PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar have said that women should be given due representation in policy-making bodies where they could raise voice for their rights.

The seminar titled `pro-women laws and legal awareness` was held under the aegis of White Ribbon Pakistan, a civil society organisation, at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday.

Provincial Commission on Status of Women chairperson Neelum Toru was the chief guest on the occasion. She said that women needed to be given proper status in all the forums and decision-making bodies so that they could raise voice for their rights.

She said that Pal(istan Tehreek-i-Insaf government was determined to empower women.

She complained that the federal government had failed to assign responsibilities to women in the ongoing national census. She warned that any discrimination with KP would be a violation of the Constitution. The commission chairperson said that media was the strongest tool to change the mindset of any society andduring the last two decades Pakistani media had played its due role to bring a paradigm shif t in patriarchal mindset.

`Curbing violence against women and empowering them continue to be the prioritiesfor the commission and we strongly believe that closing the gaps between men and women in health, education, politics and economic participation will contribute to a more equitable and more prosperous society in the country,` she said.

White Ribbon CEO Omer Aftab gave a presentation on the amendments and new prowomen legislation. He said that in Pakistan every fifth women was a victim of violence. Heobserved that the patriarchal mindset discriminated against women at the individual, societal and state level.

He said that men, even in instances where they are not part of the problem, could bringforth the solution by persuading others to question and stop violence against women in every form. Other participants also shared views about problems of the women and loopholes in the relevant laws.