Federal Minister Shazia Marri addressing media persons during “Unlocking the power of women entreprenuers” program at IBA City Campus on 15 Mar 2023.
Federal Minister Poverty Alleviation Shazia Marri said “It’s about women recognition since more than 50% of population of this country consists of women yet they need to show cards and slogans and come to streets for Aurat March to speak for our rights”. She further added that in my own constituency I am the first person who managed to succeed against other parties so I can say women have more potential than men and that’s why this forum is really important for women as it provides a platform to them.
The Federal Minister emphasized upon a recent study jointly conducted by IMF and ILO which showed that if gender gap can be reduced in Pakistan, it will result in huge positive impact on GDP of Pakistan. Since Pakistan is going through economic problems at the moment, she said that its time about changing the perspective and focusing on empowering women.
The Federal Minister mentioned that our religion has enjoined many rights for women which can help us in clarifying many myths regarding different social issues. It’s the duty of educated men to stand up for women and talk about issues faced by them. This attitude should prevail so that any discrimination which exist against women would be reduced. Further, she said that these women entrepreneurs will open new pathways for other women in the workforce and she ended her speech by using the proverb “alone we go faster, together we go far”.
