The Senate Standing Committee on the Women Development urged the government to take effective measures for bringing the women to the mainstream of national life for any meaningful improvement in socio economic and human development.
The Committee met here on Wednesday with its chairperson Tahira Latif in the Parliament House and also visited the Women Welfare and Development Centre, being run by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education.
The Committee observed that being half of the total population the women have comparatively few opportunities of socio economic development and a large majority still leads a deplorable life without basic necessities. Therefore, they have been unable to make any significant contribution to the overall development of the country, the committee observed. This situation has to be changed to quicken our transition to economic prosperity and improved quality of life for the people, said the Committee members.
The committee particularly underlined the need to train women in marketable skills like cutting, sewing and stitching, dress designing, embroidery, knitting, cooking etc and to make arrangements for marketing the products. "Our women are endowed with tremendous potential and that needs to be channelized for constructive pursuits," it added. In this connection it observed that stalls may be provided in Sunday Bazars and other such places where women can sell their products without any hassle.
It also urged the government and the Ministry of Social Welfare to make arrangements for training women in areas like banking, record keeping, cash management in addition to house keeping and house budget making for achieving more empowerment and enhancing their role in the national life.
The committee especially called for improving the lot of rural women who are mostly in absolute poverty and disease, unable to improve their lives, which is utterly depressed and marginalise. It also stressed the need for more strenuous efforts to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates, which are one of the highest in the region.
The Senate body also expressed concerns over the report relating to burning of female schools in Fata and urged the leaders to give due rights to women including that of education.
Earlier, the Incharge Women Welfare and Development Cenre informed the committee that this centre was established under the aegis of the Ministry of Social Welfare in February 1995. The aim of the centre was to provide training facilities to deserving women/girls in sewing, cutting, stitching etc and to enable the orphaned girls, widows and other women belonging to the middle and lower classes to earn their livelihood in a respectable manner. It runs various courses of three to six months durations in addition to one year diploma, she added.
Presently, there are 26 staff members and 376 students, they said adding during the last 14 years, a total number of more than 12,000 women/girls have benefited from this facility and learnt various skills.
First Aid and Civil Defence is an integral part of their training, she said adding refresher courses are being also run for the capacity building of teachers. The marketing officer was also appointed recently to conduct independent survey of market to ensure better price for there products, she added.
The Chairperson of the Committee Senator Tahira Latif urged that micro-credits be provided to such women at reasonable mark-up rates and arrangements be made for value addition of the products being prepared by women in this centre so that it could fetch a better price. She also asked the ministry to establish more such centres and to upgrade present ones. Other members of the Committee also appreciated the useful work done by the centre and endorsed its request for more funds.
Later the Committee members visited various sections and commended the skills of the students, devotion and dedication of the teachers. Senators Razina Alam Khan, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Sardar Mohammad Jamal Khan Leghari, Fauzia Fakhar-uz-Zaman, Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai and Sabina Rauf besides senior officials of the Ministry of Social Welfare attended the meeting.