ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: The curricula being followed in educational institutions of the country is promoting gender biases.
This was the consensus reached at during the first-day deliberations of the national expert group's three-day meeting on 'Development of Strategies for Addressing Gender Biases and Disparities in the Curricula and Primary and Secondary Textbooks'.
The meeting was organized by the Centre of Excellence in Women Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Women Development Nilofar Bakhtiar was the chief guest on the occasion. Speakers coming from diversified backgrounds were of the view that a conspicuous shift was needed in curriculum development which promoted masculinity vis-a-vis femininity in the country.
Men are presented as symbols of courage, honour and boldness in textbooks whereas on the contrary even services of a woman in bringing up her family are not recognized, what to talk about accepting their (women) due role in the overall national development, they argued.
The speakers criticized successive governments for not doing enough to address such gender biases and disparities in the curricula. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Bakhtiar said: "Education is one of the key priority areas where gender equality is essential if we are to move forward and take our position as a self- respecting nation."
Without providing a good education for women the dream of creating a modern and developed country will remain unfulfilled, the adviser said, adding that the enrolment of all girls of school-going age at every level of education, from the primary through the middle and secondary must be ensured.
"Curriculum reform is a central issue in education and it is our policy that curricula and textbooks should be sensitive to gender issues. The knowledge we provide to our children will determine how they think and what they think and what kind of human beings they become," Ms Bakhtiar added.
Pakistan, like other developing countries of South Asia, can no longer afford to provide a limited and narrow view of women in stereotyped roles, the adviser said.
Similarly, she said, Pakistan was a signatory to a number of international agreements, covenants and declarations such as the universal declaration of human rights, CEDAW, Beijing declaration, all of which uphold the right to education as well as right to curricula free of gender biases and stereotypes.
In her welcome address, Dr Farzana Bari, acting director, Centre of Excellence in Women Studies, said no country could make progress and become economically efficient if women were not given equal opportunities to make contribution to the socio- economic development of the society.
"There is no doubt that gender disparities in education are a matter of great concern to everyone of us, however, mere access to education will not result in women empowerment or gender equality until gender biases are removed from the curricula that represent women only in their domestic roles as mothers, wives, as passive and dependent beings," she underlined.
Women have multiple identities and roles in productive and reproductive spheres of the society which need to be adequately represented in the curricula, she argued.
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