ISLAMABAD, July 26: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli said on Tuesday the government was making allout efforts for the socio-economic uplift of women with increased opportunities of advancement on equitable basis.

“The government intends to increase the women’s quota in all jobs, including civil services from the existing five per cent to 10 per cent to ensure enhanced participation of women in all segments of life and bring them at par with men,” she said while speaking at a seminar on “Gender discrimination and harassment at the workplace” organized by the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid (Sharp) here.

She said the government was following a multi-pronged strategy in coordination with the civil society organizations (CSOs) for the integration of women in main stream and in all spheres of life through socio-political empowerment.

The minister of state in this regard referred to the government’s devolution of power programme and the unprecedented participation of women in all tiers of politics right from local bodies to provincial and national assemblies.

She said the government had recently approved an amendment in the labour laws, which after consent of parliament, would allow women to work in factories and at other places till 10pm.

Under the law, the factory owners will be responsible to ensure the security of women and provide drop-home facilities to such late hour workers, Anisa said.

She said it was a step to eliminate gender discrimination and to provide equal opportunities of socio-economic development to women.

Similarly, Anisa said the enhanced allocation of funds in education and health sectors would provide increased education and medical facilities to women, particularly in rural areas.

The minister of state for information and broadcasting said a lot of change with respect to policy measures for women empowerment has taken place during the last six years under the able leadership of President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

She said the women unlike past were now being encouraged by the government to avail soft term micro-credit facilities from Khushhali Bank, Smeda, SME Bank, AKRSP and through NGOs and CSOs.

She said Islam provided equal status and opportunities to all without any gender discrimination, adding that but the only problem was of interpretation of Islamic ideology and injunctions in various societies.

She, however, maintained that the government’s efforts to revitalize the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) would help bring uniformity of views in various Muslim countries on issues of divergence.