Choose to challenge!

Today Is International women’s Day – ‘a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Significant activity is witnessed worldwide as groups come together to celebrate women's achievements or rally for women's equality.’

This theme this year for one of the most important days in the calendar is, “Choose to Challenge” and the thought behind is, “A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge.” A campaign has been going on asking women – and men who support them – to raise your hand high to show you're in and that you commit to choose to challenge and call out inequality and images of people doing just that have been doing the rounds on social media and other platforms.

Though progress towards gender parity has slowed all over, we do have something to celebrate today with the present government, surprisingly, taking some positive steps for women’s empowerment, much against the wishes of the religious right. As acknowledged by a few other world bodies there have been important advances in gender equality in Pakistan in recent years - Pakistani women today are more likely to participate in the labour force and decision-making and access health and education services, than their mothers and grandmothers.

So along with the resolve to “Choose to Challenge,” we have to work hard to make sure that naysayers do not prevail in pressurizing the present dispensation to undo what has been done. Hopefully, with the many programs planned around the country elaborating and acting on the theme, this special day for women will end with more hope and determination to fight the good fight and make the distant dream come true, if not for us then the next generation of women.