Islamabad (National Times)- Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar announced the launch of the National Gender Policy framework by his ministry on International Women’s Day today.

Taking to Twitter, the minister said that the new policy “provides a structured framework with clear-cut objectives and responsibilities assigned for improving the lives of the women of Pakistan.”

Speaking at an event in Islamabad, the minister underlined the achievements of women noting that the gender is “vital for the development of any society”.

Talking about challenges encountered by women in the country, he stated they cannot be compared to that of men as women suffer more problems than male members of the society, hence it is unreasonable to equalise the problems of both genders.

He stated that women’s education is still a huge concern in a country which previous governments have not been able to overcome.

Umar noted that there is still a large gender disparity.

“There is still very low enrollement of girls in schools compared to boys,” said Umar. This gap expands when children are promoted from primary to secondary grades as the dropout rate increases due to various issues, he said.

The minister added that PTI will include this particular problem in the education policy as well.