Gender disparity

http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/24/gender-disparity.html

 

Gender disparity

EDUCATION is the constitutional right of every Pakistani and is the only way towards progress and survival in this scientific age. Every government focuses on education without discriminating on the basis of gender. But the situation is quite different in Pakistan.
There is a lack of concern on female literacy in our country. The government seems to be least bothered about increasing the literacy rate among girls in Sindh. This situation is resulting in an increase of illiteracy among females who constitute 52 per cent of the total population of the country.
Wahi Pandhi is a small city of Dadu with a population of over 40,000. This city is devoid of secondary and higher secondary schools for girls. As a result, after passing Class V girls give up their studies. This is the reason that the majority of people in the area are not educated, especially since residents do not wish to send their daughters to get education at a boys’ high school.
The parents are, however, willing to send their daughters to secondary and higher secondary schools provided they are exclusively for girls. The lack of educational institutions is resulting in girls being deprived of their basic right.
This is leading to other complex issues. As girls cannot continue their studies, child marriages, incompatible marriages and polygamy are common here.
Girls endure all that, considering it their fate. These girls become mothers but they are unaware of health and nutritional needs of their infants. It increases infant mortality rate in the area. These double standards adopted by the Sindh government are contrary to the tall claims of women empowerment and steps for protection of their rights.
There are a number of human rights organisations and rights activists in Islamabad who have been talking of women’s rights and their empowerment in Pakistan. They are either unaware of the women’s problems of Wahi Pandhi or they are deliberately maintaining a silence on this issue because of some reasons. Don’t women of Wahi Pandhi have rights?
It is the responsibility of the government of Sindh to take note of the educational problems of girls residing in Wahi Pandhi and establish schools for them so that they can continue their education.
INAYATULLAH RUSTAMANI
Wahi Pandhi, Johi