RAWALPINDI:Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) held a dissemination workshop here on Thursday at Gymkhana to discuss the key findings of 4th Punjab Gender Parity Report (PGPR) 2019 & 2020.
Qaiser Mahmood, Divisional Coordinator, Gender Management Information System (GMIS) PCSW, Commissioner Office Rawalpindi hosted and moderated the workshop, said a news release.
Tilawat Hussain, Imran Javed Qureshi from PCSW explained the mandate and role of PCSW in liaison of Pak Intl Commitment under Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), link with Ministry of Human Rights (MoHR), National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) for the protection and promotion of women’s rights in Punjab with PGPR and HL-1043.
Ms Shazia Shaheen, Head of Programme at Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative briefed the participants of the workshop about technical assistance and support for PGPR PCSW.
Guest of honor Ms. Nazia Parveen Sudhan, Director Development and Finance, Commissioner Office Rawalpindi, Ms. Maliha Eshar, Assistant Commissioner, General Rawalpindi, Ms. Tabinda Saleem, Director Information Rawalpindi, Ms. Sumera Raza, Deputy General Secretary North, PTI and more than 50 stakeholders from public sector and civil society participated and put their valuable inputs with appreciation to PCSW fourth PGPR.
The report was compiled amidst COVID-19 restrictions to provide an update on key women-related indicators in six thematic areas across 36 districts in Punjab.
PGPR presents gender disaggregated data analysis collected from over 1,000 public offices, against more than 200 indicators across demographics, governance, health, education, economic participation and opportunities, justice and special initiatives introduced by the Punjab government.
The workshop was organized to disseminate findings of the report to key public sector and civil society stakeholders, and obtain their feedback and recommendations based on data, to realize improvement in women’s lives. In addition, the public sector officials were consulted in order to realize gender-sensitive policy planning and budgeting across all sectors in the province.
The latest report provided a comparative analysis using figures from 2018 Gender Parity Report to capture an accurate picture of trends in women’s status across the province.
Projections based on 2017 population and Housing Census revealed that Punjab was the most populous province with 117 million people in 2020, comprising 51 percent men, 49 percent women and 0.006 percent transgender persons.
The population falls predominantly within the age bracket of 20-49 years. Around 4.5 million (51 percent) men and 4.2 million (49 percent) women were issued Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) in 2020.
CNICs issued to transgender persons decreased by 84 percent from 2017 to 2020; 43 transgender persons were issued CNICs in Punjab in 2020. Early childbearing age decreased by 2.6 percent between 2014 and 2017-18. The number of girl child birth registrations decreased by 31.5 percent.
The report states that female voter registration increased by 10 percent between 2017 and 2018. The report finds that in Punjab, male life expectancy has risen 67.7 years in 2016 to 69.5 years in 2020 and female life expectancy increased from 66.9 years in 2016 to 68.3 years in 2020. Between 2018 and 2020 in Punjab, the total fertility rate decreased from 2.8 to 2.5. The number of hospitals was increased by 5.7 percent between 2015 and 2019.
The report points out that the number of reported cases of violence against women (including murder, attempted murder, rape, gang rape, honor killings, acid burning, beating, vani, custodial rape and hurt) increased by 0.96 percent between 2018 and 2020 with rape reported most often, burning and vani reported least often.
Between 2019 and 2020, reported cases of rape decreased by 2.8 percent, acid burning decreased by 24 percent and honor killings increased by 20 percent. It was reported that of all VAW cases decided in Punjab in 2020, only 5.4 percent resulted in convictions.
The number of help desks for women in police stations across Punjab was increased by 21.9 percent between 2018 and 2020.