IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede progress. However, Unicef Pakistan recently presented a National Gender Strategy (2024-2027) to generate a transformative shift for multitudes of girls between 10 to 19 years. It believes that effective implementation of the policy in rural and urban areas can tackle inequalities and improve female lives, including those defined by disability. A significant component of the plan is to engage leaders, clerics, boys and men so that existing narratives change and all women have agency. Unicef also highlights the lamentable fact that Pakistan has nearly 19m child brides, 54pc were pregnant before the age of 18, and 88pc of underage girls live in poverty. The UN’s 2023 Gender Social Norms Index was not a cheerful read either. It stated that improvement in prejudices against women had been static for a decade. In this scenario, the UN agenda to attain gender equality by 2030 for all countries is a long shot.

There is no denying that several social mores propel gender inequality and deal a blow to women’s freedoms. As more people are pushed below the poverty line in a moribund economy, indigence is set to widen the gender gap with reduced access to healthcare, education and profitable opportunities. In these circumstances, perhaps Unicef Pakistan’s gender equitable programming ought to start with areas where the honour of men depends on making women invisible, as in parts of Balochistan and KP. Females in hyper-conservative areas are entirely disenfranchised, trapped in the culture of bride price, the sale of girls for monetary gain or to resolve disputes, and the absence of reproductive rights and socioeconomic liberties. All this must change with schooling, healthcare and employment and cultivating empathy and awareness among men. Closing gender gaps matters because it promises social justice and prosperity. It is a long road but we cannot finish last.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2024