Call for women-friendly, harassment-free work environments

First Lady Samina Alvi has stressed the need for women-friendly and harassment-free work environments so that women can work without fear and contribute to the development and prosperity of their families, organisations and country.

She said that it is the responsibility of the business community to make their workplaces women-friendly and provide women with support and the necessary facilities to increase their inclusion in the mainstream of the economic sectors.

Addressing an event celebrating International Women’s Day organised at a private sector organisation on Saturday, Samina said Pakistan cannot progress without making women part of businesses and the productive workforce.

She said that only those countries progress that invest in the health and education of women and their empowerment. She lamented that in Pakistan women’s representation in the labour force and mainstream socio-economic activities is much lower than men’s.

She stressed the need to provide women with education, skills and employment opportunities to ameliorate this situation. She called for imparting marketable skills to women to make them financially independent.

She said the federal and provincial governments need to make special efforts for women’s skill development, besides enacting better policies, ensuring their implementation, creating awareness about their rights and ending gender-based discrimination in society.

She highlighted the need to use digital technologies for the financial inclusion of women. She said digital technologies can not only help women gain new skills but also help improve their access to loans and financial services.

She also said that using online platforms, women can offer their services internationally and become financially independent. She underscored the need for improving women’s access to digital technologies, and urged them to focus on self-education, skill development and online work.