KARACHI (ENN/PR) A study reveals that women and religious minorities may feel more marginalized if the quota system is taken off and it will affect their social, economic and political strength in Pakistan.
The event was organized to share the findings of research study here on Thursday at a local hotel of Karachi. The research was aimed at analyze the attitudes and support from men legislators towards providing space to their women colleagues for effective functioning of the legislature.
The research title “Male legislators contemplating attitude towards the empowerment of women legislators” under the Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO’s) project Policy Advocacy and Research to Strengthen Pro Women Legislation and gender based violence Response Services in Sindh being implemented with support of Trocaire, funded by Australian Aid.
The legislators and supreme decision making bodies must allow all segments of society to contribute in shaping the country’s social, political and economic policies. However, it is not in practice when it comes to marginalized and poorest segments especially women and minorities.
Karachi: Participants in study launch
The study also ascertains how women friendly environment is available to women legislators and how free they are to address women issues across parties and mandates. The study is based on the exploration of perceptions involving members of the national and provincial assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Sindh.
Rahila Hameed Durani Speaker of Baluchistan assembly expressed that culture is the main hurdle to empower women in politics and society. Women in assemblies as parliamentarians cannot serve their constituencies due to lack of development funding not provided because of being selected on reserved seats.
Mehtab Rashdi member of Pakistan Muslim League Functional Sindh Assembly focused on the role of women in assemblies and women with regard to the punctuality, attendance and raising questions in assemblies have been praise worthy in comparison of male legislators. In order to be bestowed with rights, women particularly in politics need be proactive with one voice.
Shehla Raza, Deputy Speaker Sindh Assembly said that empowerment of the women based on their social, legal, economic and cultural rights guaranteed by pro women laws in Sindh can be possible until women are united on women issues. She regretted that the role of male parliamentarians to women was not friendly infact sometime its harassing attitude.
Rana Ansar, secretary of Sindh Women Caucus, Marvi Sirmed, Amina Sardar, Najma Afzal, Sadiqa Salahuddin and others were among the speakers.
According to study in Sindh Assembly, four out of 27 standing committees are being chaired by women; while in KP three out of 36 chairs are women. KP assembly first time saw woman deputy speaker in its history.
Neelam Turo Chairperson of KP Commission on the status of women observed that execution of pro women laws was possible when women friendly bureaucracy is on ground. There is need to develop the pro women friendly culture with support of the pro women structures at provincial and national level.
Nuzhat Shireen Chairperson Sindh Commission on the Status of Women shared that effective political role of women can play pivotal role in implementation of pro-women laws in Sindh.
