US provides record $200 million for gender equality in Pakistan
The United States senators has approved an omnibus spending package for fiscal 2023, allocating $200 million for gender equality and strengthening democracy in Pakistan.
The package, approved by the US Senate, includes $858 billion for the defence sector, $787 billion for non-defence domestic programs and $15 billion for other programs.
The authorisation of funds for promoting gender equality programmes prohibits spending any of the $200m on abortions.
In December 2020, the US Congress approved $1 million for the promotion of gender equality and $1.5 million for the promotion of democracy in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s allocation is under the US fund for gender equality, which is a 20-fold increase from the funds reserved in 2020.
On the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 of the World Economic Forum, Pakistan ranked 145 out of 146 on the gender equality index.
