PAKISTAN: Women Status Seems Progressive-way in Pakistan

Statistics shows the status of women is better than last couple of years in Pakistan. The situation could more satisfactory if the policies formulated by the parliamentarians for women folk in the past. This was stated by the speakers at a workshop organized by the Individual-land in collaboration with USAID and Aurat Foundation titled "Gender equality and equity" here at local hotel on Saturday. The tendency of sending the girls to school by the parents, advertisement about the women issues and discussion on the issues once considered as sensitive like dowry, violence, Karo-kari and swara on the print and electronic media has improved the situation in Pakistan, said Saukat Ali Ashraf, Coordinator Individual-land. He, however noted that the drastic measures are required to bring the women folk as par with his male member of the society which could only be turned into reality with the help of media.

He urged the media to address the issues faced by the women across the country and take steps to establish gender equality in all spheres of society. "In a country like Pakistan, public representatives can play an important role in promoting gender equality, he said. MPs can be particularly effective in mobilizing and motivating families and local communities to uphold the rights of women and girls with strong political commitment. They said the goal of national development could not be achieved without eliminating the gender discrimination.