Empowering women: Legislators’ record unimpressive

ISLAMABAD: The government has passed only two bills regarding women’s development in the past two years, nullifying its claims about facilitating female empowerment.

Thirty-four bills are still pending, and are currently with either the National Assembly or its various standing committees.

According to National Assembly secretariat records, lawmakers have adopted only two bills during their tenure, the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act and the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplaces Act, both passed in 2010.

Adviser to the prime minister on women’s development, Yasmeen Rahman, conceded that the government should have taken action on the pending bills relating to women’s rights. “You have brought this issue to my knowledge and I assure you that I will take up this issue at the highest levels,” Rahman said.

Nadeem Farhat Gilani of the Institute of Policy Studies in Islamabad, however, had a different take on the issue.

He said that legislators in Pakistan also have a tendency to deny credit to and downplay bills initiated by opposing lawmakers.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2010.