WHILE the Punjab government is yet to answer for its policy on the religious extremists, its shadow-boxing with the National Accountability Bureau and the orange train mega scandal, it will be unfair not to recognise some of its recent initiatives.
Most commendable is the first Punjab Gender Parity Report jointly prepared by its Urban Unit, the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women and a British NGO. The full report is yet to be released but some of its features disclosed on Monday testify to the quality and relevance of the project.
The report draws upon the data collected by the Gender Management Information System on women-related matters. The six themes under focus are demographics/governance, health, education, economic participation, legal rights and violence against women. Although much has become known over the past few decades about the denial of women’s rights and discrimination against them, the facts now revealed will cause widespread dismay and concern.
