Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri has said that in a developing country like Pakistan, educational opportunities for women are scarce, and in order to move the society on the path of development, it was necessary to give women all equal rights including education.
She expressed these views while talking to a delegation of women in Quetta on Wednesday. She said that education, health, security, financial freedom and inheritance were not privileges, but the legitimate and fundamental rights of women.
“We were fighting for these rights and will continue to do so. Women are not only the most important pillar of the family in our society but also the greatest support for the success of any individual. The Constitution of Pakistan guarantees the protection of women rights,” she maintained.
Samina Zehri said that if women were weak then there was need to make rules and regulations to train and empower them in a positive way from the very beginning and ensure their implementation in order to achieve these rights, not only women but also educated and conscious men have to play their full role in this struggle.
Senator Samina said that majority of women around the world were facing various problems, particularly in our society, adding women do not get equal opportunities to get education due to which they do not get equal education as men or they face hurdles from their family in getting better education. She said that women were also lack significant political representation, even in some areas where women do not have the right to vote and are excluded from the process. Even there is no right to speak in matters which is a grave injustice and violation of human rights which reflects the unfavorable thinking of the society, she noted.
The senator further said that it was necessary to improve the situation that the existing laws are implemented and that women access to opportunities for further improvement and development is enhanced. She mentioned that this was the education by which any society could be identified between good and bad and the same principle applied to women.
They need to be provided with better and better opportunities for education and in order to ensure this process, the thinking of the society has to be changed. For this purpose, the people of every school of thought have to play their role to ensure women involvement in the society and decision making process at national level, she concluded.
