The Election Act (2017) forbidsany effort to hinder female participation in elections, nor as a voter or a candidate. The act also requires political parties to have a minimum of five percent of female candidates contesting in general elections for both national and provincial assemblies. In the 2018 elections, all mainstream national parties remained close to the minimum percentage, while…
Women’s empowerment is a complex and evolving concept that is constantly being defined and re-defined. It is said to be about women’s increased access to material resources such as land, money, credit and income, availability of decent employment opportunities that involve good working conditions, access to power through representation in political and decision- making bodies, the freedom to make choices…
An ex-colleague of mine asked me to write something on women in Pakistan and at that very moment, I found myself in a crossroads of thoughts about how and why women have been second class citizens in the world. So, the first thought that crossed my mind was ‘Women Suffrage’, which was about the voting rights of women in America.…
There’s the pandemic you know about, and all too well. It’s rightfully crowding the headlines of your newspaper and occupying the minds of government leaders. It’s taking loved ones, imperiling heroes in scrubs, threatening neighbors at the cash register, and suddenly turning parents everywhere into teachers. Then, there’s the shadow pandemic, which is rapidly unraveling the limited, but precious progress…
March 2020 marked with the start of a global pandemic outbreak in Pakistan. In less than a month, COVID-19 led to the major economic recession, with potentially strong impacts on the livelihoods of vulnerable groups. In Pakistan, this pandemic further heightened the pre-existing gender inequalities. Almost half of the population of Pakistan is affected badly on the economic front, facing…
“For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but to be elected.” Once said the Michelle Bachelet, current U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, former head of UN Women, and former president and defence minister of Chile. Women participation in legislative and political decision making has…
Pakistan is blessed to have as many equally, if not more, talented intelligent and hard-working women as men. We have Oscar as well as a Noble prize-winning females in the country. We have Shiza Farhan, who added to the global recognition of Pakistani women’s talents by making it to Forbe’s list of 30 under 30 entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, when it comes…
