Remarks by DG ISSI Ambassador Sohail Mahmood at Round Table Discussion Marking the ‘International Women’s Day 2025’,
ISSI, 11 March 2025
It is with immense pleasure that I welcome you all to the ISSI for this Roundtable Discussion, being held in connection with the International Women’s Day 2025. The theme for this year is, “For All Women and Girls: Rights, Equality, Empowerment.” The Day has been commemorated worldwide, with the call to “Accelerate Action.”
We warmly welcome our panel of esteemed speakers from different walks of life who would share their perspectives on this subject from their respective vantage points. We can look forward to a rich and insightful discourse. We are also deeply grateful for the video message from the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, Ambassador Amna Baloch.
Notably, this year marks 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the 4th World Conference on Women in 1995. This landmark conference set strategic objectives and actions for the advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 areas of concern. A clear road-map was delineated to advance this goal.
Thirty years down the line, while there is a lot to celebrate in terms of progress and achievements since Beijing, the challenges are also formidable. As UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres noted in his 8th March message, since 1995, women and girls have shattered barriers, defied stereotypes, and demanded their rightful place. He, however, lamented that women’s human rights are under attack around the globe. Violence, discrimination, and economic inequality remain pervasive, while newer threats such as biased algorithms are programming inequalities into online spaces, leading to new forms of harassment and abuse.
The Secretary General ruefully noted that “instead of mainstreaming of equal rights, we are seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny.” Offering his prescription, the Secretary General underscored the need for accelerated action and called for standing firm in making rights, equality, and empowerment a reality for women and girls, for everyone, everywhere.
Distinguished participants,
Consistent with Islamic teachings, and in line with his own progressive outlook, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had famously stated: “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you.” Small wonder thus that the Quaid’s sister – Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah – was in the vanguard of the Pakistan movement. A number of other illustrious women including Raa’na Liaquat Ali Khan and Begum Shaista Ikramullah made their mark both inside Pakistan and internationally.
Pakistan also has had the honour of electing the first woman Prime Minister in the Islamic world. We also had the first woman speaker of Parliament in the Muslim world and have had outstanding women serve the country as Foreign Minister, Foreign Secretaries, Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives, and senior civil servants. Women continue to break barriers in politics, government, armed forces, judiciary, and international organisations. Besides education and health, women have excelled in the arts, literature, music, sports, science and technology. From international peacekeeping missions to humanitarian relief operations, women are making an invaluable contribution.
In a country where nearly half the population comprises women, the Government has been cognisant of their indispensable role and making efforts to enhance their representation across various domains. Over the years, Pakistan has ratified key international conventions and enacted progressive legislation – including the 2022 National Gender Parity Policy Framework. Earlier, other laws were passed such as the National Commission on the Status of Women Act, the Workplace Harassment Protection Act, the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, and the National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Act 2021 – all aimed at eliminating gender discrimination and safeguarding women’s rights.
Welcome as these steps are, we all recognise that both Pakistan and the world have still a long way to go. For instance, the Global Gender Gap Index 2023, released by the World Economic Forum, ranked Pakistan 142nd out of 146 countries in terms of gender parity, with some heart-breaking literacy and high-school drop-out rates. Similarly, the Labour Force Survey 2020-21 showed female participation at an abysmally low level of 15.5 percent.
The global figures are equally staggering. According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it would take another 133 years – i.e. until 2158 – to achieve full gender parity. That is five generations from now. Furthermore, women are paid 20% less than men; and only 1 in 4 are in leadership positions. More distressingly, in terms of violence, an estimated 786 million women worldwide have experienced rape or sexual assault each year. We know how rape has been used as an instrument of repression against Kashmiri women living under Indian occupation. Similarly, Palestinian women along with Palestinian children have borne the brunt of Israeli atrocities and genocidal war in Gaza since October 2023. While commemorating the International Women’s Day, we should keep these brave women in our thoughts and prayers.
Furthermore, according to UNESCO, 122 million girls are out of school worldwide. This means that it is not just the Taliban in Afghanistan, but many elsewhere are also preventing girls from acquiring education for one reason or another.
Against this backdrop, the urgency to move towards gender parity and the call to ‘accelerate action’ is absolutely essential and timely. There is no substitute for firm, resolute and sustained action to fight against inherent biases, systemic obstacles, and outright violence against women.
I should like to also recall that Pakistan’s National Security Policy (NSP), unveiled in December 2021, recognised ‘gender security’ as an essential component of the new paradigm of “comprehensive human security” that it introduced. Specifically, the policy guidelines contained in NSP stipulated promoting the women, peace and security agenda and ensuring integration of gender equity into national security narratives through full and meaningful participation of women in decision-making, law enforcement, justice sector, and peace-building.
So this International Women’s Day, as we laud the positive steps, we should remain fully attentive to the serious gaps and deficits that still persist. In the endeavour to bridge these gaps, the government, Parliament, judiciary, civil society, the media, and academia and think-tanks should all work in a synergistic manner. For its part, the ISSI would continue its long-standing efforts to serve as a platform advocating gender equality and influencing the policy process to ensure that women’s voices are heard and their rights are protected. As Secretary General Guterres stated: “When the doors of equal opportunity are open for women and girls, everyone wins.”
With these word, I thank all our esteemed speakers and distinguished participants and wish fruitful deliberations during the Roundtable.
