Punjab government striving to ensure gender equality

With a view to achieving the objective of gender equity leading to equality, the Punjab government is striving for mainstreaming gender issues in its operations. This was revealed by the speakers while addressing a day-long workshop on the topic of "Gender participation in government affairs" held under the aegis of Gender Mainstreaming Unit of School Education Department and City District Government, here on Wednesday.
The speakers maintained that the dream of economic development could only be realised by enhancing women participation in public affairs. Among others, Gender Specialist School Education Department, Rehana Anwar, Additional Secretary School Education Dr Farah Masood, Bushra Khaliq, Dr Farih Zafar, Dawar Saqlain, and Muhammad Anees Chaudhry spoke on the occasion. They maintained that the government is taking pragmatic steps for the uplift of women while special attention is paid on education sector.
Dr Farah Masood said on the occasion that Islam assures equal rights for men and women. "We should obey the teachings of Islam while fulfilling social and moral responsibilities in the society." She said that Punjab government has earmarked sufficient funds for male and female institutions. It is pertinent to mention that performance of women institutions is better than male institutions that are encouraging sign for education system.
Regarding provision of financial resources and development planning, she said the project of woman education has been prioritised and special attention has been paid to the provision of rooms, bathrooms and boundary walls in girl's schools. In addition to that special instructions have been issued for the disposal of promotion cases of female teachers and redressal of their grievances.
Addressing on the occasion Gender Specialist Rehana Anwar said that Gender Mainstreaming Unit has played a pivotal role in the welfare of female staff of the department and has also made a successful effort for the provision of conducive environment in the offices to female staff. Further, on the movement of the Gender Mainstreaming Unit, a circular regarding implementation of 5 percent recruitment quota for women has been earmarked specially for the appointment of helping staff including clerks, computer operators and class-IV employees.