ISLAMABAD: Despite being only one-fifth of the current parliament, women lawmakers sponsored almost double the number of parliamentary agenda compared to their men counterparts.

They also collaborated with them in sponsoring matters of public interest in parliament during the previous year, says a report released by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability-Free and Fair Election Network (TDEA-Fafen) on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Women along with men parliamentarians jointly sponsored half (51 per cent) of the calling attention notices in the National Assembly. Thirteen per cent amendments to the rules of procedure, nine per cent private members’ bills and seven per cent resolutions were jointly coined by men and women in the lower house.

In the Senate, 20pc motions for public importance debates, eight per cent resolutions and two per cent private members’ legislation were jointly sponsored by men and women.Out of the 89 women parliamentarians — 69 Members of National Assembly and 20 Senators - 87 sponsored agenda and/or participated in parliamentary debates. On an average, each woman legislator sponsored at least 16 agenda items, and spoke at least three times on the floors of the Senate and the National Assembly.

Apart from contributing to the overall parliamentary agenda, women parliamentarians also regularly attended sessions. On an average, each woman parliamentarian attended 79pc of the parliamentary sittings while this ratio stood at 66pc for men.

On an average, each woman legislator sponsored at least 16 agenda items, says report

But women parliamentarians faced challenges in having their voices heard. Nearly a third of women-sponsored parliamentary agenda were not taken up. Similarly, the chair only allowed women 16pc of the total parliamentary time allocated to debates.

Most of the agenda sponsored by women, however, was in their private capacities. Whereas government agenda in parliament continues to be men-dominated due to low representation of women in the executive.

Men members of the cabinet accounted for 89pcof government business while women ministers initiated only 11pcof government-agenda items.

Women’s contribution to government business in the National Assembly was slightly higher (12pc) than their contribution in the Senate (eight per cent).

NA ignores more women-sponsored agenda than Senate

A third of the women-sponsored agenda — in both the National Assembly and Senate - did not yield any debate or vote. The percentage of women’s unaddressed agenda in the National Assembly (38pc) was significantly higher than the percentage of women’s unaddressed agenda in the Senate (10pc).

Compared to men, women-sponsored agenda did not get the same attention in the National Assembly. However, the Senate was more responsive to women-sponsored agenda in its proceedings. The National Assembly’s transaction rate - percentage of the agenda taken up during the proceedings - was 62pc in case of women-sponsored agenda and 67pc in case of men-sponsored agenda.

The Senate’s transaction rate was 90pc in case of women-sponsored agenda and 89pc in case of men-sponsored agenda.Women’s contribution to the National Assembly’s agenda is relatively greater than their contribution to the Senate’s agenda. Women MNAs sponsored 36 percent of the National Assembly agenda - 33pc on their own and three per cent in collaboration with their men colleagues.

In the Senate, women brought a quarter of the parliamentary business - 22pc on their own and three percent in collaboration with men.

Women MNAs’ agenda contribution declines

Women’s contribution to parliamentary business has varied over time.

The contribution of women MNAs has dwindled from two-third to around one-third since 2009 when TDEA-Fafen first launched its annual performance analysis. On the contrary, since 2015, women senators’ contributions have surged from 18 to 25 per cent.

The National Assembly and the Senate held 83 and 58 sittings respectively during their reporting period.

A woman lawmaker in the National Assembly attended on an average 67 (80pc) sittings whereas men attended an average 54 (66pc) sittings.

In the Senate, a woman lawmaker attended an average 44 (75pc) sittings whereas a man lawmaker attended an average 38 (65pc) sittings.

A comparison between average session attendance of men and women lawmakers in the National Assembly and Senate shows that women lawmakers’ attendance remained higher than men lawmakers.

An analysis of the legislative records suggests the bills introduced by women lawmakers face similar fate as those introduced by men lawmakers.

Only one out of 36 women-sponsored bills, one out of 170 men-sponsored bills and one out of 26 bills jointly sponsored by men and women lawmakers passed all three readings in the house.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2020