Pakistan's slow progress towards gender parity
Authors: Ariba Moin, Huda Fatima, Tooba Fatima Qadir
Journal: The Lancet Global Health (2018)

The Women Leaders in Global Health conference on Oct 12, 2017, at Stanford University, CA, USA, made an admirable attempt to bridge the globally prevalent gender gap and to advance women as a strong influence in global health leadership by proposing a 50-50 gender-based representation in global leadership positions by 2030.1Talib Z Barry M Women leaders in global health.Lancet Glob Health. 2017; 5: e565-e566Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (28) Google Scholar General concerns raised about gender parity by various panels in the conference compelled us to highlight the situation in Pakistan. The 2016 Global Gender Gap Report2Imran M The News International. Nov 20, 2015https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/74210-global-gender-gap-report-ranks-pakistan-at-144-out-of-145-countriesGoogle Scholar ranked Pakistan the second worst in the world with regards to gender inequality, despite the country showing considerable improvement in women's literacy and a boost in educational attainment since 2006. Women in Pakistan face a disproportionate burden of disease, with a high maternal mortality ratio—a key indicator of maternal health worldwide—due to low social status and inequities in access to basic health care, nutrition, and education.3Khan YP Bhutta SZ Munim S Bhutta ZA Maternal health and survival in Pakistan: issues and options.J Obstet Gynaecol Can. 2009; 31: 920-929Summary Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (42) Google Scholar Highly preventable female mortality rates make women's health a central focus of global health policies.4Downs JA Reif ML Hokororo A Fitzgerald DW Increasing women in leadership in global health.Acad Med. 2014; 89: 1103Crossref PubMed Scopus (72) Google Scholar In view of the importance of female leadership in improving women's health, it is surprising how sparse female leadership in Pakistan actually is. Women comprise half the population and more than 70% in academic medicine, yet make up a mere 3% of the legislators and senior officials in the country.5Sarwar F Abbasi AS An in-depth analysis of women's labor force participation in Pakistan.Middle East J Sci Res. 2013; 15: 208-215Google Scholar Pakistan is a patriarchal society in which women are forced to abide by often unnecessary social, cultural, and religious norms set by their male counterparts, thus severely inhibiting their ability to develop leadership skills and participate in the policy-making process.5Sarwar F Abbasi AS An in-depth analysis of women's labor force participation in Pakistan.Middle East J Sci Res. 2013; 15: 208-215Google Scholar Women, including former candidate for WHO Director-General Sania Nishtar, have served as health ministers since 2013, under whom Pakistan became one of the top five most improved countries in the world in terms of the health and survival sub-index of the Global Gender Gap Report.2Imran M The News International. Nov 20, 2015https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/74210-global-gender-gap-report-ranks-pakistan-at-144-out-of-145-countriesGoogle Scholar However, this is not enough. The advancement of Pakistani women in careers contributing to an improvement in global health should be through strategic investments such as awareness programmes for both men and women through media involvement, strengthening health education, adequate mentorship, and incentives for the female workforce. Gender equality is a global issue and if not achieved, we will continue to struggle with the burden of death, disease, and disability worldwide. We declare no competing interests.