Women representatives in UNGA meeting: NA body concerned over non-participation

ISLAMABAD: A meeting of the Special Committee on Gender Mainstreaming was convened on Thursday under the chairpersonship of Dr Nafisa Shah.

In reviewing the briefing delivered by the Director General Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Committee expressed concern over the non-participation of women representatives in the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

The Director General Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that “the Beijing +30 Action Agenda was a voluntary UN-Women initiative. It was not negotiated or adopted by Member States.” He added, “out of 193 Member States, 83 countries, including China, the US, UK, France, Russia, and many OIC members, did not make any pledge.” The Committee strongly recommended that women’s representation must be ensured at all international conferences/events related to women in the future.

The Chief Statistician of the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics informed that the Gender-Disaggregated data source at the PBS, obtained from mobile phone ownership, reflects a sharp increase from 32 percent to 37 percent from 2019 to 2025. Moreover, he informed about the Agricultural Census, which states that only 1.5 percent (around 298,012) of Pakistan’s 19.8 million agricultural households are headed by women, while the remaining 98.5 percent are headed by men.

The Committee unanimously recommended establishing a dedicated directorate under the Ministry of Human Rights to address women’s issues at the national level.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025