Women Empowerment....A Path towards a better Pakistan!

The standard of the morality of a nation or a society is the way it treats its women. Women are a vital and essential segment of any society and without their unhindered participation in all areas; no nation can make advancement towards its goals of economic, political and moral progress or aim to earn a respectable place in the comity of nations. That perhaps is the yardstick by which the difference between the developed and the developing nations is assessed.

Women are an important element of a country’s population and their contribution is equally important as of men and to make them active participants of development, there is a need of proper initiatives.

Women empowerment is a phenomenal issue and it is globally recognized fact that the third-world countries are the top-ranked countries having laws & taboos which describe women much lower in social and economic spheres; thus restricting women’s due and legal rights.

Looking at the situation of Pakistan, and its heavily populated rural areas, the practice of male dominancy is well-accepted & unchallenged fact. This has obstructed women growth, development and empowerment in countless ways. Women in Pakistan have very limited participation in the economic sphere of life. Female have less participation in labor force and most of the women are unpaid workers in the agricultural settings of country. More over most women in Pakistan are engaged in informal settings of work. Very small percentage of women is employed in government sector. Employment quota is also not satisfactory and because of that, women economic activity is not well structured.

Although, Pakistani women have struggled for the equality of rights but in a male dominating society not many think about providing equal gender rights to women.  There are many reported and unreported cases where women didn’t receive justice they deserved. Either it’s an honor killing or marriage to Quran, domestic violence or harassment at work place; women of Pakistan were never provided with a proper platform where they can fight for their rights. MQM (Mutahida Qaumi Movement), the third largest political party of Pakistan, is the only party who always stand up for the women rights among all political parties.

MQM focuses on gender equality and women’s empowerment not only as human rights, but they are one of the most liberal organizations of Pakistan who advocates women empowerment.  Though, other political parties have women as representatives in national and provincial assembly but MQM is the only party who features one of the largest ratios of women in the parliament of Pakistan. They fully supported the amendment of Women protection act in 2007, the most brutal laws against women promulgated during the military dictator Zia’s period, which are now not part of the amended constitution and protection against harassment of women at workplace Act in 2010 which introduced new laws for the safety of women at the work-places against all kinds of the harassment.

 MQM has successfully adopted the motto of Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah who attributed women empowerment as essence of development and progress of any society and UN Women who is a dynamic and strong champion for women, providing them with a powerful voice at the global, regional, and local levels.  First time in Pakistan’s history, a political party is organizing a grand meeting to raise voice for women’s rights on Feb 19^th, 2012 at Bagh-e-Qaid-e-Azam, Karachi.

Women empowerment is the key to Pakistan’s future growth and productivity. As they say that a woman is the full circle.  Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform!