Women empowerment

BY SOBIA NASIR , (LAST UPDATED MARCH 7, 2012)

“No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your

women are side by side with you; we are victims of
evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our
women are shut up within the four walls of the
houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere
for the deplorable condition in which our women
have to live.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, 1944
Empowerment is a multi-dimensional process which should enable
individuals or a group of individuals to realize their full identity and
powers in all spheres of life. According to Webster’s dictionary the word
empowerment indicates the situation of authority or to be authorized
or to be powerful. Empowerment is a process that gives a person
freedom in decision making.
Women empowerment refers broadly to the expansion of freedom of
choice and action to shape one’s life. It implies control over resources
and decisions. An empowered woman will be one who is self confident,
who critically analyses her environment and who exercises control over
decisions that affect her life. The idea of empowerment manifests itself
at all levels of societal interaction. It is found in giving a voice to the
weak and marginalized. It requires having an access to the needed tools
and materials for the expansion of capacities. Women empowerment has
five components: women sense of self worth; their right to have and
determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities and
resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both
within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction
of social change to create a more just social and economic order
nationally and internationally.
‘There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment
of women.” Kofi Annan. “We cannot all succeed if half of this are held
back.” Malala Yousafzai. If we understand the quotes then we find that
thinkers all across the generation and continents favor women
development and empowerment.
According to the latest statistics, the current female population in
Pakistan is 49.2 % whereas women participation in labour force is only
28%. Clearly, this ratio is extremely low. Women empowerment can play
marvelous role in the economic development of Pakistan and that’s not
possible without women employment. Today’s women are educated,
confident and willing to work. Just a slight motivation, support and
resources can make them do wonders. It’s time to recognize that
enhanced women participation in modern society is mandatory in order
to ensure prosperous economy.
Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947 it inherited the menace of poverty
and the burden of this poverty was put heavily on female population
because of the reason that the majority of females are involved in
agriculture work, performing tasks to maintain household, carrying
water and collecting fuel wood but their work in productive activities is
unrecognized and, therefore, the female participation represented in
economic activities seems to be low.
Gender equality is a basic human right and women empowerment is a
critical aspect of achieving gender equality. It involves increasing a
woman’s sense of self worth, give her decision making power, her
access to opportunities/resources, her power and control over her own
life inside and outside the home, her ability to affect environment and
her overall quality of life. The point to be noted is that no country has
fully achieved gender equality till date.
In a globalizing world gender equality and empowerment of women are
vital tools to achieve the sustainable development therefore It’s very
important to bring women into mainstream so that they can play its due
role in the development of country.
Unfortunately, women in developing countries like Pakistan are
suppressed and considered inferior in many regards. Conventional
system hardly allows them to flourish, fight and stand for their rights.
Women empowerment calls for inevitable change in conventional
system. The need of the hour is to provide women with harassment-free
workplaces and business environment that supports and welcomes them
to improve their wellbeing.
For promoting gender equality and women empowerment, the
government of Pakistan has signed many international and national
commitments like Convention On Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), National Plan Of Action
(NPA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) despite all these
international and national commitments, women are still much more
than man to be poor, malnourished, illiterate and have less access to
decision making, property ownership, credit, training and employment.
It is worth recalling that enhancing the participation of women in
mainstream development would mean providing greater opportunities
and accessibility for them to make decisions, to manage their own
resources and to be self reliant. Therefore, considering the plight of
women and to uplift the status of women in society, the government of
Punjab has started many initiatives. One of them is the implementation
of Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP), Punjab. The main goal of the
GRAP is to bring about such changes in the structures and process of the
government that it brings equity among men and women. GRAP is
implementing its agenda of gender mainstreaming and women
empowerment through its four key reforms ie, women employment in
public sector, political participation, policy and fiscal reform and
institutional restructuring. Main purpose of the GRAP is to initiate
proposals for bringing about institutional reforms to include gender
perspective at provincial and at district level. To promote the gender
equality and women empowerment; to highlight the importance of
women representation and participation in decision making; and to
motivate the women towards public and private sector employment,
GRAP is organizing awareness raising programmes like celebration of
events, seminars, workshops and trainings at district and at provincial
level that are being organized on regular basis through its three main
units ie, Gender Mainstreaming Units(GMUs) at provincial level, Career
Development Centers at University level and Gender Support
Units(GSUs) at district level.
UN Women and the United Nations Global Compact have developed
“Women’s Empowerment Principles” in order to provide practical
guidance to businesses and private sector to make sure women
empowerment in the marketplace, workplace and community. Globally
acknowledged principles are as follows:

 Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality

 Treat all women and men fairly at work — respect and support
human rights and non-discrimination

 Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men
workers

 Promote education, training and professional development for

women

 Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing

practices that empower women

 Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy

 Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality

UNDP Associate Administrator Rebecca Grynspan once stated that
“women empowerment is catalytic and central” to achieve social and
environmental goals. Women are central actors creating the case for the
sustainable development triple-win-strategy – economic growth, social
development and environmental sustainability.
In developed societies, women are highly literate, hold executive
positions, are well aware of their rights and thus they relish recognition,
high social status and a luxurious life. Perhaps, in Pakistan only a small
percentage of women have access to all these things. Undoubtedly, in
past few years Pakistani government has taken rigorous steps to create
opportunities for women but numbers of legal, social and regional
factors tend to hinder Pakistani women employment in overall job
market.
Moreover, for the promotion and protection of women rights, to restore
the personal security and dignity of women and to give them protection
at workplace, the Pakistan government has taken deliberate and
conscious steps like reservation of 10 percent quota for females, on the
political side, reservation of thirty three percent seats for women in all
local bodies (more than 36000 women councilors), seventeen percent
seats have been reserved for women in the constituent assembly, senate,
provincial assembly and in national assembly, to tackle the issues of
harassment and to eliminate the gender based violence.
No doubt Pakistan government has taken many measures to enhance the
participation of women in economic sphere but instead of all this, there
is dire need to upgrade the status of women in society and it is only
possible through giving them protection legally and mentally. She
should be given access and control over resources. An effective
mechanism should be institutionalized to enable the women in decision
making at all levels. Subject of gender studies should be introduced from
secondary level in the course curriculum, provision of women friendly
infrastructure and environment at workplace, research and
documentation on the achievements of women and launching of
awareness raising campaigns among citizens on gender and
development.
Recent researches demonstrate that workplace gender diversity helps
businesses perform better and indicates that self interest and common
interest can come together. For various reasons, Pakistan’s market and
workplace isn’t that women friendly. However, ensuring the
incorporation of women’s talents, skills and potential requires intentional
actions, rational and deliberate policies across all sectors. Political and
social support, high literacy rate, better infrastructure, access to
resources, exposure to opportunities and sincerity of ruling class is must
for ensuring women empowerment and consequently sustainable
economic development in Pakistan.