Razzaq Sheikh:
ISLAMABAD: July 11th commemorates World Population Day, an occasion that draws attention to the urgency and significance of population-related matters. This year’s theme, “Unleashing the Power of Gender Equality: Uplifting the Voices of Women and Girls to Unlock Our World’s Infinite Possibilities,” strikes a profound chord in the context of Pakistan where women empowerment has remained a significant challenge due to low literacy rates and limited female participation in the workforce. Shockingly, 48% of women in Pakistan are illiterate, 79% are not part of the labor force, and only 10% can make independent decisions about their own health.
This was discussed during the Media Coalition Meeting held to mark World Population Day organized by the Population Council. Media Coalition comprises of media persons from all provinces representing all major media outlets of Pakistan. The coalition highlights the cross-sectoral impact of rapid population growth periodically to raise awareness and hold governments accountable for improving the well-being of the people.
Briefing the media, Ummi Kalsoom, Senior Project Officer at the Population Council presented the data on women’s education, health and labour force participation. She stressed the media to raise awareness of these issues through their news stories. She said, “Media should highlight the issues to remove all forms of discrimination against girls, in terms of diet, education and healthcare. Girls should be treated as equal to boys and must be educated to plan their families according to their resources”. She also urged the media to play its part in ensuring enrollment of all out-of-school girls and incentivization of their education till the secondary level, as 37% of girls remain out of school in the country. Media can also hold governments responsible to ensure service delivery of family planning services besides raising awareness to enhance male engagement in family planning.
Participants of the meeting pledged to use media as an effective tool in the promotion of women’s empowerment to ensure girls can exercise their rights and have choices to be able to balance their families’ resources and family size in order to reach their full potential. They also agreed to play a positive role in increasing access to reproductive health information and services to married couples in Pakistan as media campaigns could impress upon the governments to ensure the availability of contraceptives and trained staff at all health outlets. Media Coalition Members pledged to highlight the need for legislation on pre-marital counseling, family planning, the enhanced role of men in girls education, women’s empowerment, and discouraging child marriage.
