ISLAMABAD, Oct 3: The National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) needs to be restructured and strengthened if it is to play any meaningful role in the advancement of women in the country.

This has been recommended in a set of recommendations made at a meeting of the Commission held recently. The recommendations will be forwarded to the government for consideration.

The recommendations available with Dawn suggest that there should be a full time chairperson of the Commission directly reporting to the president.

The Commission, which has been facing a number of problems such as shortage of staff, has also proposed establishment of a permanent secretariat.

The Commission has also recommended to the government that it should be allocated an independent budget to undertake its activities because official bottlenecks, which hinder smooth release of funds, impact on its performance.

So far, the Commission has not been able to play its role effectively which had been conceived at the time of its constitution i.e. emancipation of women; equalisation of opportunities and socio-economic conditions among women and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

The Commission, a statutory body, was established on July 17, 2000 through an ordinance promulgated by the President of Pakistan.

The Commission, formally inaugurated on September 1, 2000, comprises a chairperson and 20 members, two each from the four provinces, one each from the ICT, AJK, Northern Areas and FATA.

The Commission has also suggested that at least 50 per cent of the members should be full time, of which one is to be based in each of the provincial capitals with permanent secretariats and office in the governors’ secretariat.

Likewise, the chairperson and the permanent members of the Commission must have the status of a federal minister and federal secretary respectively, and the duties and obligations of the members must be clearly laid out and their performance evaluated by the parliamentary committees.

It has also stressed that the ordinance setting up the Commission be suitably amended to include the functions, powers and area of operation on the lines of sections 9,10,11,12,14,15 and 16 of The Establishment of the Office of Ombudsman Act.

The Commission is of particular importance to women working in public sector, as they have no forum at all to address their grievances or report the injustices being suffered by them.