This document summarizes Pakistan's historical commitments and policies related to promoting gender equality. It discusses international commitments beginning in 1946 with the Commission on the Status of Women. It then outlines Pakistan's national commitments including protecting women's rights in the 1973 constitution. The document also summarizes several national policies and frameworks established over the years to promote gender, such as the National Plan of Action for Women in 1998 and the National Policy for Empowerment and Development of Women in 2002. It highlights some improvements made but also notes that progress on commitments like CEDAW has been poor.

1. Gender Mainstreaming
Policy Highlights to Promote Gender
in Pakistan
Samia Raoof Ali, WiC
NCRD Islamabad, 11 Feb 2014

2. Introduction to the Presentation

Starts with the Historical Perspective of Women and
Development, moving to Gender in the light of the
International Conferences, Frameworks and Instruments

International Commitments of the Government of Pakistan

National Commitments within the (i) National Context and (ii)
relevance to the International obligations

National Policies, Frameworks and Strategies to support
gender
Gaps and Challenges to Gender Mainstreaming


3. Historical Perspective

International Commitments of the Government of Pakistan

National Commitments

National Frameworks and Measures

4. Historical Perspective
International Commitments



Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
established in June 1946, by the United Nations
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
to ensure the empowerment of women and gender
equality and to provide recommendations to the
Council on the obstacles relating women’s rights in
political, economic, civil, social and education fields.
(contd)

5. Universal Declaration of Human
Rights 1948




Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity
and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and
should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set
forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as
race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, property, birth or other status………
Article 3:Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
person
Article 17: Everyone has the right to own property alone as well
as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his property.

6. International UN Conferences
on Women: Consequence of CSW
 CSW
organized a series of four World
Conferences on Women held over the years
since 1975
 The
conferences have sought to unite the
international community behind a set of common
objectives with an effective plan of action for the
advancement of women everywhere, in all
spheres of public and private life.

7. The UN Conferences for Women
 First
Women Conference was held in Mexico
City in 1975 attended by more the 1,000
people. This was followed by:
 The second Conference in Copenhagen in
1979 attended by 145 delegates
 The third in Nairobi in 1985
 The fourth in Beijing in 1995

8. The Conference for Women in
Mexico City 1975
 The
Conference led to International Women
Day (8 March), International Women Year
and eventually to the International Women
Decade (1976 to 1985)
 The First World Plan of Action for Women
was adopted and called upon governments
to develop strategies that would bring gender
equality, eliminate gender discrimination and
integrate women in development and peacebuilding.

9. The Conference for Women in
Mexico City 1975
 Within
the United Nations, the Plan of Action
also led to the establishment of:
 the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW)
 the
United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM)

10. The Conference for Women in
Mexico City 1975
 Within
the United Nations, the Plan of Action
also led to the establishment of:
 the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women
(INSTRAW)
 the
United Nations Development Fund for
Women (UNIFEM)

11. CEDAW 1979
 The
Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted
in 1979 by the United Nations General
Assembly
 It is also described as an international Bill of
Rights for women
 It came into force on 3 September 1981

12. The Decade of International
Conferences 1990’s and Gender
 Child
Rights Convention 1990
 International Conference of AIDs 1991
 United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (UNCED) 1992, Rio
 World Conference on Human Rights 1993,
Vienna
 International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) 1994, Cairo

13. The Decade of International
Conferences 1990’s and Gender
 The
Fourth World Conference on Women,
1995, Beijing
 World Summit for Social Development,1996,
Copenhagen
 Habitat II, the second UN Habitat summit,
1998, Istanbul
 Decade for Education Dakar Declaration
 Millennium Development Goals 2000

14. Pakistan Movement



Women were an integral part in the struggle of the
freedom movement for Pakistan under the banner of
the Muslim League.
There was widespread mobilization of women and
they played a key role in the attainment of a
separate homeland.
Their public role was reinforced when they organized
themselves to provide relief and rehabilitation to the
millions of refugees that flooded the country after the
Partition in the critical times.

15. The Constitution of Pakistan 1973



The Constitution of Pakistan the most important legal
document guarantees equal status to both men and
women and speaks of women’s rights.
Article 25 of the Constitution clearly states: All
citizens are equal before law and are entitled to
equal protection of law.
There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex
alone.

