Stories

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Kamla Bheel is the first woman in Tharparkar to become District Vice Chairperson in the local government. In a society where women were often pushed to the sidelines, she fought against prevailing beliefs and resistance, both within her family, and in the broader community
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Sumera Mehboob is the founder and director of the Mechanism for Rational Change (MRC), a non-governmental organization in Balochistan, south-western Pakistan. MRC works to support the empowerment of girls by educating them about their rights and how to protect themselves from violence and other abuse.
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Coined only in 2016, the word ‘femtech’ is used to define any technology-enabled product, service or solution focused on women’s health. With the failure of the mainstream, traditional health ecosystems to provide equal access to women to health services and information as men, femtech is filling in some of the gender gaps in the health sector by prioritizing underserved and under-researched issues related to women’s health such as menstruation, PCOs, menopause, postpartum depression, and fertility care.
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Ayesha Amin is a tech and gender activist and social entrepreneur from Pakistan. She is the founder of the youth- and women-led organization Baithak—Challenging Taboos, a Generation Equality Commitment Maker working to expand access to information on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Having experienced first-hand the discriminatory structure of the tech world, Ayesha highlights the urgency of involving young people—and young women in particular—in the decision-making processes that will impact their future: "There is no alternative," she believes. 
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“The destruction of infrastructure and the lack of global resources have made it extremely difficult [...] to reach far-flung areas, and the floods have jeopardized medical care systems and community support, which [leaves] women and girls at increased risk of violence,” explains Fouzia.
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The 2021 takeover of Afghanistan by the Afghan Taliban displaced many Afghans to Pakistan, the majority of whom are women and children. Through the “Socio Economic Recovery of Displaced Afghan and Host Communities in Pakistan” project, UN Women, in partnership with CSO Pakistan Village Development Program (PVDP) responds to the emerging needs of the displaced community in Swabi and Peshawar, increases access to protection and livelihood opportunities and develop community platforms, and builds social cohesion for Afghan and host community women. Marjan is one of 300 beneficiaries.
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[Press release] Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital operator and a part of the VEON Group, has signed an agreement with UN Women to introduce digital and financial literacy programs for women-led microbusinesses in underprivileged areas. Under this program, by 2025, 10,000 women micro-entrepreneurs will also be provided free sims, internet data, calls and SMS bundles, and JazzCash Wallets.
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Before the devastating flood, Kavita earned a living by making products from dry date palms, sewing, and embroidery. “The water washed away everything I had made with my own hands. All raw materials and unfinished products were swept away.
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When the recent floods hit Fatimah Gul’s house, everything happened so quickly that she was unable to bring any belongings or food supplies. The elderly widow lost most of her belongings when her village was one of the very first to be hit by floods in Swabi District of the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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[Press release] UN Women and foodpanda Pakistan have reached a mutual understanding for the cooperation and promotion of gender equality in the workplace through initiatives undertaken to address and implement strategies pertaining to gender-responsiveness and an environment devoid of discrimination and harassment.
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The agreement was signed today in Lahore by Sharmeela Rassool, country representative of UN Women Pakistan, and Wajeeha Khalid, business head, Nishat Mills Ltd (Apparel Division). Nishat Mills is also a signatory of the global Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a set of guidelines for businesses to safeguard and promote women’s rights and empowerment in the workplace.
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“Women and men play a multi-faceted role in peacebuilding. Violent extremism is a phenomenon that impacts everyone and men and women are equally vulnerable to being affected and recruited by extremist ideologies,” says Durr e Maknoon, Director General Outreach of National Counter Terrorism Authority, Pakistan (NACTA).
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A fatwa was issed against me; they condemned me for normalizing obscenity and indecency among women by persuading them to come out of their homes. … I said, ‘You should also give a fatwa against Hazrat Khadija (the first wife of Prophet Muhammad) because she was also a trader.’ “God has not made us as weak as we have made ourselves.”
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“Society as a whole should standup and protect women against harassment,” the president told a national seminar on protection of women against harassment, adding it is our religious duty. “Harassment cannot end only with legislation but with collective effort of society”He also said that we have a similar duty to respect women’s full property rights, which unfortunately is not protected in some parts of the country.
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UN Women hosted a convention on CSR4Women – The Untapped Potential in Islamabad on September 21, 2021. The event was supported by the Government of Norway and chaired by Sima Kamil, the Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan. The convention brought together business leaders, CEOs of private companies, heads of Chambers of Commerce, development partners and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) experts.
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At the age of two, my leg became disabled due to polio. I didn’t realize how sheltered and protected I was from society’s gossip when my parents were alive. My parents encouraged me to pursue education – not to let polio limit life’s opportunities. Unfortunately, by 2005 both my parents had passed away. Being one of the eldest siblings, I took upon myself to look after my six sisters and two brothers. To make ends meet, I took on numerous odd jobs and used to crawl my way to clean people’s homes or wash clothes. In 2007, I pursued a fashion design course to strengthen the hand embroidery lessons I had received from my Dadi (grandmother).
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[Press release] The European Union and its partners launched a programme that aims to promote the rule of law and enhance the criminal justice system in Pakistan, with a specific focus on the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. Anchored in the vision that an enhanced and reformed justice sector is the only sustainable solution for addressing critical and systematic weaknesses in justice delivery, the programme spans from 2021 till 2025, and is financed with EUR20 million.
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Maria Mahmood has spent the past 13 years improving the Pakistani police force to respond to the needs of women and girls. She is the role model for many women police officers. Photo was taken on 13 March 2021 in Islamabad, Pakistan. "When I started working as a police officer, I thought the process was simple and just. But I was shocked to see the deep-rooted bias of a patriarchal police force. The criminal justice system is discriminatory, and also stigmatizes victims of violence and does not provide efficient support for them."
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Since 2017, as part of the UN Joint Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls, UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have been assisting Mahmood and the Pakistani police force to better address the needs of women and girls who experience violence. The programme, which ended in 2019, was implemented by the Government of Pakistan in partnership with UN Women, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UNODC and the World Health organisation (WHO), and was funded by the Governments of Australia and Spain.
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In the past 18 months, by trapping women with their abusers, COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns have worsened the already-widespread violence against women while preventing many of them from getting help. But even those who do manage to contact the police come up against another long-standing challenge: a culture and system that treats the survivor as a big part of the problem.