Launch of Equity Pakistan

18 March 2021

On February 25th 2021 Equity Pakistan, The Gender Equity hub for the pharmaceutical workforce in Pakistan, was launched in Islamabad, Pakistan.

A collaboration between UCL School of Pharmacy (UK), & Hamdard Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Islamabad (Pakistan). Supporters included FIP, The International Pharmaceutical Federation (NL), the British Council (UK) and doctHERs (Pk).

BACKGROUND

According to World Economic Forum report 2018, Pakistan is ranked 148 out of 149 in the gender inequality status. The number of managerial positions occupied by female workforce is low as compared to other developed countries. Women currently comprise more than 70% in academic medicine, yet make up a mere 3% of the legislators and senior officials in the country. The Employment-to-Population Ratio (EPR) is 20% for female workers and 64% for male workers.

Moreover, Pakistan’s current labour underutilisation rate for women workers is currently 80%. The barriers against female labor force participation include educational attainment, local customs and social norms, availability of work-family reconciliation measures (including part-time work for women), lack of affordable transport and childcare, workplace harassment and discrimination, and work-family balance. Pakistani GDP could increase by nearly one-third if the female labor force participation rates match those of males.

Taking all the above into consideration, it is increasingly necessary to provide a platform to identify and provide solutions for these national workforce issues. The Pakistan Gender Equity Hub “Equity Pakistan” is being established to focus on both gender equality issues (decent working conditions, for example) and educational equity in Pakistani civil society. From a professional perspective, this equity Hub will be a source for generating evidence-based data on the healthcare workforce in Pakistan with the particular focus on the pharmaceutical workforce. Moreover, the Hub will lead the implementation of recommendations generated by the data and thus, directly influence policy.

The Hub will aim to accelerate large-scale gender-transformative policy change to address gender inequities in Pakistan. This will, in turn, significantly progress development towards achievement of the FIP Development Goal 10 (FIP DG 10) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as envisioned in the Working for Health five-year action plan (2017 – 2021). The Pakistan gender Equity Hub will provide a base for transformative actions stemming from the FIP Global policy2 and the WHO Gender Hub

Equity Pakistan will be comprised of multidisciplinary members including policymakers, practitioners, academia, civil society, professional bodies and researchers from diverse set of stakeholders and partners.

VISION

Equity Pakistan will address gender inequities and develop transformative gender and diversity policies for the pharmaceutical workforce in Pakistan. It will form a national focus for gender-balanced workforce transformation and act as a direct national link with the global Equity programme from FIP and WHO Human Resources for Health. In this way, Equity Pakistan will transform equity and equality for professional women and advocate for the critical importance of women’s participation in the pharmaceutical workforce of Pakistan.

AIM

To create clear evidence-based strategies for addressing gender and diversity inequalities in pharmaceutical workforce development in Pakistan for continued education and training and career progression opportunities.

STRATEGIC GOALS

i.   To Provide a comprehensive summary of the current evidence base on gender equity and to generate and report updated findings via systematic review, meta-analysis.
ii.   To investigate the gender equity issues of the healthcare workforce in pharmacy via a needs based assessment of the current gender equity situation in Pakistan using validated tools and
iii.   To develop a national framework for addressing the issues identified from (ii).
iv.   To increase awareness of women’s rights and national cross-sectorial women empowerment initiatives.
v.   To work with professionals, employers and unions to eliminate discriminatory behaviours & attitudes at workplace.
vi.   To align the hub objectives with national and international policy directions.
vii.   To collaborate with relevant stakeholders for monitoring and evaluation of Hub objectives in terms of National priorities and goals.

INSTITUTIONAL GAINS for UCL

UCL is a global university with a leading School of Pharmacy that has broad international experience in teaching and research.

Pakistan is a country with an identified need and is a priority for UCL global engagement, being a Lower Middle Income Country (LMIC). The equity Hub will be an opportunity to establish a domestic profile for UCL in Pakistan and facilitate partnership working, an established priority action for the UCL Global Engagement Strategy (GES)

The vision and outputs of the Hub would meet all of the 5 strategic drivers of the UCL GES thus delivering a sustainable global impact in partnership:
1.   Cultivating our global outlook to offer our students the best possible preparation for global lives and careers;
2.   As a world class research power-house, co-creating wise solutions to enduring and emerging global problems and Grand Challenges;
3.   Increasing global independent research capability;
4.   Marshaling our expertise in enterprise, innovation, interdisciplinary and translational research to deliver long term benefit for society;
5.   Strengthening our position as London’s Global University by amplifying our achievements and engaging more effectively.

The purpose of the Hub is to achieve fair solutions to the gender equity in the pharmaceutical workforce challenge and will therefore be aligned with global trends of issues concerning equity.

The equity Hub has direct support from the British Council in Pakistan who have agreed to provide resource with respect to research activities, as well as the British High Commission in Pakistan. The hub will also have the full support of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and will link into the WHO gender equity hub providing linkage with global issues surrounding gender equity in healthcare and thus providing a platform for long-term academic interest.

UPCOMING ACTIONS

The activities of Equity Pakistan will be supporting the Pak UK Education Gateway lead by the British Council. This aims to enhance partnership between the higher education sectors of Pakistan and the UK.

Key areas of collaboration under this framework include innovative and collaborative research, higher education leadership, quality assurance and standard setting, distance learning, international mobility and transnational education.

Launch of Equity Pakistan

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