Training

Mainstreaming gender in statistical processes and orientation to ILO conventions C-100 & C-111

The Punjab Bureau of Statistics with the technical support of the ILO Pakistan organized a one day training on ‘Gender Mainstreaming in Statistical Processes” bringing together more than 40 participants from the Government, Employers and Workers Organizations, academia and civil society.

Press release | Lahore, Pakistan | 27 December 2017
LAHORE (ILO News):The ILO Country Office for Pakistan, under its flagship Project on sustaining Pakistan’s GSP-Plus status by strengthened national capacities to improve ILS compliance and reporting with the funding of Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO)-European Union organized a one day orientation for officials of the Bureau of Statistics Punjab, on the use of Gender in Statistical Processes.

Mr Salman Asif, a renowned trainer and a gender specialist, facilitated the training for 40 participants, comprising the officials of the bureau of statistics, representatives of the Employers and Workers organizations, UN agencies, civil society and provincial departments of Labour actively. The training provided orientation to various international treaties and instruments related to women’s economic and social empowerment and also focused on national laws and policies for promoting gender balanced and safe and secure work places. More specifically, Mr Saghir Bukhari, Senior Programme Officer of the ILO Pakistan Office, gave a session on conventions C-111 concerning Discrimination in respect of Employment & Occupation-1958 and Convention C-100 concerning Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951. These conventions form part of the GSP Plus framework which came into force in Pakistan in 2014.

The training focused on the need for reliable, scientific and inclusive data, reflective of the numbers related to women participation in the labour force. The training also sparked debate and varied view points on how gender could be effectively incorporated in the statistical processes as well as the benefits of generating sex disaggregated data.

Participants identified their lack of knowledge on International Labour Standards concerning women’s rights and highlighted their concern on the low participation of women in the labour force, currently at 24.01%, citing the lack of enabling environment i.e. security, transportation, day care facilities; limited work opportunities in the formal sector and discrimination at workplace and above all restrictions resulting from cultural and social norms.