ISLAMABAD: National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is striving to increase the induction quota of women officers (up to 10pc) in the police force as it has an aim to promote female leadership in society.

This was highlighted by the commission’s chairperson, Nilofar Bakhtiar, on Sunday. Talking to journalists, she said the commission had noticed that currently, only 2pc of the officers were women.

The NCSW was an outcome of women’s struggle for gender equality and it continues to serve this agenda, Ms Bakhtiar said, adding that the NCSW had successfully negotiated with different groups by building coalitions with dedicated bureaucrats, politicians and strategic government bodies together, to work for reforms and reduce risks of collective action for civil society activists.

The commission’s initiatives bore results when it was led by seasoned activists who used their leadership, experience and convening power to draw on support from feminist mobilisations and advocacy organisations in civil society to achieve policy reforms, she said, adding the commission’s ability to build coalitions amongst policy-makers for urgently needed progress on gender rights and to mitigate the risks for activists and women was the need of the hour.

The NCSW will make sure this happens, the chairperson said.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2022