gender gap index, followed by Iraq (154), Yemen (155), and Afghanistan (156). The Global Gender Index is divided into 4 subindexes that determine the ranking of each country. These subindexes are Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, Economic Participation and Opportunity, and Political Empowerment.
Pakistan’s ranking has worsened over time. As per a study conducted in 2006, the country ranked 112 in economic participation and opportunity, 110 in education attainment, 112 in health and survival, and 37 in political empowerment. The report found that Pakistan’s gender gap has widened by 0.7 percentage points, to 55.6 percent, making it one of the worst countries for gender parity. The country closed just 31.6pc of its gender gap in economic participation and opportunity.
Pakistan ranked relatively higher in political empowerment, the report said, observing however that only 15.4pc of this gap has been closed to date. “With just 4.7 years (in the last 50) with a woman as head of state, Pakistan is one of the top 33 countries in the world on this indicator. However, women’s representation among parliamentarians (20.2pc) and ministers (10.7pc) remains low.”
In this regard, the government of Pakistan has taken some momentous steps to reduce the gap on gender parity and address SDG 5 on gender equality. Recently, on account of International Women’s Day, Federal Minister Asad Umar launched the first-ever National Gender Policy Framework for Pakistan. The framework depicts the nation-wide consultations conducted by the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives. Pakistan’s Gender Policy Framework is chiefly focused but not limited to closing the gender gap in education, employment and making safe and conducive workplaces for women across the country. It also keenly focuses on promoting the engagement of women in decision making and instituting gender-transformative structures.
For an auspicious start, the Planning Commission has also declared 2022 as the “year of female employees”. A Gender Accelerator, consisting of gender experts, is also being set up to ensure gender mainstreaming in all policies and programs. On the other hand, SDG Secretariat Pakistan has also collaborated with several organizations across the country to reaffirm its commitment towards working on SDG 5 and re-invoke a sense of individual and collective responsibility among the relevant actors to expedite their efforts for gender equality. Various organizations across Pakistan have made year-long pledges with the SDG Secretariat to work on women’s empowerment through educational, civic, entrepreneurial, and economic initiatives.
It is a fresh wave of hope and change that has originated from the country’s capital and it is being assumed and strived for that the message will be taken forward in the other parts of the country too with the help of collaborating partners. Too early to call it an ‘achievement’, but the fact is that the realization of the magnitude of the gender gap is the first small step towards a gender-equal Pakistan. If the Planning Commission, SDG Secretariat, and the collaborating organizations stay firm on their plans and pledges for the year 2022, each year can get better, and more gaps can be closed if the efforts are continuous, impactful, and sustainable.
Elsa Imdad is a USG Alumna. She holds a bachelors in modern languages with an English major and Spanish minor. She has previously been part of American Spaces in Pakistan and now works as a Project Coordinator at the Center for Research and Security Studies. Her interests include public diplomacy, language teaching, peace and conflict resolution, capacity building of marginalized groups, etc.
