Experts on Wednesday called for stepping up efforts to empower women with equal rights including education and to fight the menace of gender violence incidences .

They addressed the concluding session of Gender Sensitization and Women Empowerment in Agriculture Sector run by University of Agriculture Faisalabad in collaboration with Gender Equity Program of Aurat Foundation Chairing the session, US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security Chief of Party Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed upon the need to create educational opportunities for rural girls in order to create awareness about their rights in the society.
He said the country could not achieve the uplift in the society without involving women in socioeconomic activities and bringing them into mainstream. He said that empowerment of women was vital to get sustainable development and to fight the challenges confronted the society.
He said girls should be encouraged to study a the higher level and to play their active role in the development of the county.
He said that the steps are afoot to alleviate the gender based violence with the help of awareness. He said that the UAF was promoting the women cycling at the campus to facilitate them and to minimize their dependency.
Deputy Manager of Gender Equity Program Hasna Cheema said that the tangible steps are being taken to educate the people about the women rights and women empowerment. She stressed upon the need to enhanced role of government, people and other stakeholder to address the women issue.
She said that the education was the key of progress and the women must be blessed with knowledge. She said that the awareness among the segment of the society was vital to fight the women harassment issue and to ensure the women empowerment. Dean Faculty of Social Sciences Dean Prof Dr Iqbal Zafar said rural women are playing a pivotal role in the development of agricultural but their role remained unrecognized.
Institute of Rural Home Economics Chairperson Dr Farah Riaz said women were standing shoulder to shoulder with men in socio-economic activities in the developed countries. She said the women need to explore their inbuilt leadership qualities. She said that parent/ brother/ husband should provide an opportunity for the women for higher studies in the country or abroad.
Dr Baber Shahbaz called for motivating the female graduates to capitalize the overseas higher education opportunities, narrowing down the gender gap in education and other fields and make the people aware about women rights in order to overcome gender based violence incidences.
He said that people must be aware to fight the discrimination and violence. He said that the health and nutrition issues are aggravating for which we have to create the awareness.
Dr Izhar Ahmad Khan said different initiatives for women empowerment were being taken on the part of government, media and civil society. He added adding that the women were facing discrimination which demands stepped-up efforts. He said we need to strengthen the rural community councils to address the gender issues.
Dr Naveed Farah said that we have to give the confidence and self-reliance to the women to compete with the rest of the world.
Dr Binish Asad said in our rural landscape, a large number of women are working. She said that law protects them against all the violence. There is a need to create the awareness.