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Thursday, June 14, 2012

Pakistan’s Women legislators: how have they performed?, Islam, Women and Feminism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam, Women and Feminism
Pakistan’s Women legislators: how have they performed?
By Nirupama Subramanian
Posted July 29, 2009

Unlike in India, where debate still rages over an acceptable mechanism for the reservation for women, in Pakistan women in the reserved seats are not directly elected. Each party gets to nominate a certain number of women proportionate to the number of seats they won through elections. Women also enter the National Assembly through elections for the general seats.

In the current Parliament, there are 75 women in the 342-seat National Assembly — 60 through the quota and 15 in general seats. At nearly 22 per cent, this is better than any other Asian democracy and is more than several western democracies, including the United Kingdom and the United States.

But how have these women MNAs (Members of National Assembly) performed? While they stream in and out of the House in a haze of stylish chiffons and pashminas, the latest designer sunglasses perched over their blonde highlights, have they achieved anything? What kind of issues have they raised? Have they been effective, and indeed, what does an “effective” woman parliamentarian mean — one who raises women’s issues, one who raises all issues, or one who stands loyally by her political party, even if it means opposing pro-women legislation?

http://newageislam.com/pakistan%E2%80%99s-women-legislators--how-have-they-performed?/islam,-women-and-feminism/d/1600


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