Pakistan calls for ‘focused’ efforts to cope with conflicts, climate change to achieve gender equality

UNITED NATIONS : A senior Pakistani official has urged “focused” efforts on part of the world community, governments and individuals in dealing with emergencies ranging from conflicts to climate change which, she said, “disproportionately affect the lives of women and girls”.

“Prioritizing gender-responsive interventions, increasing women’s participation in decision-making, addressing violence against women, investing in women’s economic empowerment, and collecting sex-disaggregated data are key strategies to get back on track towards gender equality,” Nilofar Bakhtiar, Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women, told a panel discussion at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

Participating in an interactive dialogue, ‘Getting back on track: Achieving gender equality in a context of overlapping emergencies’, Ms Bakhtiar said although climate change affected everyone, but women and girls bore the brunt, citing Pakistan where “between 50 to 80 percent of women are food producers and 70 percent of them manage livestock”.

The recent floods, she said, had affected more than 33 million people in Pakistan, half of them were women and girls, millions still remained in need of immediate humanitarian assistance and more than 1.6 million were women of reproductive age, with thousands of pregnant women in need of urgent health services.

“We express concern that the Pakistan Floods Response Plan is only 36% funded more than halfway through its 9-month duration.”

The National Commission on the Status of Women, she said, remained committed to promote and protect rights of women and girls amidst the looming threats posed by climate change.

The action plan coming out of Pakistan’s climate change national report 2022 was implemented during the flood disaster, Ms Bakhtiar told delegates. “Now we are ready with our report on digitalization based on four areas – communication, financial inclusion, online learning tools and gender-based violence.”

“We strongly believe that the fight against climate change emergency shall not be won without truly achieving women empowerment and without mobilizing the political will and necessary resources to take critical decisions,” Ms Bakhtiar said in conclusion.