Laraib Nisar
Gender inequality and gender based violence stand as the most persistent but least recognized human right abuse and a pertinent issue internationally. However, the issue is more evident in under-developed and developing countries. Pakistan, like other regional countries, faces this issue. The cultural and religious setup in Pakistan has legitimized such issues and hence they have become an integral component of our societal setup. Regardless of Pakistan’s progress in the field of economy, several social inequalities seem to persist, particularly gender inequalities.
However, Pakistan is making progress in the field of women empowerment and security. In 2018, the world economic forum placed Pakistan as the second worst county in terms of gender equality in its Global Gender Gap Index in 2018, behind Yemen, but the country ranks third-to-last, at number 151, on the 2020 Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI), showing positive progress. The country has been able to lessen the gender gap by 56 per cent, said World Economic Forum (WEF) in its report. The gender gap measures economic participation, professional exposure, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
Though Pakistan has shown a good progress in wage equality and on the educational attainment sub index within the last year, still a lot needs to be done in order to ensure gender equality in the country. The first thing that needs to be done in this regard is the normalization of women’s presence in public spaces. As our culture appreciates women’s presence in the homes only and gives public spaces’ ownership to men, it is extremely vital that we observe gender equality in this realm. Public spaces are a shared asset and all the citizens have equal ownership rights on it, so efforts should be made to make women feel safe in public spaces. This can be done by having a better lighting system in cities, improved transportation system, provision of comforts to women e.g. washrooms, nursing rooms etc.
In addition, occupational segregation has become an inherent component of our economic culture. Some professions e.g. teaching, healthcare, and domestic work are thought to be feminine-jobs while rest of the fields are considered to be for males only. For enhancing women’s economic participation, it is essential to get rid of this occupational segregation. This can be done by encouraging women to choose any profession they wish to adopt. Moreover, making women aware of the financial services available for them and including them in the formal banking net along with digital financial spaces can help in increasing women economic productivity.
Pakistan has done some remarkable legislation for the safeguard of women’s rights, excellent laws and bills have been passed both at provincial and national level for the wellbeing and empowerment of female citizens. However, implementation of the already established laws is often seen missing. The concerned departments and law enforcement agencies should ensure complete and effective implementation of the pre-existing laws. Additionally, women should be encouraged and reinforced to report the incidents of their rights’ violations to legal institutions, as a lot of women in Pakistan tend to let go of such injustices fearing the possible backlash from the society. It is high time we normalize, and even appreciate women speaking against their rights’ violations especially incidents of harassment. Women’s way to access legal institutions and services should be made easy and simple to inspire women to report such incidents.
We still have a long way to go until we reach a point where the society acts as a safe haven for all the genders. The agenda for women equality and empowerment needs consistent efforts and commitment not only from the decision makers and ruling elite of the country, but also from all the citizens of the country. All the inhabitants of the society have a role to play for the achievement of gender equality which happens to be one of the Sustainable Development Goals put forward by the UN in 2015. We shouldn’t only teach our daughters and sisters to speak up for their rights, but also raise our boys in a way that they consider women an integral part of the society, hence advocate gender equality and women empowerment. A coordinated and collaborative approach pooling in all the political, religious, and decision making front runners can help in the achievement of comprehensive gender equality in the country, in the meanwhile all the citizens should keep in mind that change always starts at the individual level, if we want to bring a change, we need to correct ourselves first.
The author Laraib Nisar is a Defense and Strategic Studies’ graduate, working as a Research Associate at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) Islamabad.
