By Hina Kiyani
ISLAMABAD: First Lady Begum Samina Arif Alvi on Wednesday said that all steps were being taken to ensure, promote and protect the rights of women in Pakistan through strong legislative and policy-related measures.
She said the government of Pakistan was ensuring the participation of women in all policy matters like human rights, climate change, social protection, education, health, social security, disaster management etc.
She was addressing an event on the occasion of International Women’s Day at Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital.
Begum Alvi said that every year, the government of Pakistan celebrated the tremendous social, economic, cultural achievements of women from around the world. The theme of this year by UN Women was “Digital: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.
She also reaffirmed the national and international commitments for the protection of women’s rights and ending violence against them through a safe digital space.
She said the day served as a significant opportunity for taking stock of the progress made so far and to reflect on the challenges that stood in the way of women’s rights and equal participation in decision making in all facets of public life.
The first lady also quoted the great leader, Quaid-e-Azam who said, “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.” In accordance with Islamic injunctions, she said the constitution of Pakistan guaranteed fundamental rights to both men and women.
It provided ample guarantees to women against all forms of discrimination, exploitation and marginalization and ensures their equal rights and opportunities to grow and lead a healthy and prosperous life, she added.
Begum Alvi said that Pakistan had adopted a number of key international commitments to gender equality and women’s rights – the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Elaborating further she said a number of steps had been taken in Pakistan to protect and guarantee the rights of women in Pakistan.
National commitments in place included a National Policy for Development and Empowerment of Women, National Action Plan on Human Rights, Gender Equality Policy Frameworks and Women’s Empowerment Packages, she added.
Begum Alvi said Pakistan also had a strong legislative framework in place for the protection of rights of women which included the Criminal Law (Amendment) Acts (preventing offences in the name or pretext of honour, relating to rape, honour killing, acid crime prevention), enforcement of Women’s Property Rights (Amendment) Act, 2021 and the recently enacted ‘The Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Act 2021’ and ‘Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace (Amendment) Act 2022’.
CEO Quaid e Azam Hospital, Dr Shaukat Ali, medical professionals, female doctors and para medical staff attended the event.
The first lady said the laws were reviewed on regular basis for the protection of women from all kinds of discrimination with a particular focus on gender-based violence.
“Economic empowerment of women is underway through the commencement and strengthening of social protection measures like Ehsaas Programme, microfinance opportunities, inheritance rights to land and property, as well as, enabling a conducive work environment at the workplace,” she highlighted.
The first lady said under the patronage of President Alvi and herself in the social sector, especially on breast cancer awareness, financial inclusion of women, persons with disabilities, and issues related to mental health, a structured country-wide mass awareness-raising campaign was conducted through print, electronic and social media with the objective to sensitize women and girls about the early symptoms and urge them to conduct monthly breast self-examination. She said that they were successful in their endeavours as a recently conducted study, by a screening center in a public sector hospital revealed that 32% of the respondents mentioned that media was their prime source of information on breast cancer and the reason for getting themselves screened.
The study also highlighted that screening of females including breast ultrasound and mammography had increased by almost 3 times in the year 2022 as compared to the previous years, she added.
“We are also working on mental health. We need to focus on girls’ education to make our women strong enough to face the challenges of life with the strength of their minds,” she stressed.
Begum Alvi underlined that they should make continuous efforts to equip their women with vocational skills to utilize their potential and also to save them from economic exploitation.
She also appreciated the international partners and civil society organisations working for the promotion of gender equality in Pakistan.
Other speakers, on the occasion, highlighted the need to increase access to safe, reliable and reversible contraception methods, which would also help in reducing the maternal mortality rate, malnutrition and stunting in Pakistan.
They emphasized the need for community’s involvement to reduce maternal mortality rate, improve their access to health, education and employment opportunities, besides providing them safe and conducive environment at the workplaces.
