PESHAWAR, April 19: The NWFP government's gender reforms action plan (Grap) proposes allocating 50 per cent job quota for women in all sanctioned posts of BPS-17 of the executive/secretariat group of the provincial civil services and a larger share for women officers in the civil administration of the province.
According to informed sources, the draft action plan envisaging extensive multi-sectoral reforms to remove gender disparities in the provincial public and private sectors sought sweeping changes in the provincial civil services to give a greater share employment to women in all government departments.
Grap - a future policy document of the NWFP government to remove gender gap in all spheres of life in the Frontier province - suggests that women should be allocated 50 per cent of all sanctioned posts of BPS-17 of the executive/secretariat group of the provincial civil services, promotion of women against 50 per cent of upcoming vacancies in BPS-17 and BPS-18.
Besides, it also asks for reserving 20 per cent seats for women officers in the posts of district coordination officers (DCOs), executive district officers (EDOs) and Assistant Executive District Officers (AEDOs).
The draft plan, a document of the Zakat, Ushr, Social Welfare and Women Development Department, NWFP, also asks for allocating 33 per cent posts of Grade 9 to 11 to women at the provincial secretariat and at the district headquarters.
The genesis behind the move is drawn from findings of a study, conducted some time back by the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW). According to commission's study women were holding only two per cent of the total sanctioned posts in seven of the provincial government's departments (covered under the study).
According to the NCSW's report, at the time the study was conducted there was only one woman officer in BPS-22 in the NWFP government, three were in BPS-20, two in BPS-19, three in BPS-18, 25 in BPS-17, eight in BPS-16, two in BPS-12, 39 in BPS-10 and 10 in BPS-5.
According to the draft document, the NWFP government, in 1993, had underlined a policy to reserve two per cent quota for women in the provincial public sector's jobs but the same could not be guaranteed in the absence of a proper mechanism to monitor the situation.
The draft plan, which is yet to be put before the provincial cabinet for approval, suggests that greater share in the provincial public sector jobs should be allocated to women till the time the policy goals of reserving two per cent quota in jobs was accomplished.
In an effort to encourage women to join provincial public sector services, the draft action plan suggests that Career Development and Information Centre should be developed for the purpose.