Financial empowerment of women vital to ensuring gender equality: Alvi

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday said the financial empowerment of women with equal access to education and health is vital to ensuring gender equality.

The president expressed these views while addressing an event titled, “Rising Women 2023- Voices of Pakistan” organised by Women’s Business Network (WBN) at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad on Wednesday.

“Women need to be given equal opportunities in education, employment, and political domains to help them secure adequate space in mainstream entrepreneurship,” he said.

He said digital inclusion of women is the need of the hour and it could bring positive change in their lives. He said that the Benazir Income Support Programme has been providing tremendous services to deserving women.

The president stressed the need for gender-responsive policies to ensure women’s empowerment and said the integration of the country’s 50 percent population into entrepreneurship was important for a sustainable economy.

He pointed out that only five percent of women availed of the reserved quota of business loans from the State Bank due to a lack of guidance.

He stressed the implementation of family-friendly policies for women, such as opportunities for doing business from home and providing them a welcoming environment when they rejoin work after maternity leave.

The president emphasized providing household women with contemporary skill sets such as the usage of the internet to meet the current trends of the world.

“We need to train these women to adopt innovative entrepreneurial modes through the use of information technology to help them earn from their homes,” he said.

Ambassador of Austria in Pakistan Andrea Wicke said that there is a need to end gender discrimination and under-valuation of women’s work. She said equal pay, financial literacy, and legal protection were significant for women’s economic empowerment.

Italy’s Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese expressed his country’s shared commitment to Pakistan in achieving the goals of gender equality. He said with equal access to resources, women could bring a positive transformation in society.

Founder WBN Sam Ali Dada said her organisation was helping rural women rise above challenges and create improvement in their own lives and their communities. She mentioned Khudkafeel Initiative and Women’s Sports Gala as the catalyst programmes in making the women in rural areas self-sufficient.

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