16. The Constitution of Pakistan 1973
(contd)


Nothing in this Article shall prevent the state from
making any special provision for the protection of
women and children.
Where the constitution guarantees equality, freedom,
rights and dignity to all its citizens, its actual spirit is
not in practice, and women are subjugated to
marginalization in all social, cultural and economic
fields.

17. The Constitution of Pakistan 1973
(contd)

Nothing in this Article shall prevent the state from
making any special provision for the protection of
women and children.

Where the constitution guarantees equality, freedom,
rights and dignity to all its citizens, its actual spirit is
not in practice, and women are subjugated to
marginalization in all social, cultural and economic
fields.

18. Constitution of Pakistan
(contd)

Education is a fundamental right. The Constitution
in Article 25A guarantees Right to Education. ---The
State shall provide free and compulsory education to
all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such
manner as may be determined by law.

19. Constitution of Pakistan
(contd)

Inheritance The country has been ranked 93rd out of 115 in
property rights protection and 86th in gender equality in the
International Property Rights Index (IPRI) 2008. 98%
population in Pakistan is Muslim and Islam gives rights of
inheritance to all inheritors either male or female. The
Constitution of Pakistan (1973) also protects the women’s right
of inheritance and so is the other law of inheritance is prevailing
in the country. Muslim Inheritance Laws guarantee the
inheritance of women as per Shariat. However, the procedural
and codal requirements for the procurement of land as well as
other properties make it nearly impossible for the women
to get their rights. Revenue documents and other legal
documents for attaining the title are un-understandable for the
illiterate women.

20. Policy initiatives of
Government of Pakistan
 This
section mentions various Policy level,
legal and institutional frameworks which
support gender equality and rights based
approaches and relates to some important
aspects and measures on gender.

21. Policy initiatives of
Government of Pakistan

The 1972 Administrative Reforms of the Civil
Services opened the competition for women. This
was the first initiative for women to come on open
merit in the most prestigious cadre of government
public service

As a result of these reforms women came to foreign
service and have arisen to Ambassadorial position
not as appointees but through their professional
career competencies. Presently there are 13 women
heading diplomatic missions. There are 74 women in
the diplomatic missions on important posts.

22. Policy initiatives of
Government of Pakistan

This also includes the first visually impaired who
acquired 6th position in the competition in 2009

Women are 14% of the male dominated Ministry of
Foreign Affairs

A woman had also headed the ministry and served
as the youngest foreign minister

The rise of professional women diplomats is an
important process of gender empowerment

23. Policy initiatives of
Government of Pakistan




In the 1970 General Election though limited a
number of women contested on general seats.
However, as an affirmative action women entered
the National and Provincial Assemblies on reserved
seats with 10% and 5% reserved seats respectively
In 1985 in the non party based elections reserved
seats were increased to 20%
In the government services there was 5% quota for
women. However, it was not fulfilled.
Presently it has is 10% at the Federal level
approved in 2006

24. Policy Initiatives of
Government of Pakistan
In 1979 Women Division was established in
the Cabinet Secretariat
 In 1989 Women Division was upgraded to a
full fledged Ministry of Women and
Development (MoWD)
 MoWD established five Women Study
Centres in five Universities; Karachi, Quetta,
Lahore, Peshawer and Islamabad


25. Policy Initiatives of
Government of Pakistan



In 1989 The First Women Bank Ltd was opened (FWBL) was
established in 1989 to address women's financial needs.
FWBL, a nationalised commercial bank, was given the role of
a development finance institution, as well as of a social welfare
organisation. It operates 38 real-time online branches across
the country, managed and run by women. MWD provided a
credit line of Rs 48 million to FWBL to finance small-scale
credit schemes for disadvantaged women.
The Social Action Programme launched in 1992/93 aimed at
reducing gender disparities by improving women's access to
social services but no much was achieved.
First Women University was established in 1998

26. Policy Initiatives of
Government of Pakistan
 Government of Pakistan was signatory to a number of
international commitments promoting gender equality. It took
various initiatives to comply with these commitments hence
initiating a process of initiatives promoting gender equality and
empowerment of women.

These initiatives were in dovetail with each other and
complemented the GoP’s efforts to its international
commitments to enhance gender mainstreaming, and reform
process to achieve gender equality and empowerment of
women.

