The Women Development Ministry has failed to organise any function on women issues to mark International Women's Day on Saturday, March 8. Sources in the Women Development Ministry told this scribe on Friday that MoWD officials who organise the functions are on tours abroad on training so there was no one to organise the main event on women issues.
Apparently, the Women Development Ministry failed to provide resolution of most of the women-related issues 'Harassment Against Women at Work Places" bill is in doldrums as the bill was sent to the Law Ministry last year. The Ministry failed to consider the bill and remained unable to place the bill in the parliament for approval.
Moreover, most of the families are headed by divorced women and they are the sole bread earners for their families. These working women serve in government, semi-government and private offices and have to face harassment at work placed. It is need of the hour to place the bill in the parliament for approval, they maintained.
Similarly, the ministry failed to introduce bill on 'Domestic Violence Against Women' as every year thousands of women are tortured and are facing violence in severe forms such as stove and acid burns, electric shock burns and other mental and physical tortures. Their misery is beyond expression.
Moreover, micro-credit programmes are started for the rural women in Gwadar, Sheikhupura and Chitral. However, in other rural areas of Punjab, the ministry failed to provide micro-credit schemes and women in these areas remained deprived of the credit schemes to start small businesses or cottage industry to earn livelihood for their families, they said.
Sources said the ministry is striving to approve 50 percent quota for women in the government jobs, which will prove as a milestone for women socio-economic and political empowerment.
Sources said that in the wake of the political empowerment, women have 17.4 percent representation in the National and Provincial Assemblies and 33 percent representation in the Local Government which is due to the strenuous efforts of the Women Development Ministry, they said. Despite huge annual expenditure, the Ministry failed to provide a concrete solution of the women issues and most of the women issues remained neglected.