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...

With the evolution of the idea of intersectionality, there is no such thing as an abstract category of women, which includes all women.  From the very moment of birth, we are all born into some structure in the form of a particular class, a particular ethnicity, a particular religion or a particular sect. And we are brought up according to that, and our level of power vis-a-vis the state and empowerment depends on where we are located in the social structure. There tend to be huge differences between and among different women with regard to their social class, ethnicity, religion, sex, and other markers of social differentiation. When these differences are kept in mind, one realizes that the approach to empowerment has to be holistic, it cannot just be the empowerment of women. If a woman is a laborer, then labor empowerment is also important to empower her, if she happens to be a woman as well as a Christian, than the empowerment of minorities is also imperative. Otherwise, even if she’s empowered in one context, she’ll be disempowered in another. So all kinds of empowerment must be all-inclusive and go together, including the empowerment of religious minorities, the empowerment of ethnic minorities, of social classes etc. Empowerment means different things to different people, so there is no single set definition thus far. Moreover, empowerment cannot be ensured by bringing changes at the individual level alone. Self-empowerment is an essential prerequisite for women to get economic empowerment and inclusion opportunities from the state. Basic Goal of Empowerment The ultimate goal of empowering anybody is to create equality in society, relative equality which means that we have to fight the social structure in which wealth and other resources are distributed unequally, as these inequalities tend to disempower people in different capacities. The principle of equality is also enshrined in Pakistan’s constitution; article 25 (2) of Pakistan’s Constitution says that...

According to the global gender gap report 2021 by World Economic Forum, the four major gaps in women empowerment tracked Political Empowerment as the first and most important gap. Across 156 countries around the world, women only represent 26.1 of the 35,500 parliament seats and just 22.6 of over 3,400 ministers. In 81 countries there has never been a woman head of state as of January 15, 2021. At the current rate, it would take 145.6 years to attain gender parity in politics. The gender gap in Economic Participation and Opportunity remains the second largest gap with Educational Attainment as third and Health and Survival as the fourth. In Pakistani patriarchal society political participation of women has yet to be acknowledged as a “respectable” option due to the various prevailing stereotypes and assumptions regarding access to this option. Though the laws of the land and legislations have been ensuring the political rights of women, for instance a total of 10 seats was reserved for women in 1956 Constitution in the unicameral Parliament with five seats each from East and West Pakistan. The 1962 Constitution kept 6 seats for women in the National Assembly with three seats each from East and West Pakistan. The 1973 Constitution held in reserve 10 seats for women for a period of ten years from the commencing day of the Constitution or holding of the third general elections to the National Assembly, whichever occurred later. In 1985, ten (10) seats were increased to twenty (20), whereas the reserved seats for women were increased to sixty (60) in 2002 during Musharraf era. Various Constitutional provisions of 1973 constitution affirm the state’s determination to minimize gender disparity by the elimination of discrimination on the basis of gender and encouraging participation of women in all walks of life. Article 17 (2) of the Constitution provides every citizen with the right to form or be a member of a political party. Article 34 of the Constitution emphasizes...