Saturday, March 6, 2010

The Need For Gender Based Governance in Pakistan.

Wrote this as an excersize on research, and because I am interested in the topic:

The Need For Gender Based Governance in Pakistan.


Pakistan is a country of around 161 million inhabitants1, approximately 51%2 of which are men. As this figure indicates higher infant mortality rates in females, it becomes the first of many indicators of gender inequality within Pakistani society. Further, the combination of often strict Islamic interpretation combined with the South Asian culture, creates an unimaginable bias towards women in open society and especially in the work place. As Pakistan's leaders strive to cross the brink into modernity, the slow pace of women's empowerment and equality within the community are constantly pulling it back. Areas of Pakistan are currently involved in a full-on civil war, a battle between hard-line islamic militants and Pakistan's more moderate army, the clash is mainly of one of normative and religious ideals.


Under the leadership of the religiously moderate President Zardari and pressure from the many international organizations that pump Billion of dollars into Pakistan's booming development sector, the country has recently shown increased levels of commitment to gender equality. By formulating policies and ratifying international accords, Pakistan hopes to show the international community its dedication to the protection and encouragement of women's rights. Pakistan has signed and/or implemented the likes of the Beijing Platform of Action in 1995 and, in accordance, later the National Plan of Action for Women (NPAW), the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1996, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of 2000 and the National Strategic Framework for Family Protection (NSFFP) in 2001. In addition, the Government of Pakistan has implemented national and provincially based Gender Reform Action Plans (GRAPS) which aim to provide gender based reforms and planning on all levels of Government3. It is important to note that the majority of these regulations are based upon the direct protection of women, as opposed to the long term fostering of gender equality as a means towards development


Impeding the aims of these implemented strategies are a variety of factors spread between the political, the religious and the social. Unequal power relations between men and women (in the political arena as well as in the home) undermine attempted structures of equality, and create vast amounts of very real discouragement for the women's movement. Corruption and lack of political and financial transparency further marginalize women by using allocated funds to support projects or legislations designed through a gender blind lens. Pakistan's status as an area of conflict, also puts at risk women's access toeducation, the development of basic human rights, and sees an increase in violence against women and girls in particular.

As such, most areas of Pakistan hold stark opposition to the idea of gender equality as a necessity for national development. Even universally accepted principles, like that of a socio-economically unbiased access to basic education, face tough resistance. Pakistan is a country where it is estimated that 56.2 percent of the total population are literate; that is 68.2 percent male literacy, and 43.6 percent female literacy1. Basic education has the ability not only to teach children the principals of literacy, but also to give them access to a world outside of their communities, one where children are taught to respect gender equality from a very young age. Due to this discrepancy in access to basic education, it comes as no big surprise that women make up only about 22%2 of the formal work force, within which they are hardly protected by Pakistan's weak, and normally unenforced sexual harassment laws.

The United Nations defines gender based violence as “any act of violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical sexual or psychological harm of suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.3” A major issue facing a woman's right to a physically and emotionally safe life, is the continued belief that violence in the home is a family matter. Furthermore, three male witnesses continue to be needed to verify the occurrence of a rape or sexual violence against a woman, and even if these witnesses exist and are willing to testify, the case is often dropped. As Dan Belt states in his September 2007 National Geographic article entitled Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan, in Pakistan “rape is a tool of intimidation”4. Importantly, as the 2008 Social Development in Pakistan Report states, the unfortunate reality of the situation is that “existing socio-cultural patterns have been internalized by women...the majority restrain themselves from questioning the status quo, and are often seen trapped in a violent environment”5. This is an unsettling problem, proving that behavioral change regarding gender equality must reach women to the same level as it must reach men.

The Social Development in Pakistan Annual Review 2009 perfectly states “In a society where the social mind-set is feudal / tribal, the legal mind- set is authoritarian, the educational mind-set is regimental, and the religious mind-set is deductive, addressing issues such as violence against women and sexual harassment becomes increasingly difficult.6

By including more women in political leadership roles, it is hoped that legislations and negative cultural and religious mindsets are countered with a large opposition movement. As Pakistan still considers itself to be a democratic republic, awareness will have to be raised to challenge existing laws. After all, “there can not be a claim of real progress towards equality, development and peace as long as there is a continuing violence against women and girls7”. Women make up 49% of the Nation's population, and should, in a perfect world, make up the same percentage in the Nation's elected leadership. As this is far from the case, we can only hope that through training, more women will be encouraged to contest and win local and national elections. This is precisely the role of the United Nations Development Program's Gender Based Governance Systems, based upon the UNDP's Gender Equality Strategy (GES) which states that gender equality is an integral part of human development8. The program works by imparting gender sensitive training to planners, government officials and women leaders, who are then expected to take the goal of gender equality into consideration when planning projects, political decision-making, and for women who contest elections. The strived for result of such activities would include forms of peace keeping or peace-building on a local or federal level and with a special focus on conflict zones.

