KP govt committed to improving women status, says minister

PESHAWAR: Information Minister Shaukat Yusufzai on Tuesday said that the provincial government was committed to improving the status of women in the province and advance gender equality agenda.

He was addressing an event jointly organised by UN Women and Special Education, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department (SESWWED) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in connection with International Women’s Day (March 8).The event was aimed to advocating action for strengthening the government institutions with effective policies and action plans, capacity and accountability mechanism to protect, enable and promote social, economic and political rights of women with special focus on excluded groups.

The minister appreciated the efforts of UN Women and Social Welfare Department for organising the event.

“It is important to celebrate the day, but what is more important is to continue supporting women to help them reach their full potential. The government has taken certain steps in this regard i.e. the women empowerment policy is under implementation, pending legislation will be approved and new laws will be introduced to ensure women rights are safeguarded,” he said.

SESWWED Secretary Muhammad Idrees Khan Marwat in his opening remarks said that the department is working towards women empowerment. “We are sensitizing all other government entities to make sure gender sensitive planning and budgeting is taking place at their level,” he added. Zainab Qaiser Khan, Head of Sub-Office UN Women Peshawar, talked about the work of UN Women to advance gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. Rukhshanda Naz, a human rights activist, has been appointed as the first provincial Ombudsperson under the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 for dealing with the harassment cases at workplaces in public and private sector institutions in the province.

The Ombudsperson’s office is being set up at Secretariat of Special Education, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department, Peshawar.