“No one can ignore the contribution of women in any situation and any environment and that is why Pakistani women need to be given the opportunities to explore their full potential”.
Ms. Naima Hassan, Stress Counsellor for the UN staff in Pakistan said this while speaking at the ceremony held to mark the International Women’s Day at the FAO Representation in Islamabad.
The FAO theme for this year’s Women’s Day was "Step it up together with rural women to end hunger and poverty”.
To highlight the importance of women in the agriculture sector, a video from the FAO Policy Series: Gender, was screened for the attendees of the ceremony.
This video stressed on the need for agriculture policies to close gender gaps to combat rural poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Ms. Hadia Nusrat , Gender Advisor UN Women said that it was necessary to tackle the issue of Gender Based Violence if we wanted to deal effectively and efficiently with the problems of hunger, poverty and food insecurity.
Ms. Nomina Anis, Nutritionist and Gender Focal Person at FAO Pakistan giving an overview of the importance of women in the agriculture sector said that 45% of the labor force in the agriculture sector is women and they are left behind because they don’t have access to the same resources as do men.
Mr. Ajmal Jahangeer, Statistician during his presentation highlighted that malnourishment rates in Pakistan were higher among girls as well as among women-headed households.
Ms. Shamim Patras and Ms. Nargis Javed, female support staff at FAO Representation cut a cake to mark the occasion.
Mr.Patrick T. Evans, FAO Representative, Mr.Francisco Gamarro, Deputy FAO Representative , Mr. Nasar Hayat , Assistant FAO Representative (Program) and Mr. Zabeeh Ahmad, Assistant FAO Representative (Administration) attended the ceremony along with FAO staff in Islamabad.