Women parliamentarians of the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Pakistan for promoting gender equality in education

ISLAMABAD (APP): A three-day dialogue of women parliamentarians of the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Pakistan ended here on Saturday with the resolve to promote gender equality in education. The parliamentarians were of the view that investing in education for girls yields strong returns across other sectors including reproductive health and economic growth.
The three-day dialogue was the third meeting organized under the Parliamentary Partnership Programme between Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) of the Parliament of Pakistan and the CPA UK.
The first meeting in this regard took place in London in May 2012 and addressed the political empowerment of women while the second meeting was held in Islamabad that reviewed the economic empowerment of women.
This was third meeting held here at Islamabad from February 20-22, focussed on the Maternal Health and Education of women in the three countries i.e. Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UK.
The dialogue participants urged to develop strategies to address the challenges in implementing education legislation to ensure that both boys and girls have equal access to primary, secondary and higher education. They asked for encouraging standardization of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms at a national and provincial level and explore ways through which women parliamentarians can be champions of education in their legislatures and in their respective constituencies and can work together to form multi-party consensus on education.
They were also of the view to scrutinize the allocation of education resources in national, regional and local budgets and advocate for increase in budgetary allocations.

Projects and plans and resource allocations should primarily focus on the most poverty stricken areas, they said adding, promote discussions on family planning through parliamentary debates and questions to obtain authentic data and statistical information, hold governments to account and to draw media attention to the importance of family planning services.
They also sought focus on the development of strategies to address issues around improving reproductive, maternal and child health through effective legislation and the raising of public awareness. Work towards ensuring sufficient health provision for pregnant women and new mothers, and adequate nutrition for children in their early years was another resolve of the participants.
They also opined to work on projects and plans and resource allocations should primarily focus on the most poverty stricken areas. The dialogue members also asked to initiate plans and implement activities aimed at building and strengthening alliances, and cooperation between women parliamentarians at a national, regional and international level.
Work closely with the national and provincial women commissions to reinforce the efforts towards women empowerment, they said adding, explore ways through which the Women’s Parliamentary Caucuses of Pakistan and Afghanistan can share their successes and encourage the establishment of similar caucuses in the Pakistan Provinces and the wider South Asia Region.
They also sought further cooperation between Women’s Parliamentary Caucuses through planning and delivering a multilateral programme in London for women parliamentarians from the UK and South Asian legislatures.
They also asked to enhance role of women towards greater participation in conflict resolution, peace-building and reconstruction processes nationally, regionally, and globally.
The Afghan delegation comprised of two women parliamentarians headed by Dr. Golalai Nur Safi and the CPA UK delegation of five members, comprising three Members of Parliament and two Members of the House of Lords, led by the Lord Speaker, Rt Hon. Baroness D’Souza CMG and the WPC delegation comprising of thirteen members was led by MNA Dr. Fehmida Mirza former Speaker National Assembly and Patron of WPC.

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