ISLAMABAD: Minister for Federal Education, Professional Training and National Heritage Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday said the government would ensure women’s right to inheritance as its denial was a major hindrance in their empowerment.

He was speaking at the concluding ceremony of a three-day “Annual rural women conference” organised by Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) at Lok Virsa.

Mr Mahmood said women’s right to inheritance was crucial in determining and defining their social status in society.

“Believing that women’s role is significant in the development and progress of the country, our government is all set for uplifting their status legally, socially and economically,” he said.

PODA President Sameena Nazir said there was a need to have effective and efficient legal mechanisms to implement laws to address issues and challenges faced by women for their development.

She said it was high time to change the definition of “formal labour force” to include women farmers and workers in agriculture, livestock, dairy, fisheries, forestry and related sectors of the rural economy.

Resolutions adopted on the occasion demanded training of surveyors hired by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) to conduct surveys on how to collect sex-disaggregated data and how to include rural agricultural women’s work and productivity in the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR).

Revised data of the PBS should be communicated widely, one acre be given to women farmers for agriculture and rural women’s access to loans and information technology to utilise environmentally sustainable sources of power and energy need to be enhanced.

Erum Saaim, representing women with disabilities, said: “We need to change our mindset to include all marginalised sections of society in the course of development.”

Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms Kanwal Shauzab narrated challenges which she faced. She said she fought for her rights and remained successful. She said women needed to have their own voices raised to achieve their goals and work hard to fulfill their dreams.

A representative of the transgender community, Nayab Ali, called for ensuring inclusive polices for the participation of marginalised sections at all levels.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019