via aku.edu: November 26, 2013: Gender equality and equitable division of resources and opportunities among men and women remains elusive in Pakistan. While the importance of gender equality is well recognised globally, inequalities persist despite considerable work undertaken in different sectors, including health and education. These were the thoughts of experts gathered at the second conference on gender equality organised by Aga Khan University’s Working Group for Women.
Pakistan ranks as the world’s second-worst country in terms of the division of resources and opportunities between male and female populations according to The Global Gender Gap Report 2013, published by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with faculty at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley; the study assessed 136 countries, representing more than 93 per cent of the world’s population.
“The political positioning and the agendas of feminism and the autonomous women’s movements have been systematically subsumed and relegated to the margins by the blatant ‘misuse’ of the concept of gender, a concept that ironically sought to enrich an understanding of patriarchy and sharpen the politics of the movement,” said Nighat Said Khan, Executive Director, Applied Socio-Economic Research (ASR) Resource Centre, Pakistan.
via http://www.aku.edu/aboutaku/News/Pages/gender-equality.aspx.
Ismailimail 