Federal Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada attended as chief guest the opening ceremony of 20th meeting of Inter-Provincial Ministerial Group (IPMG) in Islamabad. The meeting was organized by National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) with the help of UN Women. Chairperson NCSW, Ms. Nilofar Bakhtiar, Country Representative UN Women Sharmeela Rasool, Ms. Andrea S. Hillyer Advisor Gender Security, representatives of Bureau of Statistics, Planning and Development Departments and Women Development Departments of all provinces and Provincial Commissions on the Status of Women including Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan attended the meeting. This group was established in 2009 to enhance coordination among all leading public sector organizations working in the provinces and other regions mainly on gender equality and women empowerment. Main agenda of the 20th meeting was to have an update on National Gender Data Portal (NGDP) and reviewing the provincial coordination mechanism; strengthening the role of partners and identifying strategies to establish NGDP as a credible source for gender related data and information. While addressing the meeting, Minister for Human Rights lauded the efforts of NCSW and UN women to provide a crucial platform in the form of IPMG, where all the relevant stakeholders from center and provinces can join hands to tackle the issues and challenges to achieve the highly regarded aim of gender equality and women’s empowerment in Pakistan. He said that there was a stronger need to support the provincial governments; specifically provincial women machineries working for women development, to set strategic priorities and plans for women’s emancipation. Minister expressed that, women’s issues are similar in all parts of Pakistan with some cultural exceptions within the different localities. IPMG have provided the underpinning for creating such well-coordinated apparatus. Together, under a roof, all stakeholders can bridge the gap of the minute cultural differences related to the issues our women are facing, and the ways to confront them. With coherent and open communication among all relevant stakeholders we can only address inequity prevailing in the country thorough gender-sensitive resilient policies and shifting cultural and social attitudes. In his concluding remarks, Minister said that the most alarming is gender gap of around 12.5 million in Pakistan’s electoral rolls that is a major hindrance in the way of better and effective participation of women in whole political process. Having equal access of women to power, decision-making and leadership at all levels may prove to be an all-changing step forward for introducing significant changes in women related policy formulation. He also urged the participants to put their earnest efforts to develop strategies for implementing government’s gender agenda in the light of Pakistan’s national and international commitments and play pivotal role to bring economic wellbeing, developmental sustainability and societal peace and harmony in Pakistan.
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