KARACHI: Seeking a safer world where people can enjoy basic human rights and where people can challenge poverty, inflation, recessions, inequalities, discrimination and dependency, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Karachi University (KU) organised an international conference on the ‘Role of Social Scientists in the 21st Century’ here on Thursday.

“Social scientists do research for eliminating such problems. They work in interdisciplinary subjects, especially in the areas of human welfare and development,” said Professor Dr Paul Alter Komesaroff, director of the International Ethics Centre at Monash University in Australia.

He said social scientists had found a new idea for incorporating women into the workforce to eliminate poverty and hunger. They had also identified barriers and challenges faced by women at workplaces and were trying to resolve them through the lens of gender equality. “The field of social sciences guarantees democracy and majority of consent before applying any social policy and social movement. Social scientists believe that every individual citizen should feel empowered and build an environment where people can challenge prejudice, inspire learning and be more productive in contemporary societies,” he said.

KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi said that society needed proficient social scientists who could play a prominent role in the implementation of social development programmes. “The value of social scientists in society is undeniable as they foster important knowledge and research trends towards social issues to raise the quality of life,” he said.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Professor Dr Nasreen Aslam Shah said “we have a multicultural, ethnic and lingual society in which social scientists could play their significant roles by bridging the gap between various segments of population.

“Research in social sciences helps to identify the need for reforms in sectors that are critical for the development of society. It also helps address the challenges and problems while identifying the possible solutions for the country’s political, social and economic development, such as inter-ethnic relations, protection of marginalised groups, good governance, nation and state-building,” she observed.

The former chairman, mass communication department of KU, Professor Dr Nisar Ahmed Zuberi, said social theories were providing a framework that is used to study and interpret social phenomenon. He said the term social sciences referred to as “science of society” which was established in the 19th century; it covered many disciplines which explained society and the relationships among the society members.

Dr Asman Manzoor of Centre of Excellence for Women’s Studies (CEWS) at the KU said that in Pakistan, early marriage had been going on since long under customs such as watta satta.

Another faculty member of the CEWS, KU, Dr Shagufta Nasreen, shed light on the issue of early marriages in the country and problems associated with that practice. She observed that many young girls were married on the pretext of social, cultural and religious traditions and remained disadvantaged physically, educationally, psychologically, and economically, thus they kept on suffering for the whole of their life.

Dr Mohammad Rozunzzaman Siddiky and Professor Dr Profulla Sarker from Bangladesh were not able to attend the conference but their research papers were read out.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2019