By Zubeida Mustafa
HOW much can a country change in thirty months? Not much, especially if it happens to be an industrialised one where the society has already attained a high degree of development. Hence I did not expect to find too many changes when I visited the Federal Republic in March this year compared with October 1981 when I was there last. Continue reading People’s interest in the past: a significant phenomenon
By Zubeida Mustafa,
Women figure prominently in the recommendations adopted by the International Conference on Population held at Mexico City, in August 1984. This amounts to a clear-cut recognition of the relationship between the status of women in a country and its population growth rate.
It is now widely known that the higher the female literacy rate, the lower the infant and maternal mortality rate and the better the employment opportunities for women, the greater is the likelihood of such a country having a low population growth rate.
This aspect of the matter was recognised by the Population Plan of Action adopted at Bucharest ten years ago. It has been reconfirmed by the Mexico Conference which has now laid down more precise guidelines.
Obviously, this has been felt to be necessary because in many countries neither has the population growth rate gone down in the last decade nor has the situation for women shown any marked improvement. Continue reading INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AT MEXICO: A higher status for women means a lower birth rate By Zubeida Mustafa,
By Zubeida Mustafa
According to the latest official figures available, women constitute only two per cent of the organised labour force in Pakistan. But it is now generally conceded that this figure is highly misleading.
Even if household work is not taken into account, women’s contribution in the Gross National Product. It, however, remains unaccounted for because much of it is through unpaid labour. For instance, women’s role in agriculture has been a significant one. Yet they do not figure in the agricultural labour force. Continue reading 2% of labour force: Is the figure for women correct?
By Zubeida Mustafa
Pakistan’s saving rate betrays its people’s weakness for spending. The nation manages to save only five per cent of its gross domestic product — a figure much lower than in most other Third World countries. The saving rate in India is 20 per cent. It’s 30 per cent in Indonesia and 28 per cent in China and Nigeria.
But in spite of their notoriety for ostentatious living and wasteful habits, it is wrong to think that people in this country do not set aside any of their earnings for the proverbial rainy day. And those who do not manage to save despite their best efforts worry about their inability to save. Continue reading Saving habits: cultural factors are decisive
By Zubeida M ustaf a
THE Sixth Five-Year Plan describes education as “a vital investment in human resources development.” It concedes that the performance of the education sector in Pakistan has remained “utterly deficient.”
In a bid to correct this deficiency, the government has adopted a strategy which seeks to increase the funds allocated to education, to change the distribution of available resources among various subsectors — so that there is greater expansion of primary and technical education while spending on higher education is kept down — and to place greater emphasis on female education.
Now that the first year of the Sixth Plan is over, it should be an instructive exercise to evaluate the government’s education policy especially with a view to ascertaining as to what extent its professed guidelines have been adhered to. Continue reading Education sector: shortfall on development side alarming