policy brief

1. Policy brief
National Gender Policy Framework of Pakistan
Presented on 8th
March, 2022.
Introduction:
Pakistan is an Islamic state and all its laws are according to the teaching of Islam. In Islam female are
granted each and every type of rights that include to get education same as the boys, get a decent living
standard, financial and economic empowerment, inheritance right, right to own property, right to be
protection etc. The region of Pakistan was earlier part of subcontinent while living long with Hindu
people and under the colonial rule we adopt lot of things from Hindu culture, that really deprive the
female from their basic right even. Now in Pakistan we observe a lot of discrimination against females.
There is a dire need to device policies to correct this phenomenon because female are approximately 49
percent of Pakistan total population, if they are being discriminated and may not included into the labor
workforce we will soon face very difficult economic and financial time.
In our whole region, we have patriarchal society. The women are mostly dependent on male family
members. In their childhood and adolescent age, they are dependent on their fathers or brothers and
after marriage, they become the responsibility of their husbands and after that they are dependent on
their sons or nephews. Well being of a female directly related to their male member of the family if they
are well off they will live a prospers live if not they will suffer too.
World scenario of Gender related policies:
Evolution of Gender related laws in Pakistan:
In Pakistan although up till the emergence of national gender policy framework we don’t have any
comprehensive policy for minimizing the gender gap, eradicating gender discrimination and bringing the
female into mainstreaming, but still we can see many initiatives from the government and other
institution that perform this task for this under privileged group of society.
I thoroughly try to explore the history of Pakistani laws and policies to find out all the initiatives by the
government to know what steps and measures were taken in the way of gender policy. As initially when
Pakistan was made we don’t have our own constitution, therefore we were following the 1935 Indian
act which contain the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939 was followed. Then in 1955 Commission
on Marriage and Family Laws was made which remain enacted till 1961. The Muslim Family Laws

2. Ordinance 1961 was being passed to look into the matters of family this law was amended according to
the need of time in 2015 . To resolve the matter of family through conciliation government approved
The Conciliation Courts Ordinance 1961. After that West Pakistan Family Courts Act 1964 was there to
perform the same task. One of the great curse in our society is dowry to the girl at the time of their
marriage, In 1976 to stop the burden of parent due to which girls are considered as a burden
themselves by there family, the Dowry and Bridal Gifts (Restriction) Act was passed and enacted. For
the protection of the right of the female Pakistani Women Rights Committee was formed in 1975.
Commission on the Status of Women was formed in 1980 which remain enforced till 1988. Pakistan
National Commission on the Status of Women was came into being in 2000 for the protection of right s
of the women in Pakistan. Local Government Ordinance 2001 was established to look into the matters
on local government level, and it was being amended in 2013 & 2019. There is a severe issue of human
trafficking all around the globe so as in Pakistan for its Prevention & Control, Human trafficking
Ordinance 2002 was passed and promulgated in Pakistan. There is another issue of honor killing in our
tribal areas, in Baluchistan and in interior Sindh due to which every year number of girls are killed. To
stop this honor killing Honor amendment Bill 2004 was passed. There are some other laws like The
Protection of Women Act, 2006, Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act, 2011, Acid Control and Acid
Crime Prevention Act 2011 which was amended in 2014 and again in 2018. The most recent
development for the protection of women is guarding them against the high rate of cyber crimes
Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 was passed to protect women in case of any cyber
blackmailing. In the recent times we see lots of pedophilia act against kids under 16 or even 10 years for
their protection Zainab Alert, response and recovery act 2019 is the most recent development for the
safety of the girls. (1973 constitution of Pakistan and amendments)
Need for the Gender policy framework:
From the above given facts I observe that since 1947 small steps were taken for the protection of the
rights of the female, but there was need to device a full-fledged policy which may look at the mater in
holistic way not in bits and pieces. According to the facts and figures there is a big gap in our
constitution and law related to gender policy. Although initiatives were taken but they were not enough
that can cater all issues related to gender. Some laws and commission were only for a small time and
they evaporated with the end of term or demise of the government and were not long lasting either.
There was a dire need to formulate a policy which may not only talks about the protection of female but
it also look towards their economic, financial, social, legal, political, cultural, health and safety rights etc.
that will give all legal rights to women of Pakistan. If we look at the global scenario female are facing
continuous discrimination and domestic violence in on an increase not only in Pakistan but all around
the globe.
According to Severini et.al(2018) gender discrimination do prevail in European countries as well,
females are not included into the economic mainstreaming due to which there GDP is showing low
number or if women may include into the labor workforce that may boost the economy to a large
extend.

3. Despite efforts made by governments globally, women
and girls contnue to be subjected to discriminaton
and violence and are denied full realizaton of their
rights and potentals. Inadequate resources for
implementaton of acton plans around gender equality
is a signifcant challenge confronted by countries. The
key challenge hampering the implementaton and
monitoring of gender equality is the lack of adequate
gender-sensitve data. Absence of data globally may be
atributed to lack of prioritzing the goal as such