Men and women who are two wheels of life is the best creation of Allah. Pair of men and women has gone through a lot of social advancements. It has been believed since ages that women can only take care her house and children and she does not have capabilities to manage job along with home. If she tries she will eventually ignore her prime responsibilities. If we specifically talk about a religious point of view we will find so many interpretations. But before giving the final verdict we need to see Islam has given equal rights to both women and men and protected them as well. And the best example is our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who married the successful entrepreneur Prophet Khadija (R.A) who is role model for women since last 1400 years.
In Pakistan where society is unusually dominated by men and they take the decisions of women’s fate, women are considered to be the one who has to take care of home, kids. They are emotionally and financially dependent of men and bear heavy pressures to meet these responsibilities .Whereas the financial burden lies on shoulders of men and in most families only one man is working to meet the needs of the whole family. If we compare to the west where both the partners are working for the family and home.
Here we have some statistics which shows the women workforce in Pakistan. Women who constitute 49% of the total population of Pakistan they only share 24.8% of the total workforce in the country. While the men are contributing remaining 82.5% of labor force participation rate(LFPR),which is very less as compared to other countries. No country can progress in terms of society and economy unless half of its population is not contributing towards the betterment of the country.
As per UN-women study, women share in wage employment is just 15% and most of them are contributing family workers and get no pay in return for their work. Moreover, the ratio of employment to population is 20% for women and 64% of male workers in Pakistan. This shows 80% of women are not utilizing themselves to contribute in the country and towards their own growth.
If we compare facts to US figures according to surveys in 2014, 46.5% women of US were part of country’s workforce while only 22.3 % of women in Pakistan working in the industry, which is very low. We need to understand that without half of Pakistan’s population who is only staying at home country cannot progress.
As per Pakistan Medical Council, 70% of medical students are females while only 23% of them are practicing medical. One of the major reason for this is lack of friendly environment and discouragement by in-laws after marriage.
In order to encourage women to do jobs, we need to have anti-discrimination framework legislation at the national level as the biggest hurdle in bringing women in the industry is the unethical attitude of society and their coworkers. It ultimately results in fewer women feeling comfortable in their jobs. Once there is legislation it will help Pakistani women to feel safer in their workplaces. This legislation should include issues such as violence and harassment that happen at workplaces. Moreover, the legislation allows women to have a reasonable maternity leave so they can handle their families along with their jobs.
Pakistani women
Most important we need to educate male workers to give respect to women in workplaces. We need to bring awareness among them that there is no discrimination among men and women when it comes to working.
We have 80%of women who want to utilize their education and abilities but due to societal factors, they are forced to stay at home. We really need to address these issues on the governmental level. There are a lot of women who can excel in every field, we just need to bring awareness in our society that they are not made just to cook food and take care of children but they also have brilliant minds.
We as a society need to wake up and teach our sons from their birth that women are equally able to serve the country so they start giving respect to every woman they have in their life whether it’s their sister, wife or daughter.
