LAHORE, May 16: Speakers at a national conference on Wednesday expressed concern over gender discrimination, especially in rural areas, which, they said, could be overcome with awareness particularly through education.

The conference on ‘Gender issues in the 21st century in Pakistan’ was held at the Pervaiz Hasan Environmental Law Auditorium by the Centre for Clinical Psychology, University of the Punjab.

Punjab University vice-chancellor Arshad Mahmood said men and women together build society through education and awareness. Awareness was vital for progress and change, and both the genders were expected to cooperate with each other to create awareness in society.

He said changing roles of the genders had created anxiety and imbalances in the people. “We need to formulate a national strategy to avoid risky behaviour that ultimately leads to drug addiction and death. Even educated people prefer to go to self proclaimed spiritual healers instead of psychologists.”

Pakistan has a huge workforce but no work for them. Similarly, there were children but a shortage of schools resulting in child labour. “If a person becomes tolerant, truthful and honest, and content with what he has, a lot of psychological problems can be avoided,” he said.

He said psychologists needed to carry out a statistical survey to find out the exact number of people suffering from psychological imbalances and try to address their problems to the best of their ability.

Centre director Dr Nosheen K Rehman focussed on the global gender role confusion and said it was affecting adults and adolescents alike. She linked insufficient progress in gender equality especially in rural areas to the deeply ingrained patriarchal system with very conservative ideals because of which children grow up under gender-specific stereotypical roles.

“More than 50 per cent of Pakistan’s population comprises youth under 18 years, an age in which attitudes are built. These young people should be schooled so that they develop flexible and healthy attitudes. And this can be done by projecting both genders in unisex roles,” she said.

Heroin addiction in unemployed males, increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS, gender discrimination, underpaid women workers, the high incidence of depression in Pakistani women, domestic, physical and sexual violence were some other issues highlighted by Dr Nosheen.

Available statistics revealed that Pakistan as a Third World country had only one trained psychologist for 400,000 people and that awareness in the masses about the role of a psychologist or psychiatrist was overshadowed by superstitions and beliefs in faith healers and hakims, she said.

Abstracts of 14 research papers were discussed in the scientific session which included a study of career development in women, impact of women leaders on organisational performance, bullying in prisons, analysis of aggression in students, termination of psychotherapy by clients, dissociative disorders, reproductive health related communication between mothers and daughters, gender differences in spouses suffering from cancer, gender biases in professions, gender role attitudes and attribution of blame for spousal violence in married men and women, domestic violence and associated features, depression in adolescents and the coping mechanisms of domestic violence in Pakistani women.

The third round of panel discussion of experts and consultants from various fields was useful to students as well as professionals who attended the conference.