Pakistan ranks third-to-last (151st), only ahead of Iraq and Yemen, on the 2020 Global Gender Gap Index. Pakistan ranks in the bottom 10 in three of the four main categories of the index. The gap remains cavernous in terms of economic participation and opportunities (32.7, 150th). It is estimated that only 18% of Pakistan’s labour income goes to women (148th), one of the lowest share among countries studied. While a majority of countries have bridged or nearly bridged the educational gender gap, Pakistan’s still stands at almost 20%. Less than half of women are literate, compared with 71% of men. The political gender gap remains wide (15.9, 93rd).
The World Economic Forum [Global Gender Gap Report 2020]
The Impact
The women in Pakistan are a marginalized community, and the already prevelant gender gap makes the situation even more challenging for girls and women coming from underpriveledged parts of the couuntry. Gender differences lead to lack of access to health and education for girls and women, keeping them in an enending cycle of poverty and dependency.
Commitment of Rahbar Trust to Address the Problem
Vocational training offers girls and women within destitute regions of Pakistan to gain valuable skills. Most of them never had a chance to get proper education, due to which they cannot get respectable jobs to support themselves or earn a decent living for their families. Vocational training gives them the opportunity to learn useful skills, and armored with these skills, these individuals are able to combat the darkness of illiteracy and poverty, overcome their financial challenges and become self-sufficient.