In the developing world, the menace of poverty is deep routed, especially in the rural areas while Pakistan is no exception to it. Therefore the United Nations identified the rural women as a catalyst for change if the objective of eradicating poverty is to be attained. Invisible and industrious, neglected and under nourished. She is the major contributor to the agricultural labour force producing more than 50% of the developing world’s food. She is the one who tend sows, reaps, gather crops, cares for animals, plants herbs, and looks after the families but hardly ever recognized in the statistics of production while easily made a target of cultural malpractices which not only hurts her dignity but even take her life. It is very important to bring the women into the lime light so that policy makers could design their development interventions in a way that could politically and financially empower her enough to make a difference in the living conditions of herself and her family and her immediate surroundings.
Today’s globalized world offers many opportunities and challenges while demonstrating the need for having, a level playing field for men and women; this can only be established if we shun prejudices and isolationism. We need to explore innovative ways to overcome the formidable obstacle to the empowerment of women and gender equality. There is a need to focus and devise strategies to enhance women’s role in decision-making and power sharing in all tiers of the government.
Keeping in view all the above, I would like to stress on the need of women/mother’s health as an unavoidable entity of our society which relates to child marriage, harmful traditional practices against women and other cruel treatments prevailing in our society which needs to be worked against.
Published in The news international, February 28th, 2014.
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