Speakers at a seminar, held in honour of International Women’s Day, on Friday stressed on eradicating gender discrimination in all walks of life. They linked gender equality with sustainable development and prosperity, and said that women empowerment and education could help the government to achieve its objective of reducing poverty and creating job and business opportunities for women.
The speakers, including Mehnaz Rafi, a former senator, MPA Arifa Khalid, Dr Zunaira and Fajar Zaheer urged women to fight for their rights, which have been guaranteed by the constitution and religion, but were not being given to them by a male-dominant society. They also called for abolition of all laws that were discriminatory towards women as well as children and minorities. They demanded that Hudood, Zina, Qisas and Diyat ordinances and other discriminatory laws should also be abolished, adding that the number of women in jails had multiplied after the circulation of these ordinances.