Women’s participation should be ensured in various jobs for a stable economy, State Minister for Finance and Revenue Aisha Ghaus Pasha said.

She also stressed the need for developing a legal framework and creating enabling environment to encourage women to strengthen their participation in labour force. She was speaking at the Third Inter-Parliamentary Union Regional Seminar on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for Parliaments of Asia-Pacific.

She said no country could move forward unless women contribute to economic development. She deplored that there are many countries where wage discrimination exists on the basis of gender.

“We have to come up with the right kind of legislation so that these kinds of discrimination are done away with or declared illegal and cannot be practiced,” she said. She said that setting the legal framework is just one step on the ladder, adding that creating the environment to motivate women to come and participate in the labour force is the second important step. Women’s participation could enhance the country’s income by 25pc.

The minister said that at this point of time Pakistan might not be very high up in the gender development index or the gender equality index internationally. However, the trend of women participation in labour is on the rise and Pakistani women have been coming into territories which traditionally are men-dominated, she said. She added that Pakistani women could be seen as pilots, economists, doctors, teachers and even politicians and parliamentarians.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk