ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: As the World Rural Women’s Day is being observed on Sunday, the government has expressed its commitment to the emancipation of women and giving them their due status in society.

In a statement, federal minister for women development and youth affairs Sumaira Malik said women always played the role of an invisible work force in rural societies, especially in the farming sector.

Despite the fact that rural women comprised over a quarter of the world’s population and produced more than half of the grown food, their wider contributions went largely unnoticed.

She said the government had taken a number of steps for the empowerment of women, particularly those living in the rural areas.

Under the National Fund for Advancement of Rural Women, three pilot projects have been launched with the support of Khushhali Bank, First Women Bank and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme.

The government has taken adequate measures to alleviate the disproportionate impact of poverty on women by ensuring the access of poor rural women to land, agricultural and livestock extension services, she added.

The minister said a number of initiatives using micro-credit as a tool of poverty alleviation were taken under the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and Rural Support Programmes (RSPs).

In order to ensure active political participation of women, a quota of 33 per cent seats was reserved in the local bodies institutions. The government also arranged training of elected women councillors with the cooperation of foreign donors under the women political school project.

Ms Malik said, “We realise that despite all these endeavours, there is still a lot to be done for the development of rural women.”