women’s empowerment is necessary for socio-economic development

Lahore:  Federal Secretary Ministry of Commerce Qasim M Niaz has said that women’s empowerment is necessary for socio-economic development of a country therefore government is keeping the issue high on its agenda.

We believe that supporting women amount to supporting future generations, he said while speaking to a delegation of women entrepreneurs led by Samina Fazil and President Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) Farida Rashid.

Qasim M Niaz said that government will continue to support all moves aimed at enhancing capacity of women who deserve opportunities to transform their potential into profit.

He stressed that women must understand that value added product has more market value than raw commodity which will enhance their contribution towards society.

At the occasion, Samina Fazil and Farida Rashid said that empowering women by increasing their status and autonomy is integral to many international development programs.

One of the eight Millennium development goals calls for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment which is crucial to reduce child mortality, improved maternal health, universal primary education, and reducing by half the proportion of poor people by the year 2015, they said.

Leaders of businesswomen said that most of the prevailing problems like poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, low living standard, low economic productivity and less per capita income are directly or indirectly associated with women that can be tackled effectively by social and economic empowerment of women.