April 26, 2006	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 25: The Country Gender Assessment, 2005, report of the World Bank, besides noticing improvement in the quality of life for women, has noticed gender inequalities in various sectors of Pakistan.

The “country gender assessment: Bridging the gender gap; opportunities and challenges” has been prepared by a team led by Tara Vishwanath.

The quality of life for women and girls in Pakistan has improved in recent decades. School enrolment has risen across all income categories. Fertility rates are declining, leading to improvement in women’s health, said the assessment, executive summary of which was provided to Dawn.

Women participation in paid labour has increased, particularly in agriculture, and their involvement in the political process has risen due to reserved seats at selected levels of government.

In certain dimensions, however, the report has underlined existence of large gender inequalities.

Although, more girls are in school, a substantial gender gap in enrolment remains and worsens significantly as girls move from primary to middle school.

The report also noticed that though, gender differentials in child immunization have declined, considerable gender differentials persist in other aspects of health care. The use of reproductive health services is low, and maternal mortality ratios remain high.

In the labour market, lower educational attainment coupled with social norms that restrict mobility confine women to a limited range of employment opportunities and low wages.

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals will require significant reductions in these gender gaps. Policy interventions directed specifically at gender inequality in these public domains would allow the government to move decisively toward achieving these goals.

This report identifies two dimensions in which policy must address gender gaps in order to meet Pakistan’s development goals. First, because cultural constraints undermine women’s access to education, health services, and prospects for earning income, policy requires near-term initiatives that work around these constraints, increasing female acquisition of basic services and opportunities.

Near-term initiatives include augmenting funding of government programmes such as lady health workers (LHWs) and stipend programmes to increase girls’ attendance. These also include modification of legislation to further empower women by expanding their income earning opportunities and their marital rights for example. Implementation of these modified as well as existing laws to enable women to exercise their legal rights is also part of near-term initiatives.

Second, improvements in gender equality will endure only to the degree that formal institutions reinforce them and society accepts them, the report suggested.

Policy, therefore, must incorporate long-term measures to create an environment that enables the reduction of gender gaps. The gradual process of social change means that many phases of change across generations have to occur before conditions improve for women on a wide scale.