Women Empowerment A Must To Ensure Country's Prosperity, Say Seminar Speakers

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2022 ) :Speakers at a seminar titled "Women at the Center of the Development Agenda" at the 3rd Regional Asia-Pacific of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on Wednesday called for investing more resources to ensure women empowerment and equal opportunities for them.

Chairing the session, Parliamentary Secretary for Human Rights Syeda Nausheen Iftikhar said Pakistan was investing more in women education, creating economic opportunities and enacting laws to protect women rights as this segment's empowerment was linked with country's progress and prosperity.

She further remarked that Pakistan had introduced various interventions to reduce gender gaps in education,health and economic empowerment.

"Assuring rights of women & giving them opportunities to reach their full potential is integral not only to achieving gender equality, but also to socio-economic development of Pakistan," said Nausheen.

Speaking on the occasion Federal Ombudsman Chairperson Kashmala Tariq said Women have significant positive impact on many countries economies and developing countries can achieve the same by providing equal opportunities to them.

She demanded the IPU to ensure inclusion of women in its resolutions and more and more representation in all spheres.

"The world has changed. Now Right is Might not Might is Right," remarked Kashmala.

The Parliament of Pakistan, she said realized the importance of the participation of women Parliamentarians in the legislative process, adding that it was keen to legislate to promote and protect women's rights and address the obstacles faced by women in the country.

This particular session focused on figuring out the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women and pointing out the challenges and root causes of discrimination that curtail women's rights.

During session, speeches by member delegates from around Globe reflected on how to integrate Goal5 into National Legislation for effective approaches to promote Political, Social and economic empowerment of women.

It further explored Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Goal 5 and the ways in which gender equality supports the achievement of all the other SDGs.

The SDG5 specifically focused on gender equality in recognition of the fact that almost $25 trillion were locked out of the world economy by denying women the same access to education, healthcare, financing and land ownership amongst other basic human rights.