‘Legislation alone cannot empower women’

Karachi 

The role of women in any society is pivotal for development. In Pakistan, legislations for empowerment of women have been enacted but most of them are not implemented in letter and spirit, nominated city mayor Waseem Akhtar said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a seminar on self employed women in Pakistan on International Women’s Day, organised by Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies of Karachi University in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, varsity’s social works department, and Anjuman Taraqqi-e-Niswan at the women excellence centre.

He said after Pakistan was created, the status of women became somewhat equal to men. But now that focus seems to have shifted towards enacting laws rather than ensuring their implementation. For example, in Punjab religious elements are creating hurdles in giving equal rights to women.

“If equal rights and powers are transferred to women, they can play a major role in the country’s economic growth,” he said. “At the rate women are climbing up ladders of success, in a few years’ time it may even me the men who will have to dedicate a day for themselves.”

Another reason for poor status of women’s rights, said Akhtar, was that legislations were personal projects, instead of something that could benefit more than half of the society.

He said his party had sent many a women in legislative assemblies and said it was high time the society accepted working, professional women.

“Legislation alone is not enough until it is implemented in order to achieve the goal of women empowerment,” he said. “We have to promote our cottage industries in order to empower our women and educate our youth.”

On the occasion he also announced his party’s decision to start a cleanliness drive in Karachi from March 10. He urged students to come forward and help the MQM. He said students had nothing to do with dirty politics and there was a specific mindset in the country that prevented democracy from flourishing in Pakistan.

Akhtar also expressed his delight to see Women’s Day being celebrated on regular basis by the university and said it provided greater awareness among women about their rights. 

The dean of social sciences faculty, Prof Dr Moonis Ahmar, called for changing the mindset prevalent in the third world that women were not equal to men.

He said women’s role in the country’s development could not be ignored and they are an integral part of any society.

The dean of management and administrative sciences faculty, Prof Dr Khalid Iraqi, said women living in rural areas of the country were the game changers and the government must take measures to promote technical and vocational education so they could be empowered financially which in turn would boost the country’s economy. He said women must be provided a safe atmosphere for proving themselves and making their places in the society.

The director of the Centre of Excellence for Women, Prof Dr Nasreen Aslam Shah, said actions were desperately needed to fight against the discriminatory attitude faced by the women.

“Our women are hardworking but do not get the due financial reward for their work,” she said.

On the occasion, the 12th edition of the Journal of Gender Studies and 3rd edition of Pakistan Journal of Applied Social Sciences was also launched.