ISLAMABAD: Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri Wednesday said empowerment of women — who make up half Pakistan’s population and yet represent a staggering 70 percent of the poor — was among the top priorities of the government in Islamabad.
Addressing the government-hosted fifth annual Reykjavík Global Forum in Iceland, the minister told the participants she hailed from a flood-hit district in Sindh, and highlighted that she and five other women members of the federal cabinet reflected the state of gender equality in Pakistan.
Marri and Shaista Pervaiz Malik, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP, are representing Pakistan at the summit.
The minister informed the forum she came from a country facing unprecedented floods due to historic rains which it never experienced before. She highlighted that 33 million people were displaced due to floods.
Marri underscored that there were around 650,000 pregnant women among these people who needed maternal services while four million children were also suffering from the calamity.
“I am also the Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety and I take pride in leading Pakistan’s most successful social protection programme called Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP),” she said.
The minister noted that BISP covered about eight million families which were the poorest of the poor, and the government of Pakistan was providing targeted cash relief to the needy.
Marri also quoted two other programmes, saying: “We are trying to incentivise nutrition and education through BISP.”
