For years society has played the role of a determinant for making or breaking social norms, values, and behaviors. Since societies decide the appropriate role behavior for different statuses, they have the ability to bring or resist social changes and phenomena bearing such changes. But unfortunately, the Pakistani society seldom forgets to play the critical role in even the cases that need immediate societal action. One such case is the phenomenon of women empowerment, despite our state religion i.e. Islam and the State itself being the greatest advocate of women’s rights, the society has largely normalized marginalizing women and defying the rights provided to them by the state through the constitution. In most developed societies, upbringing patterns, education, and the media are employed as a tool to promote progressive and tolerant values which allow citizens to live freely without any sort of gender based discrimination. It is essential for all of us to understand the our responsibilities as a citizen and play a role in promoting and supporting not just women’s empowerment but also all the other causes that require societal action. Since homes are the first schools for children, it is essential that parents and other elders at home understand their responsibility in upbringing the child. Values like respect and tolerance for all, accepting and respecting others’ identities, ideas, and POVs, believing in equal opportunities for all, knowing their constitutional rights and performing their duties and responsibilities towards others effectively, speaking up against the wrong, breaking stereotypes and peaceful coexistence in the society must be inculcated in children from a very young age. It must be kept in mind that only verbally communicating such values isn’t enough, Children learn what they observe around them, and so the family members must create an environment where they practice the aforesaid values themselves so that children can learn from them. The...

Despite the utter criticism and condemnation of the PTI Government, the general populace praises the PTI government’s poverty alleviation and social security programs. Some of the initiatives undertaken by the current government haven’t only improved the quality of life of citizens but has also helped improve Pakistan’s standing in the international community. The EHSAAS program is one such feather in PTI Government’s cap. Launched in 2019, the program aimed to reduce inequality, invest in people, and lift the districts socially that were lagging behind compared to the developed ones. EHSAAS is the first tangible step towards the establishment of a welfare state- as envisaged by Prime Minister Imran Khan- and is commended by all and sundry across the country. A striking feature of the EHSAAS program is its 50%+ policy which focuses on inclusion of females in the financial security programs hence acknowledging that the fair half of the population has also the right to be socially uplifted. By pursuing this policy, the program works for poverty alleviation in the country along with assisting the noble cause of women empowerment hence helping in the achievement of UN’s SDG-5 of gender equality. The sensitivity shown by the EHSAAS program towards gender equality and women empowerment doesn’t only show the current government’s commitment towards the significant cause, but also depicts that Pakistan has understood the fact that the way to poverty alleviation is including women’s economic inclusion in poverty alleviation. Different initiatives under the umbrella of EHSAAS program have specified around 49-51 percent of quota for females only, which helps in empowering them economically either directly or indirectly. E.g., The Ehsaas Kifalat Program has around 7 million women beneficiaries, who are provided a monthly stipend so that the kitchen keeps running despite the fluctuations in the bread earner’s labor patterns. This program doesn’t only serve the cause of poverty...

In Pakistan, women make up around 50 percent of the total population but unfortunately, they aren’t given their due representation in different domains at the national level. Though Pakistan has come a long way in making efforts for women empowerment, still many loopholes persist. One of the biggest issues Pakistan faces in this regard is the gap between legal and substantive equality. Pakistan has made efficient progress by passing bills and policies that tend to empower and enable women in different way. However, since the implementation and uniform availability of the legal framework established for women is largely missing, there stands a huge gap between the legal and substantive equality. This gap shows that along with the few enablers to women’s empowerment, numerous constraints also persist which hamper the process of women’s empowerment hence slowing Pakistan’s progress in the pursuit of United Nation’s SDG-5. The article takes into account the enablers and disablers to women’s empowerment in Pakistan in different domains. Legal Domain At the legal level, some good legislation has been done in the favor of women’s empowerment. E.g. the sexual harassment at the workplace law of 2010, the provincial domestic violence acts, child marriage restraint act, the 2011 anti-women practices law, along with several other women-empowering laws and bills have been passed in the last 10 to 12 years. The establishment of such an intricate, gender sensitive legal system is a big enabler to the phenomenon of women’s empowerment because they can be accessed by women at the time of need. However, the issue of their proper implementation persists because accessing these laws is largely dependent on how many resources one has. One can access such services only when they have the power and resources to hire a lawyer and go to courts and fight their case. Another constraint is the discriminatory legislation, which is still protected under the Eighth Amendment in the...