Government – Pakistan Gender News

December 12, 2018December 15, 2018

Ban on baby’s gender disclosure?

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, while addressing a seminar on “Ending Gender-Based Violence” held under the auspices of Punjab Government and UN Women, announced that the provincial government would table a bill soon that will ban disclosure of baby’s gender during pregnancy. There is nothing novel about the contemplated law and the rationale provided by the concerned minister. She argued that some people find out the identity of the baby and choose abortion if the fetus is a female. As a result, it will create gender imparity in Pakistan, giving birth to a myriad of problems. Pakistan would not be the first country to have such a law. Parental sex discernment was banned in India in 1994 under the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act. The act aimed to stop female feticide in India.

Gender imbalance is a valid concern and state should intervene to remedy the situation if it is of the opinion that free market will not be able to address the problem on its own. However, the proposed law by the Punjab health minister is not going to improve gender imparity. Abortion is illegal in Pakistan and allowed only when the life of a woman is in danger. Section 338 of the Pakistan Penal Code defines abortion (Isqat-i-Hamal) for the fetus whose organs have not fully developed. The very next section prescribes punishment for this kind of abortion. If the abortion was performed with the consent of the woman, the person convicted would be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years. If the consent of the woman was not taken, the punishment might extend to ten years. Section 338-B deals with a fetus whose organs have been formed while the abortion was undertaken. In such a case, the offender can be imprisoned up-to seven years in addition to paying the diyat for the child. Additionally, if a woman dies as a result of abortion, the offender will be punished for causing the death of a person.

The provisions above, however, have not deterred people from undergoing abortions. In fact, Pakistan has one of the highest abortion rates in the world. In Pakistan, an estimated 50 abortions are taking place per thousand women. To gain a comparative perspective, the abortion rate in the United States is 13 per thousand women; in Sweden 18; Nigeria 33 and Bangladesh 39. Therefore, a huge black market for abortion is existing and thriving. As these abortions are being performed in the black market, they are clandestine, and health and lives of women are at perilous risk. Medical practitioners working in this market just want to make money and have no incentive to care for the health of the woman. Since the whole activity is beyond the regulation of the law, women who suffer medical malpractice are not able to take recourse to law as they themselves are a party to a crime. The medical and legal risks involved are of astronomical nature, but the same have failed to affect the behaviour of market participants: women and medical practitioners.

The respected minister, herself a professional doctor, lamented the fact that sex-selective abortions are being performed. However, instead of implementing the already existing law, she has proposed to create an additional barrier by proposing a ban on parental sex discernment. Assuming the bill gets passed, here is what’s going to happen: a black market for parental sex discernment is going to prop up in Punjab. Rates of parental sex discernment are going to be higher in this market since practitioners will charge extra as insurance in case they get caught. Therefore, either people will have to pay extra for parental sex discernment or travel to Islamabad or other provinces if that turns out to be a cheaper option. Consequently, the proposed barrier is going to have negligible to no effect on gender imparity.

The ban on abortion is stipulated in strong words and easily implementable. However, the state has miserably failed to enforce it. Parental sex discernment is a much cheaper and a lot less sophisticated procedure compared to abortion. If our state could not stop the creation of a black market of abortion, how can one expect from the same machinery to enforce something far more complex and difficult to implement.

Furthermore, there can be more than one reason for parental sex discernment. Studies conducted in the United States have revealed that more than 50 per cent of prospective parents want to know the sex of their baby. One reason is disease testing. Some diseases are sex-linked, and in these cases, parental sex discernment will raise the alarm in time, and preventive medication can be adopted. Other reasons, inter alia, involve preparing for sex-dependent aspects of parenting like bonding with the baby, preparing elder siblings and decorating the nursery.

Therefore, instead of purposelessly curtailing the rights of prospective parents to know the gender of their baby, the state should take soft measures to alleviate the issue of gender imparity. Affirmative action in favour of women should be pursued more rigorously. Gender-sensitive reforms in health, education and other sectors must be pushed so that people do not consider the prospective female child as a liability; instead, they should be made certain that she would be as much of an asset as a male child.

The Nation

October 30, 2018

IWCCI calls for promotion of women empowerment

Islamabad: Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) has urged the government to promote women empowerment to ensure rapid social and economic development.

It also asked the business community to match their words with action over the empowerment of women for the sake of future generations.

This was observed during a workshop organized by IWCCI which was conducted by the chamber’s consultant Sara Ansari. The businesswomen observed that the companies run by women face difficulties while dealing with the state-run or privately owned businesses.

Businesswomen are discouraged as they are provided little space for participation in economic activities which results in losses and frustration. The IWCCI members said that society should enable women to thrive in an environment that empower their strengths which would lead to increased performance and productivity levels which will benefit the country.

Financial services institutions in Pakistan neglect women as a potential customer segment and fail to understand their needs. Only seven percent of women have a financial services account in Pakistan as compared to 36 percent in Bangladesh, 77 percent in India and 58 percent in Saudi Arabia. The only country in the world that is performing worse than Pakistan is South Sudan.

Female entrepreneurs need access to a broad range of financial services, including savings, credit, insurance, and transfers to establish and grow their businesses but they are denied the opportunities.

The former governments made laudable commitments which were not backed with the requisite financial and political support but we are hopeful that things will improve during the current government, they hoped.

The News

October 25, 2018

Nurses call off protest as govt accepts their demands

The sit-in of nurses outside the Karachi Press Club ended on its third day on Wednesday after the government accepted demands of the protesting nurses.

The protest was called off after Additional Health Secretary Dr Muhammad Usman held successful negotiations with the joint action committee of nurses. The two parties met at the office of the deputy commissioner South. It was reported that the government accepted all the demands of the nurses, including a raise in salaries, promotions and improvements in working conditions.

