Staff Reporter
Karachi
Parliamentarians and senior government officials agreeing that investing in women, including women home-based workers (HBWs), is crucial to accelerate economic advancement and contribute to overcoming the surmounting economic challenges the country face today, pledged to take up pending work on legislation for empowering HBWs in their provinces as top priority.
Around sixteen parliamentarians from provincial assemblies including provincial ministers and fifteen senior government officials including provincial secretaries of Women Development Departments and Labour and Human Resource Departments from Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan were in Karachi to participate in a two-day inter-provincial exchange of experience on the economic empowerment of HBWs in Pakistan that concluded on Tuesday. The event was organized by UN Women Pakistan in collaboration with women machineries from Sindh including Women Development Department (WDD) and Sindh Commission on Status of Women (SCSW).
Shaukat Yusufzai, Provincial Minister for Information KP, who travelled from Peshawar to attend the forum, was the chief guest of concluding session. In his remarks he said, “Education has a key role in enabling women to advance in society and grow socially and economically. In KP, 70 percent of education budget is allocated for girls’ education, which is testament to our commitment to empower women in the province.” “KP’s Women Empowerment Policy envisions economic empowerment of women as an important area of work. The Labour laws in the province have provisions for women protection against discrimination of all sorts. We have taken tangible steps to encourage women participation in workforce and income generating activities which in turn will not only empower them but also improve the economic indicators of our province,” he remarked.
Chairperson Gender Mainstreaming Committee of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab Uzma Kardar said, “Gender mainstreaming doesn’t mean only the financial inclusion of women in workforce, but women representation should be at par with men representation at decision-making level.”
