KARACHI: Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh said on Monday that education and self sustainability are needed for gender equity in the country because 50 per cent of our population is out from the job market and sits at home due to lack of education.
He said this while addressing the closing ceremony of Gender Equity Program (GEP), a project of SMIU, which was completed on Monday with the support of Aurat Foundation and USAID.
Shaikh said that they were living in a class based society, where both the male and the female sections of the society were facing many problems. He further said that Fatima Jinnah, Benazir Bhutto, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan and others were among those female leaders, who commanded respect through their education, honesty and abilities.
He said, “Even today, a large number of women are part of the development of the country; therefore, we have to change our mindset about the gender issues. A social evil of Karo Kari is not a women specific custom, but men are being murdered under this custom too, and this happens due to lack of education.”
The vice chancellor further said that more education in the country would create more awareness and pave the way for gender equity. He said that it was not necessary that a woman must do a job, but at least she must be educated to the level that she could support her family in the needy hours.
Earlier, gender issues specialist Shaista M Ali said that the main objective of the GEP was to create awareness among the boys and girls of SMIU through organising seminars, workshops, sports and other programs. She said that it was a healthy sign of the program at SMIU, where both the, boys and girls were involved in the activities of GAP and successfully spread the message of gender equity among the students.
On that occasion SMIU students also expressed their views about the program and said that they have learnt a lot from it and now they feel change in their thinking and attitude in respect of the gender equity.
