LAHORE: The participants in a pohcy dialogue on women`s mobility were of the view that the government should ensure gender equality for equitable and sustainable development, and also enhance their mobility, autonomy to reclaim public spaces to close the gender gap across the province.

The dialogue was organised by the UNDP Pakistan, through its Punjab Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Support Unit on Tuesday.

Punjab Ombudsperson Nabila Khan said the government was fully committed to ensuring effective implementation of the SDGs at the grassroots with a focus on genderbased violence. The ongoing efforts and partnerships would pave the way for equitable and sustainable development,improving the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable.

Punjab Commission on the Status of Women Secretary Nada Azhar said the commission was committed to reducing gender gap in the province, adding that efforts were being made to empower young women in all areas of life.

UNDP Pakistan Assistant Resident Representative and Chief Development Policy Unit Ammara Durrani said they were celebrating the achievement of 180 women and girls, who had been trained to ride motorcycles across Lahore, and hoped the cohort would set a benchmark to reduce Punjab`s gender gap through increased mobility, independence, and visibility across public spaces.

The women and girls had been trained through the Punjab SDGs Unit`s Women on Wheels pro-gramme to increase their mobility, independence, and visibility in public spaces. The programme also imparted road safety training, anti-harassment training, licences and employment support.

Later, the trained women and girls held a motorcycle rally, and certificates were also distributed among them.

Cross-cutting and highly crucial, SDG 5 Gender Equality is the cornerstone for closing the gender gap and achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Pakistan recently ranked as the second worst country in the world for women on the Global Gender Gap Report 2022.

As per the report, women`s labor-force participation in Pakistan declined by 1.9 percentage points in 2022 with women making up the smallest share of senior, managerial and legislative roles (4.5 per cent).