HARIPUR, March 8: Women in Pakistan are subjected to all kinds of discriminations which is a major stumbling block in the country’s development. This was stated by speakers at a programme jointly organized by the Human Development Organization and the Rural Development Project to mark the International Women’s Day here on Wednesday.

RDP’s executive director Mohammad Ahsan Khan termed the country’s performance in terms of women empowerment and gender mainstreaming unsatisfactory, despite Pakistan being a signatory to the Beijing Conference and Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

He said it was evident from Pakistan’s ranking in Gender Development Index — 131st among 163 member states.

He said that factors taken into account for the GDI ranking were poor life expectancy, educational achievements and sources of livelihood for women.

He said that Pakistan stood 100th out of 102 in Gender Empowerment Measurement.

Mr Khan said that although the ministry of women’s rights, social welfare and special education was working to implement the Beijing agenda under the 12-point national plan of action, no benefit trickled down yet to women in far-flung areas.

Fauzia Aziz of the HDO said that rural women were exposed to worse economic and social injustices than those in urban areas. She said the previous district government had forbidden women from working as PCO operators in Haripur in 2004, demonstrating the kind of discrimination that women had to put up with.

She said that although the government had taken measures to put an end to discrimination against women and legislated against honour-killings, but a lot still needed to be done, adding that unless the rights of women defined in international protocols were acknowledged, the development of women would remain an elusive goal.

Iqbal Begum, member of the district council, regretted that while the district government system ensured women’s emancipation and empowerment, women councillors were being deprived of their right to participate in the decision-making process and in other day-to-day matters of governance.

Miss Saima Iftikhar, Muhammad Sadaqat, Miss Beenish Qamar, Ibrar Shah and Syed Nasir Shah also spoke on the occasion.