A conference highlighting women’s roles and needs in development took place in Islamabad on Tuesday, with a massive representation of women from around the country and representatives from the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the international development community. GIZ Pakistan, in collaboration with the European Union, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Government of Canada, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Commission on the Status of Women (KPCSW) have organized this gathering which history will remember as the First Annual Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women Conference. Many of the participants belonged to the Pakistan’s Merged Areas, to gather under the “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women Uniting in the Tribal Decade”.
The conference was attended by over 300 participants and women of various backgrounds, this includes women in leadership positions, in politics, in police and civil society organizations. They gathered to discussed topics like, women leadership, climate change, politics, media, entrepreneurship, girls’ education, digital knowledge and transformation, women rights, reproductive health, sports, and rule of law. To build trust between state and citizen, considering the merger of the former federally administered tribal areas (FATA) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the conference provided an opportunity to various stakeholders, international partners, and private entities: Learning more about targeting their support and interventions to meet the needs of KP women, and to gain knowledge about opportunities in their areas.
Thomas Seiler, Deputy Head of Delegation to Pakistan in his concluding remarks said that European Union is fully supporting women and gender equality, which is a key element of the EU development Policy. He said that the first element of modernization is the gender equality to allow more women in economy in lead roles as CEOs, as business owners and entrepreneurs. He said that despite some progress in gender equality in Pakistan, a lot need to be done to achieve for empowerment of women.
Earlier, Chief Guest, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Special Assistant to Chief Minister KP on Information and PR Department highlighted the important role of women in the society and reflected that women contribution for the society cannot be ignored in development. He said that the KP Government has taken several initiatives for the socio economic and civil development of women in KP and added that without empowering women, we cannot dream of an empowered society”, he said.
