Evaluation of Government Programs & Policies to Eradicate Gender Disparities in Pakistan

Abstract

Like many other developing nations, Pakistan is also facing a gender gap in its socio-cultural spheres. Since independence, many programs and policies have been made in public and private sector domains to eradicate these gender disparities. This paper aims to evaluate these programs and policies by encountering their salient features and how far these programs and policies proved to be fruitful in bridging this gap. The evaluation is done majorly through a desk review of the secondary data drawn from reports published by different government and local organizations. Mainly, the qualitative methods of content and thematic analyses were employed for exploring the gender-based disparities, and how these are affecting the pace of development in Pakistan. Moreover, an assessment of strategies and policies addressing the problem of the gender gap has also been done. Based on the study findings, this paper presents some policy recommendations to reduce gender base disparities which is one of the many prerequisites for the promotion of sustainable development agenda as gender equality is the 5th goal of the United Nations sustainable development agenda.