The UNDP Punjab states “Gender based governance systems is designed as a sustainable, long-term initiative to institutionalize the process of enabling and empowering local representatives, particularly women, to raise their issues and concerns in policy agenda9”. Until now, the UNDP Punjab, in conjunction with the Government of Pakistan, has imparted gender sensitive training to 5,694 persons, of which 4,789 were women leaders during the first three quarters of 2009, and many others throughout the rest of Pakistan. The UNDP's five year goal is to train 40,24910 persons throughout Pakistan. The elections which women are being trained to contest, have not yet been held, thus it is impossible to identify the success of this portion of the program. In 95%11 of Punjab's cases however, Master Trainers report that at the end of the training sessions women feel confident and are eager to take part in the upcoming election.

With hopes that those who received gender sensitization training take gender issues into consideration, women's access and control over resources, existence of an equal daily work burden, and women's visibility and recognition in the public sphere should increase in the coming years. Access to resources include access to education, health care, income, technology, information, political power, etc. At a micro level this includes access to equal amounts of food, sleep, comfort and safety in the home and in the community. Decision-making power is also a major component of women's access to equality. Decision-making begins with the power to make choices about one's own future, body and within the home, and transpires to decision making on a much larger political, economic or social scale. The UNDP Punjab takes both macro and micro themes into consideration, the assumption remains that change must occur from the grassroots level, and not just from top down pressure. There must exist a relationship of respect between men and women in each and every sphere of life.

In part due to Government strikes against islamic militants in Pakistan's Waziristan area, there exist a huge number of internally displaced persons (IDPs). The Government is struggling to provide them with access to resources, education and health care, all of which are unquestionable human rights. In this case Pakistan falls well under needs that created the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 as well as the 2006 'Eight Point Agenda for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality In Crisis Prevention and Recovery', it is hoped that these points are used as a guide or are implemented, and the UNDP is successful in supporting the Pakistani Government in achieving gender-responsive capacity improvements12

The United Nations defines gender mainstreaming as “...a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.13

In this way, societal behavior change regarding gender inequality is the goal and the way to ensure the sustainability of the project, as well as being a means towards the realization of the Millennium Development Goals introduced in 2000. Through the results of upcoming elections, the UNDP and the Government of Pakistan will together be able to evaluate the direct success of their Gender Based Governance Project. Success will represent a move towards the elimination of violence against women (VAW), gender equality, equal representation in politics, and a means towards sustainable human development in Pakistan.


1CIA World Factbook Pakistan. Literacy – 2005 estimate. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html. Accessed on 12 January, 2009.

2Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page xviii

3Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Article 1. 1993

4Belt, Don. Struggle for the Soul of Pakistan. National Geographic Magazine, September 2007.

5Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page 77

6Social Policy and Development Center. Social development in Pakistan; Annual Review 2007-08- Women at Work. Karachi. 2009. page 85

7UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 17

8UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 2

9Gender Based Governance (GBG) Systems Project Punjab. Project Document. United Nations Development Program & Government of Pakistan Economic Affairs Division. Islamabad, 17 December, 2007. Page 7

10These figures come from the UNDP Gender Based Government Pakistan Annual Work Plan and Progress Presentation and Reports for 2008 and 2009.

11This figure comes from the activity reports submitted by each Master Trainer after each training session. Included in the report is a 'before and after' question regarding the likelihood of participants to contest elections.

12UNDP. Empowered and Equal: Gender Equality Strategy 2008-2011. Bureau for Development Policy, New York City. 2008. page 17

13The Economic and Social Council Report for 1997, United Nations, 1997.

1Government of Pakistan; statistics Division. Population Survey 2008. www.statpak.gov.pk/depts/fbs/publications/lfs2001_2002/results.pdf -

2CIA World Factbook Pakistan. Sex Ratio. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html. Accessed on 12 January, 2009.

3Gender Based Governance (GBG) Systems Project Punjab. Project Document. United Nations Development Program & Government of Pakistan Economic Affairs Division. Islamabad, 17 December, 2007. Page 1.

1 comment:

  1. gender based governance sounds good.but do you expect real change without underlying economic structure improving?with bad economic structure even women in power may adopt same ways as men.as one can witness in so many women run NGOs and CSOs..

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