Even in 2024, women stand a long way from accessing equal opportunities with men. The persistent gender disparities across various spheres of life—education, employment, healthcare, and beyond—are stark reminders of the structural barriers confronting women in Pakistan. Despite efforts, the nation consistently lags on gender parity indices, raising concerns about the adequacy and sufficiency of initiatives targeted at closing the gender gap. Placed 142nd out of 146 countries on the WEF’s 2023 Global Gender Gap Index, it is evident that significant strides are needed to address gender inequities in Pakistan.

An examination of past budgetary allocations and policy documents unveils a persistent neglect of gender considerations, manifesting in inadequate resource allocation for women across crucial sectors. These systemic imbalances perpetuate gender inequalities, thwarting the full realisation of Pakistan’s human potential. Recent stabilisation policies have further tilted the scales against women due to discriminate access to formal capital markets, decent jobs, financial and digital tools, etc.

As the new fiscal year approaches, it is imperative to remind the government of the gender issues that have only received perfunctory attention over the years. Policymakers must acknowledge that no economic recovery can be sustainable if half the country’s population is inhibited in its capacity to contribute productively, underscoring the need for gender-centric policies.

While economic revival must remain a top priority, any effort towards this goal without adequate female representation is like building a house of cards. Sustainable economic recovery is contingent upon the mainstreaming of gender-centric policies across all sectors. This necessitates integrating the gendered impacts of policies into the planning process, rather than treating them as an afterthought.

In this context, the federal and provincial budgets can be leveraged by respective governments to address disparities through gender-responsive budgeting. Gender Responsive Budget entails evaluating the gendered impacts of budgetary allocations, integrating gender equality in planning processes, and establishing monitoring mechanisms for greater accountability. The overarching goal is to ensure equitable distribution of resources for inclusive development.

It is disconcerting that despite the widespread adoption of Gender Responsive Budget in many countries, including South Asian counterparts India and Bangladesh, Pakistan has yet to present a gender-responsive budget. As a first step, all PC-1 forms must incorporate a dedicated section obligating departments to thoroughly assess the gendered impacts of the proposed projects. Projects that help level the playing field should be prioritised over those that magnify distortions. Additionally, macroeconomic policies must only be implemented after carefully assessing their differential impacts on women.

To further promote gender equity, several key demands must be addressed, including ensuring equal employment opportunities, pay equity, supporting women-owned businesses with financial incentives, and increasing funding for girls’ education, especially in underserved areas. Expanding maternal, reproductive, and mental health services, establishing affordable childcare facilities, and streng­thening laws and support services against gender-based violence are also essential, particularly in the face of climatic cha­l­lenges. Ad­­diti­o­­nally, enhancing social protection program­mes for more coverage, along with increasing digital and financial access is essential to promote equity.

Greater representation of women in decision-making roles is of utmost import­ance. Currently, political representation seems confined to a few privileged women, often detached from the everyday challenges faced by the majority.

This lack of representative female voices in the political arena results in the formation of ineffective policies that overlook critical gender issues. Developing mechanisms to facilitate participatory budgeting can help address this concern.

The government must also prioritise data consolidation to support evidence-based policymaking. At present, the inadequate targeting of social programmes stemming from deficiencies in data undermines the effectiveness of initiatives. With limited fiscal space, the government must calibrate each and every budgetary allocation judiciously for maximised impact, for which data is key.

In a nutshell, mainstreaming gender considerations across all sectors during the planning phase can enable policy-makers to significantly enhance the prospects for fairer, more inclusive economic resurgence.

-Dawn (Pakistan)/ANN