The glass ceiling

It really hurts me to mention that Pakistan has been ranked the second-worst country in the world for gender inequality. It is one of the fundamental duties to provide equality to women in a society. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had stated that a nation can never be developed if women are not working side by side with men. Moreover in 1979 when many nations at the United Nations accepted the convention on the eradication of all forms of violence against women, Pakistan also promised to give gender justice and equality.

However, nothing has been practically done to stem the ranking of gender inequality. A majority of women cannot move beyond the status patriarchy assigns to them, thereby remaining excluded from developing necessary skills to be part of the workforce. In Pakistan, 98 percent top managers in banks and other financial institutions and industrial units are males. This clearly shows that women are not treated equally as candidates for top management positions. Men are given priority over women in a country where there are more women. I would like to request the government to please take positive steps for eliminating gender-based inequality.

Muhammad Natiq

Karachi