27. CEDAW: Policy Initiatives of
Government of Pakistan

Government of Pakistan signed the document in
1995 on the eve of the Beijing Conference on
Women and ratified the Convention in 1996. It is the
fundamental international instrument for addressing
all forms of discrimination against women. However,
the progress on CEDAW had been poor till the date,
although there has been much campaigning by the
CSOs and media demanding for progress on
CEDAW

28. Policy Initiatives of GoP
NPA and NPEDW
 In the wake of Beijing Conference 1995, the Government
through its national machinery, Ministry of Women and
Development (MoWD) formulated and launched the National
Plan of Action for Women in 1998. It was an outcome of a
consultative process of government and civil society
organizations.

GoP formulated the first National Policy for Empowerment and
Development of Women (NPEDW) in 2002 also through an
exhaustive process ensuring participation of provinces and
federal levels, and CSOs

29. Policy Initiatives of GoP
National Plan of Action

The National Plan of Action (NPA) for women
establishes a set of priority actions formulated to
help achieve the agenda for the empowerment of
women in Pakistan. NPA is prepared on the basis of
a national participatory process, involving Federal
and Provincial governments, NGOs, women
organizations and individual experts. The NPA aims
to facilitate women’s participation in all spheres of
life besides ensuring protection of women’s rights
within the family and the society.

30. National Policy on Empowerment and
Development of Women

This policy was formulated in March 2002 for
development and empowerment of women and. The
effort was made to reflect the gender perspective in
all national policies and plans. The goal of this policy
was empowerment of Pakistani women, irrespective
of caste, creed, religion, or other consideration for
the realization of their full potential in all spheres of
life, especially social, economic, personal & political
& in keeping with our Islamic way of life.

31. National Commission on the Status
of Women



NCSW a statutory body was promulgated through NCSW Ordinance
2000 as a consequence of the national and international commitments
of the Government of Pakistan like Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, 1995; and National Plan of Action (NPA) for Women, 1998.
The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) was
established with the specific purpose to: Examine policies, programs
and other measures taken by the Government for women’s
development and gender equality; Review laws, rules and regulations
affecting the status of women; Monitor mechanisms and institutional
procedures for redress of violations of women’s rights and individual
grievances
Three Commissions completed their Terms and there was a gap. In
2012 Bill was passed establishing the Commission as a permanent
body functioning under an outstanding Chairperson

32. Millennium Development Goals




Pakistan is also signatory to the Millennium Declaration (2000).
Millennium Development Goals have eight goals including the
goal to promote gender equality and women empowerment.
These goals form the basis for national development efforts.
They are built on agreements made at United Nations
Conferences in the 1990s and represent commitments by all
countries to reduce poverty and hunger, and to tackle ill-health,
gender inequality, lack of education, lack of access to clean
water and environmental degradation.
The overall progress in Pakistan on MDGs has been too slow
for most of the targets including gender equality and women
empowerment to be met by 2015.

33. Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategy


The guiding principle policy document of the GoP
addresses gender as a cross cutting theme and
emphasizes on Gender mainstreaming as an
essential requirement to achieve the poverty
reduction goals.
Gender Mainstreaming (Planning Commission/
UNDP) Project was initiated in the Planning &
Development departments to ensure the process of
gender mainstreaming.

34. Political Reform Process of NRB: Local
Government Ordinance, Political
Participation of Women


According to the NRB reforms Agenda in the past
decade the government made space to create an
enabling environment for women by enhancing their
representation to 33% reserved seats in the
legislative assemblies and local government.
Significant improvement was made in the seats held
by women in national parliament from just 0.9
percent in the National Assembly and 1.0 percent in
the Senate, to 21 percent in National Assembly and
17 percent in Senate.

35. Positions of Prominence
by Women

Women rose to eminent positions as Federal
Secretaries, ministers, First Speaker of the National
Assembly, First Defence Secretary, Foreign Minister,
Environment Minister, provincial deputy speaker,
eminent political assignments as ambassadors.

Middle class women have set forth on a journey of
empowerment through private sector, as hostesses,
beauticians, designers and many other ways. This is
possible through government support in creating a
conducive environment for women

36. Positions of Prominence
by Women

In December 2006, for the first time, women cadets
from the Military Academy Kakul assumed guard
duty at the mausoleum of Quaid e Azam Muhammad
Ali Jinnah

Women starting coming forth to join Pakistan Air
Force as pilots

37. Gender Reform Action Plan
(GRAP)

The Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) envisaged
reforms in the public sector at Provincial and District
level with the focus on women’s empowerment as its
prime objective. GRAP supported improving
framework of gender policies, and developing
institutional reform proposals outlining interventions
at the federal, provincial and distinct level with an
aim for a proactive approach to include gender
perspectives in public sector policies, programmes
and projects.

