Empowerment of women PPP’s prime objective, says Sherry
ISLAMABAD – Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman Wednesday said the government was committed to improving the lot of women as their empowerment has always been the prime objective of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
“Our government would introduce policies to empower the women and encourage their participation in all areas,” the Minister said while talking to reporters after a meeting with NGOs held in connection with the International Women Day on March 8. About the meeting, she said women parliamentarians were also invited to discuss problems of women and the challenges in the way of providing equal rights to them.
“We are also striving to remove gender discrimination from the society by emancipating the womenfolk to bring them in the mainstream of the nation building,” she added. Sherry Rehman said Shaheed leader Benazir Bhutto always worked for empowering women, resolving their problems and giving them more benefits.
Such a atmosphere would be created where each person would feel participation in the government affairs and added “we are committed to giving more representation to womenfolk in every sector of life.”
In this regard, she referred to the representation of women in the present legislative bodies of the country which is more then any other country.
She pointed out that the immense participation of womenfolk representing almost half of the population in national affairs will help flourish the democratic system, adding that to commemorate the world women day in a befitting manner, the women parliamentarians will be taken on board. The Minister said the women belonging to less developed areas would be given opportunity in media to highlight their problems including social issues, realizing their participation in the national affairs.
She said women from Swat and FATA will be given more air time on electronic media to project their issues so that these could be addressed.
Meanwhile, the Standing Committee condemned and showed deep concern on the blowing up of Schools and threats given to girls from attending school, in its meeting held today in the Parliament House. Members of the Committee unanimously nominated Chairpersons Ms. Bushra Gohar to meet Prime Minister as well as the Provincial Chief Minister to discuss rehabilitation of the said Schools and to ensure security of women & children in Swat.
Earlier Secretary, MOWD briefed the Standing Committee in detail about the functions of the Ministry and the steps taken for the welfare of women in the country.
At the end of the briefing the Honorable members of the Committee raised questions regarding progress on MDGs pertaining to women and children and CEDAW commitments and 4th report. The members also took up the status of women’s employment in the public sector against 10 per cent specified quota and implementation of women laws passed so far. The ministry was directed to provide relevant report/material on the said issues within a week. Moreover the Committee expressed concern over the delay in nomination of a Minister of Women’s Development Chair and Members of the NCSW and urged the government to expedite the process in this respect.
The Committee also formed a Sub-committee to review the bills referred to the committee by the National Assembly. The committee will begin reviewing on priority basis “The Prevention of Domestic Violence Bill, 2008. Dr Attiya Inayatullah was nominated as the convener of the sub-committee.
The meeting was attended by the following committee members:
Muhammad Moazzam Ali Khan Jatoi, Mrs. Shakeela Khanam Rashid, Sardar Al-Haaj Muhammad Umar Gorgage, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, Mrs Nisar Tanveer, Mrs. Khushbakht Shujaat Mrs. Fouzia Ejaz Khan and the other senior officers of M/O WD and draftsman from the M/O Law & Justice.
Source: The Nation
Date:1/29/2009
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