The US Senate has approved a $1.7 trillion consolidated spending bill for the fiscal year 2023, which also contains $200 million for gender equality initiatives in Pakistan.
The package, which was approved on Thursday evening, also includes $858 billion for defense funding, $787 billion for non-defense domestic spending, and more than $15 billion for other purposes.
An omnibus spending bill is a single written document that combines several initiatives into one, and it is the final piece of legislation to be passed this year, financing the US federal government until September 2023.
The approval of funds for boosting gender equality programs, on the other hand, prohibits any of the $200 million from being spent on abortions. Nonetheless, this represents a significant boost in the last few years.
The US Congress approved $10 million to promote gender equality and $15 million to strengthen democracy in Pakistan in December 2020. The $200 million earmarked for 2023 represents a 20-fold increase over Pakistan’s allocation for 2020.
Pakistan ranked 145th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
Afghanistan ranked 146th while India ranked 135th. Bangladesh and Nepal lead the region in gender equality, with over 69% of gender gaps closed. Bangladesh ranked 71st and Nepal ranked 96th.
This will make a big change in Pakistani society, a change for the better!!