ISLAMABAD   -  First Lady Begum Samina Alvi Wednesday said that a progressive and inclusive society is not possi­ble without empowering women in every sector of life. 

Addressing an event organized in connection with Internation­al Women Day by the Behbud As­sociation of Pakistan, Samina Alvi said it was the responsibility of ev­erybody to ensure a conducive en­vironment for girls and women to provide proper education and training, enabling them to live a life with dignity and respect. 

Appreciating the role of the as­sociation in empowering wom­en, she said that since its incep­tion, the Behbud Association has empowered around one million women by providing skills and training in various fields. 

She said women comprised half of the total population of the coun­try, and their participation was very important to ensuring the eco­nomic development of the country. The first lady pointed out that the women’s literacy rate in the coun­ty was much lower as compared to the men. She said Pakistan also needed to improve its current rat­ing of 142 out of 147 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index.

She said improving the women’s literacy rate would automatical­ly improve the overall literacy rate of the country, as educated wom­en will never let their children be­come illiterate. As regards her cam­paign on creating awareness about breast cancer, Samina Alvi said self-examination was very critical to ensuring early diagnosis of the disease, adding that early diagno­sis of breast cancer was curable. 

Similarly, she also called for cre­ating awareness about mental health, which is very important to avoid mental stress and keep peo­ple healthy. 

She urged the business commu­nity, especially, to help establish vocational training centers for the differently abled to enable them to stand on their own two feet and contribute towards the country’s development. Earlier, the first lady distributed shields among the staff of the association. 

Lt. General Dr Nigar Johar, on the occasion, said the Behbud Associ­ation was playing an important role in empowering women. She said Islam had taught women to have equal opportunities to work shoulder to shoulder with men. 

President of the Behbud Associ­ation of Pakistan, Abida Malik, in­formed that a 100-bed hospital was under construction under the umbrella of the association and would be completed within one year. The Behbud president also appreciated Samina Alvi for play­ing a remarkable role in creating awareness about breast cancer and other health and social issues.