US announces $200m for gender equality, democracy in Pakistan

WASHINGTON: The US Senate has passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package for fiscal 2023 and it includes $200 million for strengthening democracy and promoting gender equality programs in Pakistan.

The package, passed on Thursday evening, includes $858 billion for defence, $787bn for non-defence domestic programmes and over $15bn for other programmes.

The Gender Equity Fund allotted for Pakistan is part of a mammoth 4155-page $1.7 trillion government spending bill introduced in the Senate, marking an increase from around $1.5 trillion in the last fiscal year.

In December 2020, the US congress cleared $10m for promoting gender equality and $15m for strengthening democracy in Pakistan.

Pakistan, with a population of 107 million women, is the second-worst country in terms of gender parity, as per the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum. The country ranks 145 among 146 countries.

Afghanistan was 146 and India 135 on the index. Bangladesh and Nepal lead regional performance with over 69 per cent of their gender gaps closed. Bangladesh was 71 and Nepal 96.