GOVERNMENTS are responsible for creating conducive environments and legal frameworks to promote gender equality and improve women’s access to education, jobs, healthcare, politics and economics.

Support from civil society, the media and NGOs working to reduce gender gaps is encouraged where governments lack resources and fail to invest in women’s contribution. Evidence shows that when girls’ education is prioritised, it is the highest return investment that developing economies make with a multiplier effect. Educated women have fewer children, give quality nutrition to their families, experience lower child mortality, enter the workforce and are inclined to educate their children.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2013 quantifies the importance of gender-based disparities tracking country-based progress over time — since the report was compiled in 2006, 80pc of countries have made progress in areas such as political participation and education, but 20pc have seen no socio-economic growth.

The closure or continuation of global gender gaps is connected to national policies. National competitiveness, income and economic development are directly linked to a country’s gender gap as half of the population comprises women. The push for equitable resource distribution between women and men contributes towards closing the gender gap.

By providing a comprehensive framework for benchmarking national gender gaps, this report examines disparities across the four areas of education, health, politics and economics to produce country rankings. It uses the Gender Gap Index measuring proximity to gender equality rather than women’s empowerment.

This year, out of a total of 136 countries, Pakistan ranked 135 on the index, moving down from 115 in 2006 with Iceland at the top for the fifth consecutive year as the most advanced country for gender equality. Nordic countries with a history of investing in people remain ahead, unlike sub-Saharan countries where women’s economic roles are solely based on necessity.

The index measures gender gaps in access to resources and opportunities rather than the actual levels of available resources and opportunities in those countries: in the case of education, it grades the actual gap between male and female education not overall levels of education in a country.

The Asia-Pacific region with a 6pc change compared to 2006 makes it the best performing region on the political empowerment gender sub-index. However, the report states that Pakistan ranks second last in economic opportunity; and is the eighth worst country for equal access to education. That Pakistan is in the 129th position for education and is 64th for women’s political empowerment is not unexpected. Women have shown electoral ambitions and if permitted to participate in larger numbers could push political parties to rethink female representation.

In May, Election Commission of Pakistan statistics showed a 129pc increase in women contesting general seats, although 10 million women voters remained unregistered. When maverick PML-N politician, Marvi Memon took on the PPP in Sindh, her campaign promised education, housing and employment. She lost to her rival, but the PML-N nominated her for a parliamentary reserved seat. Although political parties show low confidence in female candidates, this has not dented their confidence and will. The most marginalised and uneducated feel the need to raise their voice; her face covered with a scarf, a 53-year-old housewife from Bajaur Agency made history as the first female candidate from Fata.

Women politicians say that addressing the gender gap perpetuated by centuries-old attitudes requires educating men regarding perceptions about women and educating women about their rights. However, in KP and Fata illegal signed agreements by political parties kept registered women voters away. And this was not the first time women were disenfranchised.

Two areas of gender disparity are linked to economic growth: female education and work force participation. Challenged by an education emergency, with three quarters of girls out of school and education spending at less than 2pc of GDP, Pakistan will be unable to meet its Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The gender gap needs closure through private-public partnerships and with political parties committed to education for every child. Education is disrupted because of poor learning facilities and untrained teachers in public schools and violent attacks on schools and teachers.

With more than five million children out of school, Pakistan has some of the worse education indicators, spending several times more on its military than on education. Thousands of school-going children are affected by gender disparity, violence and poor quality learning in Balochistan and KP where Unesco estimates that 60pc of girls are not in school. Raising school enrolment for girls so they transition to secondary and college education would ensure women future choices.

Emphasising traditional roles reinforces cultural norms, limiting female mobility, education and jobs. This impacts enrolment, and when girls are taken out of school it reduces economic returns from girls’ education. Parents, too, have no incentive to invest in their daughters’ education. When religion is used in a way to reinforce this attitude, it becomes economically detrimental. This may vary across classes and regions, but gender discrimination (workplace harassment, acid crimes, child marriages and violent crimes against women) is custom, despite pro-women legislation in recent times for protecting women.

The writer is senior assistant editor at the Herald.

razeshtas@gmail.com