As many as 11 million women in Pakistan still don’t have digital registration which depriving them right to vote and around 17 million didn’t cast their vote in 2018 general elections, said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday.
He cited a report stating that, close to 2.6 million women in north western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa does not possess National Identity Card (NIC), adding that that their ability to play a role in political, social and economic progress is restricted and they are unable to take advantage of public social safety, education and health services.
Babar was speaking at a conference titled ‘Digitalization & Women in Pakistan’ organized by National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in joint collaboration with UN Women, UNFPA and others.
He urged the digital registration of women as it is necessary for the country’s economic development. Moreover, an ID card gives a person legitimate reason to gain access to public resources and enjoy the public service exercising the fundamental rights that the State grants to people in the constitution equally without any discrimination.
Other speakers on the occasion highlighted how the digital data collected through a rigorous country-wide consultative process, engaging public and private sectors, civil society, academia, media and think tanks etc. Chairperson NCSW, Nilofar Bakhtiar stated that “49 percent of the population are women, we cannot leave them behind. At this conference, work not for the advancement of women, work for the advancement of the country.”
Senator Seemi Ezdi, who moved the resolution to equip women and girls with digital skills in the assembly, spoke on the importance of a unified vision while formulating relevant policies and implementation guidelines.
The revised Child Marriage Restraint Act was presented to the Minister of Human Rights, Riaz Hussain Pirzada by Bakhtiar and he promised to pass the bill before the current assembly would dissolve.
During the conference, policy frameworks on the basis of the Digitalization & Women in Pakistan report were designed respective to each Province by representatives from the provincial representatives of the Women Development Departments, the Social Welfare Departments, Provincial Commission on the Status of Women (PCSWs), the Information and Technology departments, Planning and Development Departments and the Technical Education Departments of all provinces of Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
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