38. Legislation




Criminal Law (Crimes in the name of Honour)
Amendment Act, 2004
The Protection of Women (Criminal Laws
Amendments) Act, 2006. July 7, 2006 more than
1300 women languishing in jails because of the
controvesrial Hadood Ordinance were released
on immediate bail
Prevention of Harassment at Workplace Act,
2010
Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act,
2010

39. Legislation



Two additional bills were signed into law by the
President in December 2012 criminalizing the
primitive practices of Vani, watta-satta, swara and
marriage to Holy Quran which used women as
tradable commodities for settlement of disputes.
Furthermore special task force was established in
the interior Sindh region for action against the
practice of Karo Kari
Help lines and offices established in the districts of
Sukker, Jacobabad, Larkana and Khairpur

40. The Protection of Women (Criminal Laws
Amendments) Act, 2006


This bill amended the Pakistan Penal Code, the Code of
Criminal Procedure and other laws to provide relief and
protection to women against misuse and abuse of law and to
prevent their exploitation. This law actually amended the Zina
Ordinance and the Qazaf Ordinance 1979. The amendments of
the Hudood Ordinances have broken the “myth” that the
Hudood Ordinances are God made laws and should not be
altered. The Hudood Laws which were imposed on the people
of Pakistan through an Ordinance (undemocratically) were
amended by a democratic process.
These also gave relief to women who were unfairly registered
under Zina Ordinance when they complained of Rape.

41. Criminal Law (Crimes in the name of
Honour) Amendment Act, 2004

The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill states that the
"issue of honour-killing and other honour crimes committed in
the name of 'karo-kari, siyah-kari and similar other customs has
always been a matter of concern of human rights organizations
and the public which has assumed more significance in the
recent years".

The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2004 which proposes
amendments of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860
enhances punishment for the offence of murders carried out in
the name of honour. However, the word 'honour killing' has
been replaced with 'honour crime' to make it mild and
acceptable to various sections of the society.

42. Prevention of Harassment at
Workplace Act, 2010



The purpose of this Bill is to ensure a work environment where
women and men can feel safe at work and to have fair
accountability system for any gender harassment or abuse at
the workplace.
Whereas Islam and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan aim at elimination of all forms of exploitation,
protection of body, liberty, reputation and dignity of men and
woman and safeguard against discrimination based on gender.
Further recognize the principles of equal opportunity and right
to earn a livelihood without fear of abuse and harassment; it is,
therefore, necessary and expedient to provide a law for
guaranteeing safe work environment and eliminating
discrimination.

43. Acid Control and Acid Crime
Prevention Act, 2010



This bill was introduced and was passed in national assembly
in 2010 in relation to protection against acid crimes and
rehabilitation of and compensation for victims of acid crimes.
Whereas constitution recognizes the fundamental rights of
women and children to security of life and liberty and dignity of
person;
And whereas it is expedient to institutionalize measures which
prevent and protect women and children from acid crimes and
for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;

44. Concerns and Issues
 Legislation
from 1977 to 1988 period had
negative implications on women
 Despite efforts of poverty reduction at the
policy level poverty is on the rise which
also has adverse affects on both gender
as well as children. Boys and girls are
affected

45. Challenges and Concerns
1 Security situation
 Mobility of staff to the provincial, district and
target area
 Natural
Disasters

46. Future Direction - Recommendations
 An
updated programme-centred intervention
framework
 Establish
a concept and Logical Framework
for capacity development
 The
CPP is still in a process to develop an
Action Plan for partner development (CONTD)

47. Future Direction – Recommendations
 The
CPP has to develop its sustainable
outlook beyond 2015 at an early date
 Evaluation
of outcomes

48. Capacity Building and Training
 Capacity
Building and Training is the dire need
for the WHH Partners

49. MTE in a nutshell





Relevance: Project is very much relevant to the GoP
Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment
Effectiveness:…….
Efficiency:…….
Impact: …………..
Sustainability: Outcome orientation to be promoted to
achieve sustainability

50. Thank you !