Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday confirmed his commitment to gender equality that women’s empowerment could only be achieved by giving them equal access to education, skills development and employment opportunities.

“It is our mission and an unshakable obligation to secure the release of the country’s female population,” he said in his address here at an arrangement of International Women’s Day, marked globally on the 8th.^Th March to celebrate women’s results and to call their rights.

Prominent women from various fields, including cabinet members, legislators, entrepreneurs and activists joined the event at the Prime Minister’s House, organized by the Ministry of Human Rights and the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The prime minister launched on the occasion the capital’s first ever gender parity report prepared by NCSW and UNFPA, which identify challenges and recommends solutions in key areas such as education, health, governance, political representation and justice.

PM Sharif said his government would cooperate with provinces on a collective act to promote women’s integration into programs contributing to the national economy.

He announced to establish a working woman’s gift fund in an attempt to support working women and help them compete with the modern challenges.

He called the Prime Minister’s female empowerment package a “revolutionary step in removing the discrimination of women” in employment areas and to make special provisions to give them facilities on par with men.

“Our 50 percent female population can be transformed into a productive workforce if they get a level-playing field,” he said.

To facilitate working women, he emphasized that daycare centers were created across public and private departments in Islamabad, with a plan to further expand the scope of facilities.

The Prime Minister regretted that a large number of highly qualified women in the country end professional careers in their struggle to balance work and families, resulting in a major loss of skilled human resource.

“My message to the trained [women] Segment is to come forward and join hospitals, banks and other professions of their expertise to contribute positively to national economy, ”he said.

PM Sharif paid tribute to the country’s female masters who played a prominent role in the design of the landscape with female empowerment.

In this regard, he particularly appointed the leading women in the Pakistan movement Fatima Jinnah and Begum Raa’na Liaquat Ali Khan, Benazir Bhutto as the first female prime minister in Pakistan and the Muslim world, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Kulsum Nawaz as icons of resistance to dictatorship, social workers are carried turning and dr. Jahangir, the country’s youngest IT expert Arfa Karim, the former National Assembly speaker Dr. Fehmida Mirza, first Women’s Management Minister for Punjab Maryam Nawaz, first female Chief Justice of Lahore High Court Justice Aalia Neelum and the first female judge in the Supreme Court Minister of Justice Ayesha Malik.

“These” “The Nation” is a remarkable symbol of women’s empowerment that marked themselves in their respective fields, “he said.

Shehbaz Sharif remembered the steps taken to women’s liberation during the previous periods of employment from his party, including the establishment of Punjab’s first anti-violence centers for women, improved women’s quota in boards of government departments, increased scholarship for girls students and end of child labor in Brick-Kilns by enrolling 90,000 such children.

Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar said in accordance with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Directive, the ministries and the department had been tasked last year to secure women-inclusive policies. The initiative, he said, successfully led to a higher proportion of women’s representation in the departmental boards.

He pointed out that Pakistan was ranked as 145. Out of 146 countries on the Global Gender Gap index next to Afghanistan, which “did not reflect a true image and was contrary to the reality of the earth”. He urged the relevant organizations to revise the ranking and expressed the government’s readiness to share the required data.

The UN Resident Coordinator Mohamed Yahya said the UN was obliged to support Pakistan for achieving the sustainable development goals 2030 related to genital action plan.

He said that gender equality should not be recognized as a female -specific case, but a human question. The launch of Islamabad’s gender parity report is significant to identify the challenges that need further attention, he added.

Chairman of the Special Committee for Mainstreaming by Dr. Nafisa Shah said women’s representation across different state bodies and departments remained under the targeted benchmark of 33 percent. She called their representation was important for effective governance and smooth decision making.

Chairman NCSW Umme-E-Laila talked about Pakistan’s gender parity situation and said women broke barriers in several sectors. As a step with empowerment, she highlighted the launch of pink buses for women commuters exclusively and ‘Women on Wheels’ project that gave women to women for their easy and independent mobility.

Chairman Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) AKIF SAEED said under PM’s Women Empowerment package, SECP was tasked with nominating private companies that had implemented family-friendly policies in their workplace. He said companies would act as role models in promoting a safe working environment.

The Prime Minister gave away family -friendly awards to 10 best private companies, including Alpha Beta Core Solutions, Arfa Karim Technology Incubator, Aviation MRO, Blink Capital, Funverks Global, Gift Education, Kistpay, Laiba Enterprises, Ladies Fund Energy and Li & Fung Pakistan.

The awards were based on an online survey and a scoring matrix prepared by SECP in collaboration with UN women and Pakistan Business Council. Over 230 companies participated in the study, launched in 2024, 10 of which were short listed through a transparent process.