‘Sustainable development goals sans gender equality unachievable’

Experts describe gender equality as pivotal to economic growth,
call for ending all kinds of discrimination against women

Karachi

The importance of gender equality was highlighted at a workshop on sustainable development on Wednesday, with speakers describing gender equality as pivotal to economic growth.

The workshop titled “Sustainable Development Goals: an agenda for implementation” was organised at a hotel by Shehri: Citizens for a Better Environment.

Farhan Anwar, sustainability planner and member, Shehri: CBE, talked about the sustainability development goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders at a United Nations summit in September 2015.

The agenda sets out qualitative objectives across the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, all to be achieved by 2030.

Speakers highlighted the role of women in achieving these goals. 

Anam Rafiq, an urban planner, speaking on the implementation of the SDGs in the gender context, said that gender equality was pivotal to economic growth. She called for the elimination of all sorts of discrimination against women and said that men and women should benefit equally from the SDGs.

She called for disseminating education and awareness among women. “Education will open up the job market for women,” she said.

She presented case studies of Iraq and Mexico where women were given special incentives and compared them with Pakistan where, she said, women’s development was going by default.

She called for investing in research, identifying knowledge gaps, framing national policies and objectives, networking and collaboration with other organisations, and designing programmes for women’s development with a holistic approach.

During the discussion, Farhat Parveen pointed out socio-economic issues dogging Karachi, including the ballooning population and inadequate housing.

However, perhaps on account of the plethora of civic problems plaguing Karachi, the discussion soon veered from the women’s role and the gender aspect to the poor governance and dishonesty plaguing public services in town.

Many cases, she said, were given wrong treatment on the basis of those fake blood testing reports. She disclosed that an under-matriculate was the head of the blood testing section.

Another lady pointed out the dangerous dishonesty of the “tanker mafia”, saying that there were trucks with the warning painted across them, “This water not fit for drinking” and yet they carried drinking water to houses and public places in those very trucks.

Mehnaz Rehman, president of Aurat Foundation, stressed the indispensable importance of human rights.

She talked of the gaping social disparity and the yawning gap between the handful of rich and the teeming poor.

“The poor are not treated as part of the nation,” she asserted and said that it was this curse that had to be somehow eradicated.

Zareen Qureshi, executive director, Charter for Compassion, Pakistan, highlighted the importance of pressure groups, and said that the media were extremely important when it came to pressure groups. “The media must be mobilised to highlight issues of gender disparity and suggest ways and means to fight it,” she said.

The workshop was subtitled “A session with women”, and all the participants, except for Farhan Anwar and Aamir Amjad, senior programme coordinator, Friedrich-Naumann Stiftung, were women.

Aafia Salam, a rights activist and journalist, said that we must engage with the politicians and other notable figures to solve our social problems, especially the elimination of stereotypes about women.

Another discussant cited the early period of Islam when, she said, women were free to do all sorts of business and be financially independent. “Why not now?” she queried. 

She said that women’s financial independence, coupled with education, would solve many social problems.