ISLAMABAD: As a new and enthusiastic batch of women has entered the National Assembly around half of the country’s population is waiting anxiously to see what role their 66 representatives will play in the lower House to resolve a plethora of issues facing women in Pakistan.
According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), six women have been directly elected to the new parliament, including current speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza, Saira Afzal Tarar, Sumaira Malik, Dr Azra fazal, Faryal Talpur and Ghulam Bi Bi Bharwana while 60 others are joining them in the National Assembly on reserve seats.
The experts believe that the level of women participation in Pakistani politics is satisfactory as they make around 20 % of the total strength of the lower House, which is at par with some highly developed countries.
Yet, they feel that the common Pakistani woman is not reaping the benefits of this increased political participation as it continue to face limited economic resources, lack of girls schools/ colleges particularly in rural areas and lack of respectable public transport.
Despite the reasonable performance of women legislators during the last parliament, the country’s 49 percent women still feel their key problems are unresolved.
While the last parliament passed several women related laws during its tenure, it failed to ensure their proper implementation through strong oversight. The passage of law against acid throwing on women is regarded as a feather in the cap of the last parliament. According to rights campaigners, the conviction rate for acid attacks has tripled from 6% to 18% since tough new penalties were signed into law. Apart from controlling import, production, transportation, hoarding, sale and use of acid to prevent its
Misuse, the Acid Control and Acid Crime Bill recommends 14-year lifetime imprisonment and Rs01 million in fine for the crime’s perpetrators. However, acid throwing incidents did not stop after the passage of law, nor did the open sale of acid in the markets.
The experts maintain that this is the failure of former women parliamentarians who did not played their role as members of executive.
“It was the duty of women parliamentarians to ensure implementation of the pro-women laws passed by the 13th National Assembly. They could have done so through playing an active role in parliaments standing committees and field visits,” said noted women rights activist Dr Farzana Bari, who is also the director at the Gender Studies Department in Quaid-i-Azam University.
She said the female parliamentarians elected on reserve seats remain more loyal to their party leaders than the cause of women welfare.“They are directly nominated by party leaders, so they cannot afford to take a stance against the stated party position even if it is against the interest of women folk,” she said.
She hoped the women members of the new parliament will change this and play a better role in resolving women rights issues.
However, the performance of 77 female legislators in the last parliament which was headed by the first woman speaker in the history of Pakistan is regarded by rights activists as satisfactory, especially on the legislation side.
Out of 18 private member’s bills passed by parliament, 15 were moved by women lawmakers. Six resolutions were passed on women’s issues.One of the resolutions on women’s rights urged to recognize maternal and reproductive health as basic human right, along with access to education and freedom discrimination.
Women in parliament asked more questions than their male counterparts. Overall 55 women legislators asked 8,138 questions compared to 161 men lawmakers asking 7,918 questions in the five years.
According to statistics of the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN), while not all women parliamentarians have been equally active, 50 of them have contributed almost 50 % of the agenda of the lower House in terms of their numbers of formal interventions – questions, calling attention notices, private member’s bills, resolutions, adjournment motions, points of order, and matters of public importance.
The National Assembly also passed the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill 2008, prohibiting anti-women practices such as handing over a female to settle disputes, forced marriages, depriving women of property and the practice of marriage with the Holy Quran.
On January 21, 2010, the National Assembly passed the government-backed Protection against Harassment for Women at the Workplace Act 2009, requiring public and private organizations establish an internal code of conduct at the workplace, with complaint and appeals mechanisms aimed “at establishing a safe, working environment, free of intimidation and abuse, for all employees.”
The lower House also passed bills to set up commissions on human rights, women’s status, and vocational and technical education. The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has now greater administrative autonomy to review laws, make recommendations, and liaise with provincial governments to address violations of women’s rights.
Source: The News
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