By Safia Zafar Iqbal
Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is the transformative process that helps women and girls move from limited power, voice, and choice at home and in the economy to have the skills, resources, and options needed to compete equitably in markets as well as the agency to control and benefit from economic gains. Economic development is the primary agenda of the United Nations and all other international organisations.
Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home. But they also remain disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation. Gender discrimination means that women often end up in insecure, low-wage jobs and constitute a small minority of those in senior positions. It curtails access to economic assets such as land and loans. It limits participation in shaping economic and social policies. And, because women perform the bulk of household work, they often need more time left to pursue economic opportunities.https://republicpolicy.com/women-must-be-respected-as-humans/
Many international commitments support women’s economic empowerment, including the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and a series of International Labour Organization (I.L.O.) conventions on gender equality. U.N. Women supports women’s economic empowerment in line with these and with the growing body of evidence that shows that gender equality significantly contributes to advancing economies and sustainable development. While working with various partners, our programmes promote women’s ability to secure decent jobs, accumulate assets, and influence institutions and public policies determining growth and development. One critical area of focus involves advocacy to measure women’s unpaid care work and to take action so women and men can more readily combine it with paid employment. In all our economic empowerment programmes, U.N. Women reaches out to women most in need, often by engaging with grass-roots and civil society organizations. Particularly marginalized groups include rural women, domestic workers, some migrants and low-skilled women. Our aims are higher incomes, better access to and control over resources, and greater security, including protection from violence.
Women’s empowerment is one of the significant issues of current development policies in an international forum. Women’s empowerment is a complex and multidimensional process requiring multivariate analysis, especially with many misconceptions regarding Islam and women’s rights. Islam is the religion which, 1400 hundred years ago, practically presented before the world an example of such a society where women have access to all fundamental human rights but even more than those that today’s modern women can imagine. The principal objective was to explore those possible determinants which strengthen this Islamic concept, using regression analysis based on primary data from a district of Southern Punjab. The results show that working opportunities, the education index of the household, years of education of women, having access to media and health opportunities impact the Islamic Concept of women empowerment.https://republicpolicy.com/awareness-raising-for-the-safety-of-women-in-daily-life/
In contrast, the fear of violence from women’s fathers/husbands and the number of household members have a negative relationship with it. By analyzing the results obtained, we can say that the Islamic concept of women empowerment presented 1400 years ago can now be implemented and exercised in Pakistan by improving women’s educational, working and health opportunities along with enhancing the education of their household members and access to media. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan came into existence 75 years ago to exercise Islamic laws practically and live according to the principles Allah Almighty and Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H.) virtually presented. But after 75 years, the Government of Pakistan has failed to implement those laws, so women are still the most affected and vulnerable part of this society. Although various political governments of Pakistan have taken some steps towards women’s empowerment, it is only effective for our low proportion of urban women, and our rural women still have been living in miserable conditions with poverty, ignorance and victim of violence. There is a dire need to direct the policymakers that if we want to give Pakistani women their genuine regard and status, then we have to implement Islamic Laws regarding women’s rights along with improving their education, health and working conditions. Our results proved that access to media could bring change in this regard.
Ultimately, it is concluded that women’s empowerment, declared Millennium Development Goal by UNDP, could be achieved only when all concerned bodies cooperate by understanding the factors analyzed in this paper. Society must understand women’s capabilities and their contributions to the developmental process. Empowering Women is an essential end in itself, not only as a human right issue but also as having the potential to enhance human well-being. Empowering women and improving their status are essential ingredients for realizing the full potential of the economic and potential development of the entire society, thus ensuring sustainable development. Islam provides maximum women empowerment, and here we can follow the other theories and concepts presented nowadays on an international forum. Consequently, the need of the hour is for the government and society to cooperate to empower above fifty per cent of the country’s population by creating an environment where women must secure all economic rights.https://republicpolicy.com/importance-of-human-rights-for-women-in-pakistan/
