The United States has recentlyannounced a $200 million package for Pakistan to promote gender equality and democracy. Pakistan earlier received $25 million for the same purpose in 2020 from the US Congress. This twenty-fold increase in a couple of years reflects global recognition of the fact that improving gender disparities is the most effective way to fight global poverty, extremism and underdevelopment. In 2020, Hunger Project India declared that ‘women are the key to ending hunger across the globe’. In 2022, Asian Development Bank’s report concluded that ‘supporting women farmers will ease Asia’s food security crisis’.In 2018, a World Bank report disclosed that limited educational opportunities for girls is costing countries between $15-30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings. International Monetary Fund has placed gender equality and women empowerment at the top of its economic development agenda in recent years. Its latest research has shown that increase in violence against women by 1% has led to reduction in economic activities by upto 8% in Africa.Goldman Sachs research in 2019 estimated that closing the gender employment gap in Japan could increase its GDP by 10-15%. A McKinsey Global Institute report in 2015 stated that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality. It seems that the world is fast realizing that women are not the problem; they are the solution. Echoing the sentiments of the larger world community, the government of Pakistan has also in recent years undertaken various initiatives to promote gender equality in the country. The Pakistan Vision 2025, which aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2023-2027, lists human rights and gender equality as central tenants of the country’s development agenda. In its first National Security Policy (2022-2026), the Government of Pakistan listed ‘gender security’ as a key pillar and recognized that‘women’s increased participation in the workplace and especially the law enforcement and justice sectors is essential for securing their equitable access to public services.’ It has also introduced pro-women legislation, including the National Gender Policy Framework (2022), Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Ordinance (2020) and the Domestic Violence against Women (Prevention and Protection) Act. However, in terms of ground realities, the implementation of these laws remains weak.The 2022 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum places Pakistan at rank 145 out of 146 countries.In terms of economic participation and opportunity, it is ranked 145,143 on health and survival, 135 on educational attainment and 95 on political participation. The figures put forward by Global Wage Report of 2020 by International Labor Organization are not optimistic either.Placing the gender pay gap variation between men and women at 34%, it finds that on average, a Pakistani woman’s income is 16.3% of a man’s income. Women account for a mere 22.63% of the labor force and out of the 5.26 million working in the informal sector in Pakistan, 81 per cent are women. In terms of gender-based violence and discrimination faced by women, one quick look at the newspaper or social media is enough to understand that the situation faced by women in the country is dreadfully abysmal. Needless to say then, we have a long way to go. The key impedimentsto enacting meaningful legislationare the deep-rooted patriarchal mindsets and cultural normsthat privilege menand ascribe a lower status to women. These are not going to change overnight, but here at least we have a chance. While the whole discourse of human rights and equality has not been able to change the situation in Pakistan, maybe the narrative of development can. Afterall, development benefits everyone. This is why, the funds need to be directed towards their intended goal, i.e. targeted spending and investment on women’s education, skills development, economic participation, health,businesses, providing safe work-places for women and raising awareness about their legal rights and social contributions. In 2009, Bill Gates addressed a segregated audience in Saudi Arabia. Only one-fifth of the audience consisted of women and they were separated from the men by a curtain. A man in the audience asked Gates if it was realistic to assume that Saudi Arabia could become one of the top ountries for technology by 2010. Gates replied, “Well, if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you’re not going to get too close to the Top 10.”Pakistan has a population of nearly 227 million people, of which almost half (49.2%) are women. By empowering them, poverty rates can be brought down, economic opportunities can be better utilized, GDP indicators can improve and human capital resources can be fully realized. So the question to consider is this: why waste half of the talent we have?

BY AYESHA NASEEM

The writer is an academic and holds an MSc. in International Politics from SOAS, University of London. She can be reached at ayeshanaseem845@ gmail.com