Islamabad: Pakistan has slipped two spots since last year to rank 153rd out of 156 countries on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2021, published this week.
Women make up 7% of Pakistan’s labor force, the third-lowest figure globally, according to the World Bank, which has pushed for more childcare and a crackdown on sexual harassment to get more women out to work and boost economic growth.
The South Asian nation was ranked as the sixth most dangerous country for women in a Thomson Reuters Foundation poll in 2018, with hundreds of women and girls killed each year by family members angered at perceived damage to their “honor.”
In the WEF’s 2021 report, Pakistan featured among the bottom 10 countries in two of the four sub-indexes: economic participation and opportunity (152nd) and health and survival (153rd).
“Pakistan ranks 153rd out of 156 countries assessed on the index this year, with its gender gap having widened in this edition by 0.7 percentage points, to 55.6%,” the report said, recording large income disparities between women and men in the South Asian nation.
“On average, a Pakistani woman’s income is 16.3% of a man’s. Further, women do not have equal access to justice, ownership of land and non-financial assets or inheritance rights,” the report added.
However, it also noted some improvement in the share of women who were in professional and technical roles, 25.3%, up from 23.4% in a previous edition of the index.
The WEF said only 46.5 percent Pakistani women were literate, 61.6 percent attended primary school, 34.2 percent attended high school and 8.3 percent were enrolled in tertiary education courses.
“Pakistan has closed 94.4% of its Health and Survival gender gap, negatively impacted by wide sex ratio at birth (92%) due to gender-based sex-selective practices, and 85% of women have suffered intimate partner violence,” the report read.
The report showed Pakistan’s rank as relatively higher for political empowerment but women’s representation among parliamentarians (20.2%) and ministers (10.7%) remained low.
Pakistan among four worst nations for women on Global Gender Gap report
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Pakistan among four worst nations for women on Global Gender Gap report
- Women make up 7% of Pakistan’s labor force, the third-lowest figure globally, according to the World Bank
- World Economic Forum says Pakistan’s gender gap has widened, some improvement in share of women in professional, technical roles
Terror at Friday prayers: witnesses describe blast rocking Islamabad mosque
- ’Extremely powerful’ explosion ripped through Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra just after Friday prayers started, worshipper says
- The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast
ISLAMABAD: A worshipper at the Shiite mosque in Islamabad where dozens of people were killed in a suicide blast on Friday described an “extremely powerful” explosion ripping through the building just after prayers started.
Muhammad Kazim, 52, told AFP he arrived at the Imam Bargah Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque shortly after 1:00 p.m. (0800 GMT) on Friday and took up a place around seven or eight rows from the Imam.
“During the first bow of the Namaz (prayer ritual), we heard gunfire,” he told AFP outside the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital, where many of the wounded were brought for treatment.
“And while we were still in the bowing position, an explosion occurred,” he said.
Kazim, who is from Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan and lives in Islamabad, escaped unharmed, but accompanied his wounded friend to the PIMS hospital for treatment.
“It was unclear whether it was a suicide bombing, but the explosion was extremely powerful and caused numerous casualties,” Kazim said.
“Debris fell from the roof, and windows were shattered,” he added. “When I got outside, many bodies were scattered... Many people lost their lives.”
The Daesh (Islamic State) group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors such communications.
Another worshipper, Imran Mahmood, described a gunfight between the suicide bomber, a possible accomplice and volunteer security personnel at the mosque.
“The suicide attacker was trying to move forward, but one of our injured volunteers fired at him from behind, hitting him in the thigh,” Mahmood, in his fifties, told AFP.
“He fell but got up again. Another man accompanying him opened fire on our volunteers,” he said, adding the attacker “then jumped onto the gate and detonated the explosives.”
As of Saturday morning, the death toll stood at 31, with at least 169 wounded.
The attack was the deadliest in the Pakistani capital since September 2008, when 60 people were killed in a suicide truck bomb blast that destroyed part of the five-star Marriott hotel.
LAX SECURITY
Describing the aftermath of the attack, Kazim said unhurt worshippers went to the aid of those wounded.
“People tried to help on their own, carrying two or three bodies in the trunks of their vehicles, while ambulances arrived about 20 to 25 minutes later,” he told AFP.
“No one was allowed near the mosque afterwards.”
Kazim, who has performed Friday prayers at the mosque “for the past three to four weeks,” said security had been lax.
“I have never seen proper security in place,” he told AFP.
“Volunteers manage security on their own, but they lack the necessary equipment to do it effectively,” he said.
“Shiite mosques are always under threat, and the government should take this seriously and provide adequate security,” he added.
