ISLAMABAD: Political parties should give tickets to women in their strongholds and provide them with funding and resources for their campaigns in order to make the 5pc quota for women on general seats a significant milestone, a publication launched on Tuesday argued.

The report, titled Making Gender Quota Meaningful, was launched by Heinrich Boll Stiftung (HBS) and co-authored by Rukhshanda Naz and Hasan Nasir Mirbahar. It analysed the historical context of the gender quota and the legal framework for women’s political participation, as well as highlighting potential issues and solutions.

At the launch, parliamentarians, civil society members and women’s rights activists urged parties to ensure they effectively implement the 5pc quota while awarding party tickets to women on general seats in the upcoming elections under the Elections Act.

Parties urged to effectively implement 5pc quota for women on general seats

While the representation of women in Pakistan’s federal parliament has increased significantly in the past two decades, the report argued that the full potential of the quota has not been realised because it has not been implemented.

Compared to just 1.8pc of parliamentarians in 1995, women accounted for an aggregate of 20.7pc of the total membership of the National Assembly and Senate in 2015.

The report said women are more vulnerable to violence and discrimination, which may increase in election time. Therefore, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) and security agencies should provide them with adequate security.

At the launch, HBS Country Director Jacqueline Wilk spoke about the need to include diverse profiles and perspectives on the gender quota. She said increasing women’s representation in parliament is a global issue, and even in Germany women’s representation is at just 34pc.

Moderating the discussion was rights activist and academic Dr Farzana Bari, who also said the lack of gender representation is not just a Pakistan-specific issue but a global one. Women make up just 23pc of the World Parliament, she said.

The discussion featured women from nearly all political parties who highlighted how their parties had coped with the 5pc women’s quota on general seats.

Aneesa Zeb from the Qaumi Watan Party said that when women from her party were asked to apply for general seats no one, including herself, did so because of the environment and mindset of voters in the province.

“We hardly met this task to fulfill the criteria. There is a need to change this mindset of voters and political patriarchy that discourage women,” she said.

PML-F’s Nusrat Sehr Abbasi said she was given the opportunity to run for general seats but the party later asked her to withdraw because of seat adjustments for the Grand Democratic Alliance.

Nargis Nasir from PML-N implored foundations and NGOs to invest in training female politicians and candidates so they can lead their communities. She also criticised rampant nepotism that allows for some prominent female candidates whose male relatives are the ultimate decision makers.

Women’s socioeconomic progress in the country is tied to their representation and clout in politics, NCSW Chairperson Khawar Mumtaz said.

“This quota is a minimum legal requirement. It took 10 years of sustained work for this quota to be established and was by and large the result of women’s hard work. The previous government could not reach quorum without women candidates so every election has been a milestone in furthering women in politics,” she said.

Ms Mumtaz said women have potential power as candidates and voters, but they will not come out and vote in great volume unless they believe voting will improve their lives. She said the political culture needs to be changed within parties and women should not be token candidates but achieve a critical mass.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018