Pakistan: ‘Need for women politicians greater than ever’

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Former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Wednesday stressed the need for creating sustained training opportunities for women parliamentarians to ensure they play a vital role in promoting a strong democratic culture in Pakistan. She was speaking at “National Networking Summit on Women’s Leadership”, arranged by the Search For Common Ground (SFCG) Pakistan and PAIMAN Alumni Trust as part of SFCG Pakistan’s “Women’s Initiatives for Learning and Leadership (WILL)” campaign under the project “Strengthening Women Parliamentarians for Effective Government”. Dr Mirza in her speech quoted Quaid-e-Azam, who said, “I have always maintained that no nation can ever be worthy of its existence that cannot take its women along with the men. No struggle can ever succeed without women participating side by side with men.” She said, “Enhanced professional skills of women politicians will help improve our society’s perceptions on the leadership skills of women and will also inspire young women to step forward and strengthen the democratic culture and structures for creating a peaceful Pakistan.” Referring to the cases in certain constituencies where women were barred from voting in the recently held by-elections, she said such instances indicated the challenges that women continue to face in Pakistan in their efforts for inclusion in the national political struggle for democracy. “The need for women’s participation, recognition of their efforts, and their acceptance as effective leaders has never been greater than now,” she said. She also urged the National Women’s Parliamentary Caucus to play a significant role in establishing strong and synergetic links between women parliamentarians in the National Assembly and those in the provincial assemblies. “This will help women parliamentarians achieve our common goals and objectives as a multi-partisan political force for bringing about much-needed legislative reforms and dynamism in Pakistan,” said Dr Mirza. During the summit, Health Sciences and Regulation Minister Saira Afzal Tarar and former National Assembly deputy speaker Faisal Kairm Kundi co-chaired a roundtable session entitled, “Advancing Women’s Political Leadership in Pakistan”. The session included a large number of male and female politicians belonging to major political parties from across Pakistan, as well as key members of civil society, academia, development sector and media. The discussion addressed issues pertaining to women’s political leadership such as discrepancies in the manifestos of political parties on the role of women and how civil society and media could help support women politicians bolster their leadership role in national politics. A participatory session entitled “Leading by Learning: Women Leaders Experiences from the Field” was another feature of the summit where WILL ambassadors and beneficiaries of capacity-building trainings talked about their experiences, lessons learned and accomplishments from the field. SFCG also screened a documentary featuring success stories of women politicians who had participated in the WILL programme from four provinces as well as FATA region.