History is witness to the fact that educated women can change a country’s fate, Virtual University Rector Dr Naveed Malik said at a seminar on Thursday.
The session Equality of Women is Progress for All was held as part of International Women’s Day observances.
Malik said no nation could prosper without its women. He stressed the need to work towards women empowerment especially in the current era. He said education was essential for development, and that women should have equal educational opportunities. The aim of such seminars was to generate greater awareness about women’s role and the ways in which they are already contributing to the society, he said.
Justice (retired) Nasira Javed Iqbal urged young women to meet challenges of the modern world. It is time for women to speak up for their rights, she stressed. As an advocate of human rights, she said women had to be strong and determined in their struggle for empowerment. Iqbal said violence against women should come to an end. Aurat Foundation programme manager Mumtaz Mughal spoke on the role women could play in changing social taboos around working women. Mughal said it was necessary for women to raise their voices. Social and cultural norms limiting women’s roles would end if women persistently fought against them, she argued. Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Dr Shehla Javed Akram also stressed the importance of women’s empowerment.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2014.