MULTAN:South Punjab Secretariat, Gender Man Streaming Standing Committee of Punjab Assembly, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF organized a policy dialogue here on Sunday.
A large number of women working from various fields participated in the dialogue titled “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”.
Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Capt. (Retd) Saqib Zafar was chief guest on the occasions.
Secretary Board of Revenue South Punjab Zaheer Abbas, Secretary Primary Healthcare Tanveer Iqbal Tabassum, Additional Secretary Specialized Healthcare Amjad Shoaib, UN Women Pakistan Representative Sharmila Rasool and UNICEF reprensentative Dr. Tahir Manzoor sopke in the policy dialogue.
Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Saqib Zafar in his address said importance of women’s role for development of any country could not be denied.
He stressed upon all stakeholders to work together for establishment of gender equality in the country. He said women in agricultural sector were hard working, adding that they would assure provision of fundamental rights to them.
Chairperson, Gender Man Streaming Standing Committee Uzma Kardar said Punjab Assembly had passed dozens of laws for the rights of women “but it was necessary to have a policy for implementation of these laws” she said.
She said health, education, security of life, clean drinking water and food were basic rights of every citizen, adding, it was high time that women of South Punjab should be involved in policy making. She said Bangladesh was ahead of Pakistan in terms of gender equality.
Uzma Kardar said recommendations to be prepared as a result of the policy dialogue would be forwarded to the government.
Additional Secretary Specialized Health Care South Punjab Amjad Shoaib said women were occupying 70 percent of the seats in the medical colleges on open merit but after getting MBBS degree, 80 percent of them did not work in the field. He said only 20 percent women doctors join their field and the issue should be addressed seriously.