Empowering our women

Her father, a retired clerk, and brother, who works in a travel agency, had gone through considerable lengths in the past to get her husband inducted in one office or the other but the end result is always the same: he eventually gives up working several weeks later - at the best several months later - and ends up sitting at home again.

Khulsoom, who did not study beyond matriculation, depends on charity - from her father and brother - to feed her family. She and her family are living in one room in her brother’s humble rented house.

Rashida, who is thirty-five years old and has four children, has been subjected to physical abuse by her carpenter husband since their marriage. She supplements their income by working as a maid in several houses but is forced to surrender whatever she earns to her husband every month.

She has thought about divorce but what stopped her is social pressure as well as the reluctance to become a burden on her parents.

Meher’s civil servant husband died in a car accident six years ago, leaving her and her teenaged daughter with only a meager pension for livelihood. Although her husband had also left her a small 7-marlas house in G-sector, the pension that she is getting as his widow is far from adequate for monthly expenses let alone education and marriage expenses of her daughter.

Although armed with a BA degree, Meher, a housewife all along, has never worked before in her life.

Khulsoom, Rashida and Meher (not their real names) are common examples of women in Pakistan who need help to take control of their lives so that they can improve their own lives as well as the lives of their children.

We already have the basic infrastructure that can help these women. We have public institutions like the Ministry of Women Development, the First Women Bank, women police station as well as women crisis centres.

We also have numerous civil society organisations focused on women issues like the Aurat Foundation, Bedari, the All Pakistan Women’s Association, etc.

What needs to be done is for the Ministry of Women Development to take the lead in developing a dynamic women empowerment strategy to reach out to such women in need and help them find solutions to their problems.

Women-headed families in particular need help to increase their assets, gain access to jobs or better jobs and move into home ownership as well.

The major areas in which women require help in are education, skill development, employment, housing and criminal justice and freedom.

Empowerment programmes in all these areas can be developed by the Ministry of Women Development in conjunction with other public and civil society institutions concerned with women and women issues.

In education, the programme should enable women to access quality adult basic education and secondary education.

There should also be programmes offering skill or job training as well as job creation ideas. The National Vocational and Technical Education Commission (Navtec) can be an important resource in this respect as it already has ‘Skills for Women’ as one of the eight elements in which it is developing under its national strategy.

Skill development programmes can be complemented by access for women to micro-financing, savings accounts and banking services - provided by the First Women Bank.

A low-cost housing programme for women involving the First Women Bank, the Ministry of Housing and the respective local development authorities can help women like Khulsoom and Rashida to get out of the rut that they are in.

There can be also a programme to help eradicate gender-based violence. This programme should address the immediate needs of women who suffer from abuse, particularly those who face domestic violence or trafficking, empowering them to rebuild their lives. The existing women crisis centres and women police stations can be roped into this programme.

There can also be other programmes to assist women in legal matters and in identifying, obtaining and retaining government benefits, e.g., the Benazir Income Support Programme, and other subsidies for which they are eligible.

The strategy should be aimed not only at moving women in need towards long term and sustained economic security but also at enabling all women to possess the dignity, skills and resources to be strong, independent, contributing members of our community.

source: www.dawn.com