Pakistan has made a "major improvement" in the education and socio-political awakening of women and taken concrete steps to improve their lives, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar told the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday.
"Now women activities are no longer limited to housework and child-care," she said while participating in a debate on the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women.
"Their presence in factories, banks, mobile companies, government offices and the armed forces affirms the strides that the women of our country are making towards proving their mettle as individuals capable of great personal and professional achievements," she told the 192-member Assembly.
The two-day debate, which was opened by General Assembly President, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain, is the second-ever held by the Assembly. It also includes panel discussions on such topics as "women and decision-making" and "empowerment of women, including microfinance."
The debate coincides with the 51st session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women taking place at UN Headquarters. Hina said that gender equality was a crosscutting issue, involving political, social and economic aspects. Pakistan's Constitution guaranteed the equality of all its citizens before the law, irrespective of religion, caste or gender.
In this regard, the state minister said that an independent National Commission on the status of women, set up in 2000, had been working continuously towards achieving the emancipation of women and providing them with the same socio-economic opportunities as men. The Ministry for Women's Development, led by a Federal Minister, provided the policy inputs used in developing women-related laws.
She said that women in Pakistan had benefited from the promulgation of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 2004 (also known as the honour killing law), the Law Reform Ordinance 2006, granting the right to bail to women prisoners accused of all crimes except murder and terrorism, and the recent Protection of Women Act 2006, which was designed to eliminate historically entrenched discrimination against women, particularly rape victims. Laws to outlaw early and forced marriages were presently under consideration.