HRCP event notes quotas alone will not empower women

Islamabad, December 11: As invaluable as affirmative action, including job quotas and reserved seats in the legislature, for women could be, empowerment for women was impossible in the absence of effective and across the board implementation of the quota regime and ensuring land rights for them.
This was the consensus at a consultation organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on ‘women’s economic independence: quotas and land rights’ here on Friday.
The consultation was attended by former parliamentarians, lawyers and civil society activists, among others.
The main suggestions and concerns voiced by the participants included the following:
· Job quotas and reserved seats for women were a means to the end of women empowerment and not an end in themselves. It was important to address the roadblocks towards that goal.
· The political parties had not backed women candidates on general seats. They had also failed to politically train female party workers. The civil society should step in order to provide the required training so that women workers perform better in elections.
· Before the last general elections, all political parties had been implored to give tickets to women from winnable seats in the general assembly. Almost all political parties had opposed the proposal.
· The presence and visibility of women in leadership positions was important to break the invisible ceiling not only in government jobs but also in the political and representation spheres.
· There was no systematic evaluation mechanism to gauge how the quota regime was performing.
· Civil society organisations needed to regularly communicate to parliament actionable points to ensure the implementation and oversight of the affirmative action regime. Follow up with parliament was also vital.
· All parliamentary committees were now receiving petitions. Civil society organisations needed to make better use of the mechanisms with a view to ensure women’s empowerment through affirmative action.
· The national and provincial commissions on the status of women had an important role to play in terms of evaluation and oversight.
· The question of women’s land rights needed to be examined in the larger context of land reforms. Land was still the key to prestige in Pakistan, and denying women land-holding and a voice in panchayats and jirgas extenuated their exclusion.
· Multiple levels of resistance and competing contests for land invariably meant that women’s entitlement was pushed aside.
· Land allocated to Haris should be given to couples, rather than the man heading the family, and also to female-headed families.
· Women who were otherwise entitled and had indigenous knowledge of farming lacked access to land, while women who possessed land often had no such experience.
· Marriage was used as a tool of governing land arrangements and girls were often not married to hang on to the family land.
· Although formal justice system allowed women’s access to land, the system based on social norms argued against such access. The state was expected to be more than a spectator in this context.

I.A. Rehman
Secretary General

Category: English