Even field

It is not often that governments go beyond rhetoric in addressing the concerns of women. In general, we barely move beyond a few words, which translate into very little as far as ground realities go. The steps then taken at a meeting of the Punjab Cabinet recently are welcome; good news in a situation where such news is painfully rare. At the meeting, where Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif noted progress was impossible unless women, consisting of half the population of the country, were empowered, it was decided necessary changes should be made in family and other laws to protect women and safeguard their rights. In more positive news a family courts complex to make these rights easier to access is also in the making. It has also been decided that every clause in the nikahnama form will have to be filled. Currently, portions of this document with key significance to the rights of women, including those concerning divorce rights, are frequently cut out by clerics presiding over ceremonies with the consent of family members.
The Punjab government has also looked into issues of employment, with a decision taken to set up the Punjab Working Women Endowment Fund, to assist women earning livelihoods through grants and other schemes. It has also been decided that more employment opportunities are to be created for women. Given our current situation, women need such help. We hope a time will come when the field has truly been levelled and they do not need such assistance. But the hurdles that stand in their way need to be removed one by one, and the commitment shown to do this by the Punjab government is welcome. So is the decision taken to mark International Women’s Day on March 8 on a larger scale. Such gestures are symbolically important and help deliver to those at all administrative levels the message that the rights of women are important – and are being taken seriously. This can play a part in changing attitudes, which badly need to be changed if women are to acquire the equal status granted to them in the constitution but denied in many different ways when it comes to practical life.