Women Empowerment

·      CASE STUDY: Lack of legal Security

The case study which we have selected is of a lady living in Kotli Sattian a tehsil in Rawalpindi (Jabeen, 2013).

Keywords: Empowerment, development, discrimination, legal security

Gender based discrimination infringes upon the basic rights of Women i.e. empowerment legal security, their economic status etc. The society considers women of less wisdom and its thought that they are socially immature, they have less control over their emotions and hence have less moral control and physical restraint. Moral conduct cannot be over looked especially if it becomes a matter of public knowledge.

·      AREA INFORMATION:

Kotli Sattian is a tehsil in Rawalpindi district it is a rural area and so the man dominance in this area is high. Female are thought to be inferior to men and are forced to accept the decisions made by men. The area is patriarchic in nature.

·       INTRODUCTION:

The term ‘women empowerment’ has now become most debatable issue in the development field. It is vividly recognized that women empowerment is essential for sustainable economic growth and reduction in poverty in developing countries (Klasen, 1999). The case study which we have selected is of a lady living in Kotli Sattian a tehsil in Rawalpindi (Jabeen, 2013) .Women empowerment is one of the most debatable issues in the development circles now-a-days. Pakistan being a democratic and an Islamic state, the issue of women empowerment faces new challenges. People in Rural areas and many in Urban areas still thinks that women should be in the boundaries of their homes and should not go out to work and some even don’t let them to go for shopping. The conservative minded people never let any women to work nor do they leave them to live the life by their own as by doing so, it will undermine their power and they will have to be on an equal status with their women which the conformist people don’t want.

“QUAID-E-AZAM SAID IN A SPEECH IN 1944”

 “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.”

Just to cover them and to protect their supremacy these Men acts as an impediment in the way of women empowerment. People such as researchers, local community etc always forces women to struggle for their rights. No one advise men to let women work as it is their right and instead of acting as a barrier be a catalyst and speed up the process of women empowerment. Men are always thought to be superior and women as a weak entity which should always agree to the decisions made by men without questioning them even if the decision is against them. Due to the patriarchal society men thinks of them as someone who is superior in the society and are not answerable to anyone.

·      PAKISTAN SIGNATORY OF INTERNATIONAL TREATIES ON WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:

Ø Convention On Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

Ø National Plan Of Action (NPA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

·      WOMEN LOW LITERACY RATE:

It is mandated in the constitution of Pakistan to provide free and compulsory education to all children between the ages of 5-16 years.

Women in Pakistan have the low literacy rate of 45% which is an alarming situation for Pakistan and which not needs to be overcome. In rural areas many families don’t let their female children to go to school and instead of educating them they teach them the household work and thinks that it will be beneficial for them in the future as they will marry and will go to other house. In 2013, 64% rural areas females’ population never went to school in Baluchistan.

Females especially the girls aging between 12-20 are very much teased by the local boys when going to school and colleges which results in making them sit in home and to never let them study. These types of boys which cause hurdles should be educated by their parents to not put obstacles in someone way and let them educate.

·      WOMEN IN FORMAL EDUCATION:

The formal educational system in Pakistan is not capable of meeting the country’s growing need. The increasing in the enrollment rate is not in line with the increase in the rate of population growth in the country, and each year millions of children school age are deprived from getting admission to the formal schools. Women are lagging behind in the formal education sector. According to the UNESCO global Education Digest 2009 3.5% of females were university Graduates as of 2007 which means that females are very much less in the field of tertiary education which is again a question in the way of women empowerment.

·      WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES IN PAKISTAN:

To Empower women many NGO’S, Government Agencies are working in the country to give women their rights and to destabilize the gender inequality. Gender equality is the core aim of these agencies; many NGO’s also provide women with financial assistance to help them to setup their own businesses and should be able to cater their own needs without depending on anyone else. But the problem in many rural and some urban areas is that men do not want to let the females work, and act a barrier in their empowerment. Many funds which are allotted to women for their businesses are forcefully taken by their father, brother, husband, uncle etc and again the distance covered by women to empower them falls to zero and are left alone.

Many agencies also due to these sorts of problems are not enthusiastic to help women by financing them which is again a pessimistic point in the way of women empowerment. Men are always free in the society and women are made guilty for every act.

Different Programmes and agencies working in Pakistan:

§     Women Empowerment Pakistan

§     Women's Empowerment Group

§     Women Development Department, Government of The Punjab

§     Aurat Foundation

§     Benazir Income Support Program

§     Akhuwat Foundation

§     Kashaf Foundation

·      REASONS WHY WOMEN ARE STILL NOT EMPOWERED:

Women are total of 49% of total population but they are not given proper percentage in competitive examination or in any government jobs. In all these areas men have more seats than women and the females are allotted quotas, which is not justice with the females as the female percentage is raising very high and many are not able to work in these circumstances. To cope with this situations government need to increase the quota on percentage basis so that no woman should be the victim of these injustices. Government needs to take steps in these situations and should try to overcome the tension so that everyone should enjoy their rights equally without any peculiarity in them.

·      BREAKING THE NOTION

Women should not always be made guilty but instead of forcing women we should try to teach men to let women enjoy their rights as this will also help you because a home is run by both male and female and when the women will also start working the first to be benefited will be you then the state. Before taking any step we should first try to break the stereotype that women should be in the boundaries of home, when this stereotype is broken we will only then be able to take any further steps in making women empowered and to give them their rights.

Our main attention should be on men rather than women because women are those who are the victim and men are those who are enjoying their force. Women are striving for their rights but are not attaining it because the direction to this path is wrong and until and unless this direction is not corrected it is impossible to give women their rights and empower them. Some steps which can directly benefit women are as follows:

ü    Rather of giving them money arrange a small business for them which they can operate from their home.

ü    Make men to respect women in workplace so that they don’t be afraid to come out of their home and to work.

ü    Instead of teaching only women about the gender equality make the men also a part of it.

ü    Introduce innovative ideas which can help women work from their home and can be able to cater their needs.

·      CONCLUSION:

I will end this report by saying that we should not act as spectators and should see the things going to be worse but rather we should try to make things better and to educate the males of the society when the males are on the right path there is nothing to worry about because then there will be no question like gender equality all of the think would get set. People should try to convince other people not to act like statues but to move in any uncertain situation and make the females secure by teaching men to let them enjoy their rights by not being a barrier but to be helper. When we will change this notion that women should try to save them because men do not listen until and unless this notion is present in our society it is impossible that we can have our women empowered.

·       BIBLIOGRAPHY

Farhat Jabeen, M. J. (2013). WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: . European Journal of Business and Social Sciences , 113-116.

Klasen, S. (1999). Does gender inequality reduce growth and development? 7-8.

Malik, A. (2015). Women Empowerment the Solution. The News , 1.

Rao, S. (2014). Women Empowerment in Pakistan. Hamari Web , 1-4.