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3 |
A University Devoted to Advancing the Status and Professional
Opportunities of Women |
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In our reconsideration of the mission of AKU in
Section VI above we have strongly affirmed its need to preserve
openness, both intellectually and in its receptivity to the
diversity of humankind, regardless of race, creed, or sex. From
its beginnings, and indeed in continuation of the principles
set by the 48th Imam, AKU has been distinguished by a special
concern for the status and professional advancement of women.
The establishment of the School of Nursing has served that purpose
and contributed strongly to the present situation where AKUMC
has more than half women among its students and facultv. And
similarly, one of the aims of IED is to improve the opportunities
and status of women in the teaching profession. |
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Neither the Chancellor nor AKU's present faculty
and staff needs special urging from this Commission to continue
and expand the University's commitment to advancing the welfare
and opportunities of women. The Chancellor's views have been
strongly and publicly expressed and we have been impressed in
our meetings with the faculty and staff in Karachi by their
vigorous commitment to these purposes. Our Commission is
happy to affirm its support of this basic AKU commitment and
its belief that it should he generalised as the University grows
into new fields and branches. |
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How AKU's commitment to the status and advancement
of women will be concretely expressed in the future will in
part follow straightforwardly from its established principles;
avoiding discrimination by sex in all its work, it will favor
programmes and projects that offer special benefits and opportunities
for women. What can be done will depend on the strengths AKU
may come to have in different regions and in the fields it develops. |
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AKU's beginnings in the health sciences and education
equip it to provide example and knowledge in addressing women's
needs that are particularly severe in the South Asian subcontinent.
This is a region that has long been unhappily distinguished
by life-expectancies for females that were, until quite recently,
smaller than those for men, in contrast to the pattern elsewhere
in the world. The implication in these statistics that women
over much of the subcontinent, and certainly in its Muslim areas,
have suffered conditions unfavourable for their health has been
confirmed by studies showing larger percentages of girls than
boys being malnourished and ill-provided. The case for a
Faculty of Health Sciences based in Karachi giving special attention
to women's health is clearly implied. |
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An abundance of studies in recent years has shown
strong correlation between the education of women and improvements
in the health of children - and indeed, of whole families. The
World Bank in its 1993 World Development Report displayed
in characteristically numerical terms [pp.42-43] for governments
that would listen how much more girl's than boy's education
would do to improve children's health. Such figures point a
finger at the costliness of the neglect of girl's education
over most of the sub-continent. We have noted earlier how poorly
Pakistan shows on the UN's Human Development Index, notably
because of high illiteracy, which still stands at more than
75% for women in the country (as it does in Bangladesh as well).
Correspondingly, Pakistan shows badly in its (1991) ratio of
only 52 girls for every 100 boys in primary school, whereas
similarly poor or poorer countries like Kenya and Tanzania had
95 or 98. The table (# 29) in the 1994 World Development
Report from which these numbers are drawn shows impressive
improvements since 1970 for Pakistan and other countries. But
the remaining disparities suggest a special mission for AKU.
Whether for its effects on health, or for the myriad other
benefits education brings to women, AKU's present location gives
it strong reason to focus its educational efforts particularly
on girls and women. |
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The forms AKU's efforts on behalf of women's health
and education may take are numerous, and forecasting them in
detail would be no proper task for this Commission. One of the
papers we received from the faculty proposed community-based
development projects for women and "special attention to the
needs of the girl child". We can agree with these proposals
but, remembering that AKU will remain a small institution dealing
with vast problems, we must emphasise that what it does must,
through its quality, example, and careful research, reach beyond
the people it can directly help. |
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As the new components of AKU we are recommending
in later parts of this report come into being, the University's
potentials in serving the needs of women in the developing
and Muslim worlds will multiply. The Institute of Human Development
that we are recommending [Section VII c.4 below] should greatly
strengthen AKU's capacity to deepen and spread understanding
of the importance of better care for young girls. One of the
principal foci of this Institute will be on the lasting consequences
through the life cycle of deprivations children may experience.
Many of these are still poorly understood or not widely appreciated
and we believe the work AKU can do in elucidating them can
affect policies that will bring better lives to large numbers
of women.
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