January 15, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 14, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 14: Speakers at a seminar on Saturday demanded equal opportunities for women in every field, including education and employment, so that they could play their due role in the country’s progress and development.

The seminar on Enlightened Moderation and Roadmap for Women’s Development as Agents of Change was organized by the Pakistan Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Organizations (PFBPWO).

The speakers said that when a level-playing field was provided, women proved that they were not less qualified or less efficient in any field as against their male counterparts.

Indicating that the constitution and religion guaranteed many rights for women, they regretted that the male-dominated society exploited and victimized womenfolk in the name of socio-cultural traditions and did not give them their due rights.

A large number of women, particularly those living in rural areas, is not even aware of the women rights, and this demands launching of awareness campaigns. They can join in the struggle for the rights only when they become fully aware of all their rights.

The speakers noted that about 33 per cent seats in the local bodies and nearly 17 per cent in assemblies had now been reserved for women and owing to this policy, women in a big number had reached the corridors of power and decision-making forums.

They observed that bureaucracy, Establishment and the male colleagues of these women public representatives were not cooperating with them which appeared to be a reason that the women stayed still unable to play their due role in the uplift of the womenfolk.

Despite making almost 50 per cent of the country’s population and working efficiently in different fields, the womenfolk gets hardly two per cent share in the top management positions. They regretted that a woman was offered a salary package smaller than that of her male counterpart for a similar job.

The speakers demanded repeal of all laws discriminatory against women and other weaker sections — children, minorities, etc. — of the society, and in this regard identified the Law of Evidence, Qisas and Diyat Ordinances.

President of the federation Dr Chonchanok Virapan, speaking as the chief guest, termed ‘wrong’ the notion that due to the liability of women to spend more time in family care, they could not devote the required time to their job and thus could not accomplish their assigned task; and as such they would get lesser pay or lag behind in competition for a promotion to a higher position.

This notion has to be changed and the government, as well as the corporate sector, has to be convinced that women’s performance does not fall short of what anyone is expected to do or accomplish. Therefore, women should be paid according to their performance and quality of work. If a woman achieves something remarkable despite devoting lesser than the stipulated time, her performance must be appreciated and she should be compensated accordingly without regarding her lesser time devotion a shortcoming to deny her of her right to have promotion or competitive salary package.

She impressed upon the participants of the seminar that by doing hard and quality work, women could show the world that they were a major contributor to the world economy.

Earlier, PFBPWO chief Dr Salima R. Ahmad, said that the seminar was a follow-up of the Beijing World Conference 1995, and the signatories to the Beijing Plan of Action had been working on the plan and reporting to the United Nations Status of Women Commission and Unesco.

Nasreen Mehdi, Pervin Shah, Nadia Munawar, Kauser Yasmeen, Nuzhat Ikramullah and Samina Kamal were among others who spoke at the seminar, which was conducted by Mumtaz Alvi.