The protest had severely affected operations at Civil Hospital Karachi, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, National Institute of Child Health and other public health facilities across the city. Many scheduled surgical procedures had to be cancelled due to non-availability of paramedical staff.

The News

Dawn: Nurses end protest after govt ‘accepts demands’

October 10, 2018

PML-N women workers hold demo against NAB, govt

MULTAN: Pakistan Muslim League-N women activists Tuesday staged demonstration against the arrest of PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif, saying the NAB is politically victimising the PML-N workers.

Led by PML-N Multan district president of women wing, Dr Hameeda Khanum, the protesters gathered at Chowk Kutchery and shouted slogans against the government.

They said it was a conspiracy to disturb the by-election campaign of the PML-N candidates. They said their candidates were in a strong position to win the by-polls in Punjab but the rulers were creating problems for them.

Dr Khanum said that tyrannies of present government were flaring up the anger of PML-N workers. Women workers are waiting for the party call to launch agitation across the country. She said the PTI was crushing the PML-N but the party was strengthening with each passing day.

She demanded release of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif. She also demanded trial of foreign funding case against PTI chairman Imran Khan and return of former dictator Pervez Musharraf from abroad to convict him under the high treason case.

The News

October 4, 2018

PML-N, PPP, MMA issued show-cause notices for not giving 5% tickets to women candidates

Election authorities on Wednesday issued show cause notices to six political parties — including three mainstream parties in parliament — for not giving minimum five per cent tickets to women candidates on general seats during the last general elections.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) that had been ruling the country in the past are in the list of parties that failed to fulfil the legal formality during July 25th general elections.

In the election laws passed by parliament last year, it was made mandatory for all political parties participating in the elections to give at least five per cent tickets to women candidates on general seats.

Interestingly, the PPP-P that was originally the mover of the clause which was later incorporated in the Election Act, 2017, also failed to meet the criteria.

Other parties include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Nazriyati (PTI-N), Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan also did not fulfil the requirement and their heads have been issued the notices.

“The Hon’ble Competent Authority has been pleased to direct the undersigned to serve you show cause notice in respect of failure of your party to award 5% tickets to female candidate in compliance with the of Sections 206 of the Elections Act, 2017. Therefore, you are hereby directed to show cause as to why under the law be not taken against you,” reads the show cause notices addressed to heads of these parties.

ECP has directed the parties to submit replies within 15 days of the receipt of the show-cause notices.

Interestingly, the law is silent what action the ECP can initiate against such parties. At the time of election, the ECP had asked political parties to send the list of female candidates they had fielded on directly-elected seats. Hardly, any party replied to the ECP directives.
Despite the enactment of law making it mandatory for political parities to award tickets to female candidates, the number of women lawmakers in the National Assembly on general seats this time was lowest in the last two decades.

A total of 183 women contested elections against 272 general seats in the National Assembly. Out of them only eight could secure victory.
Women lawmakers returned to the National Assembly this time, is lowest since 2002.

The country had first direct elections in 1970. There was no quota of reserved seats for women in the polls in the 1970 elections. Nine women contested on the general seats, none of them could win a seat.
Hence there were no women representation in the National Assembly that later passed the 1973 Constitution after the dismemberment of East Pakistan.

To encourage women representation in the National Assembly, 10 reserved seats for women were introduced from the 1977 election through a sunset clause in the Constitution. The clause required that the reserved seats be abolished after 10 years or three electoral cycles.
In the 1977 elections, for the 216-member National Assembly only one woman contested on the general seat that she won. Another 10 returned to the National Assembly on reserved seats. They constituted 5.1 per cent women strength in the house.

Women reserved seats in the National Assembly were increased to 20 in the 1985 non-party elections organised by the military regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. Another 15 women contested on the general seats, only one could win, taking women’s strength to 21 or 8.9% of the total strength in the 237-member house.

In the 1988 general elections, 16 women contested on the general seats. Three of them, including Benazir Bhutto who was elected first women prime minister of the country, won.

Accumulated strength of women in the 237-member National Assembly was 23 that accounted for 9.7 per cent of the total strength of the house.

On the expiry of the sunset clause after three electoral cycles-1979, 1985 and 1988, the quota of reserved seats for women stood abolished.

Twelve women contested elections on general seats in the 1990 general elections for the National Assembly. Only two of them could win the polls. This reduced the women representation in the National Assembly to only 0.9 per cent.

In the 1993 general elections, 14 women participated on general seats but only four stood victorious. They constituted 1.8 per cent of the total strength of the house. Similarly, in the 1997 general elections 35 women participated on general seats — five won.

After the 1999 military coup, Gen Pervez Musharraf reintroduced 60 reserved seats for women in the National Assembly by amending the Constitution through what was tagged the Legal Framework Order.
In the general elections held in 2002, 57 women contested on general seats and 13 of them won. With 60 reserved seats, the National Assembly had 74 women members which was 21.6 per cent of the now 342-member lower of house of parliament.

In the 2008 general elections, 64 women contested on general seats, a record 16 won. With 60 reserved seats, 76 women were part of the National Assembly constituting 22.2 per cent of the total membership of the house.

In the 2013 general elections, out of 161 women contesting on general seats for the lower house of parliament, only nine would win. This reduced the women strength to 70 or 20.5 per cent in the National Assembly that completed its five-year term on May 31st this year.
In the last general elections, though a total of 183 women contested on directly-elected seats, only eight could win. With 60 reserved seats their collective representation is 68 in the National Assembly.

PPP leads with three women lawmakers on general seats, followed by the PTI’s two, and one each of the PML-N, GDA and BAP.

The Express Tribune