Taking stock this Women’s Day
The way forward includes enhancing women’s access to financial services and other infrastructure.
The writer is founder and managing director of Kashf Foundation and founder of Kashf Microfinance Bank Limited based in Pakistan
It has been more than a 100 years since women have taken up their cause to fight against oppression and social injustice.
Perhaps, it’s time to take stock and see what has been gained in this century worth of struggle. The accordance of equal voting rights for women was a key aspect of the original campaign in 1909.
Today, women have this right in most countries, with the exception of Saudi Arabia and Vatican City.
Recently, even the Saudi government has allowed 20 per cent female representation in its Shura Council.
The down side is that women’s participation will be segregated, they must enter the Shura through a separate door and they must sit behind a screen during proceedings so as to not tempt their male colleagues.
Despite this overall move forward, there are countries where women voter turnout is low due to social conventions.
I have heard of cases in Pakistan, as recently as the by-elections in Mianwali, in February 2012, where the local jirga forbade women from voting in the elections.
I remember visiting a community in Swabi in the early 90s, where the candidates on both side of the political divide had met and agreed that women would not be allowed to vote in the elections.
The move by the Election Commission of Pakistan to call for a re-election in constituencies where women’s turn out is below 10 per cent is good start; however, the benchmark is too low.
Pakistan also faces a voter registration issue as revealed in a recent report by the Asia Foundation, suggesting that 10 million women are missing from the electoral roll.
Low female voter registration can be primarily attributable to women not having acquired national identity cards which are a pre-requisite for voter registration, combined with the fact that the Election Commission’s house to house campaign to register votes has been thwarted by male respondents, who have not allowed their women to be registered by simply not mentioning them to the enumerators.
Another point worth considering is the representation of women in parliament, which stands at 19.1 per cent globally; the highest, of course, in the Nordic countries, which consequently also have the highest ranking on the World Economic Forum’s gender index.
I have mixed feelings as a woman and a Pakistani about reserved seats for women in the National and provincial assemblies. Pakistan is not alone in this, of course; other countries have adopted similar practices to boost women’s political presence, for example, Bangladesh and India.
However, Argentina goes a step further by ensuring that 30 per cent of all candidates fielded by political parties are women. In other words, most reserved seats or quota systems do not push for the direct election of women, which in my opinion reduces the value and the impact of women’s presence in the parliament.
Though, ceteris paribus, another report states that female members of the National Assembly in Pakistan ask four times as many questions as their male counterparts, while 51 per cent of the 77 bills tabled in 2011 and 2012 were by women, which have culminated into the Women Protection and Rights Acts and the Acid Crime Bill.
I think, as women, we need to ask for more on the political level and should insist political parties to field more female candidates. Furthermore, political parties also need to play their part as well. Ensuring women are accountable to the electorate will help broaden the female voter base while also placing women’s issues on the front burner.
The second feature of the women’s movement is related to economic rights, equal pay for equal work and reduction in work hours. Like the analysis of political rights, the assessment pertaining to gains in the economic sphere are also mixed.
A recent International Labour Organisation report reveals that despite progress, the average monthly wage rate for women is still 75 per cent of the average rate for men; the same holds true in Pakistan as well.
Furthermore, the same study reveals that women are disproportionately represented in the low wage sector, which in turn also impacts the gender wage gap negatively.
Research has soon that overall labour productivity and wages are linked to educational attainment and skills level.
Women’s lower educational levels and their limited skills when compared with men can explain part of the gender gap in wages.
However, other factors also impact on this like the fact that women may work fewer hours due to multiple demands on their time, they are over-represented in low paid jobs like domestic work and their returns are curtailed by the existence of discriminatory practices that under-value women’s time.
Such imperfections in the wage market are marred by the presence of social norms that reduce the mobility of women, force them to contend with low paid jobs and reduce women’s opportunities for collective bargaining.
This is particularly visible amongst the 11.6 million or so female home-based workers, who are usually paid a pittance for their hard work.
There is no doubt that women have made some strides in the political sphere, however, their lack of active participation in the economy is one primary factor that holds them back.
The way forward includes enhancing women’s access to financial services and other infrastructure, while their access to assets within the home has to be more equitable.
For example, a Department for International Development study shows that if inputs to women workers in agriculture in Africa were the same as those given to men, the agricultural output would be 20 per cent higher.
In other words, the employment opportunities for women, both within the formal and informal sector must be strengthened by increasing the recognition of women’s unpaid work.
Overall, a holistic approach that eliminates discrimination against women in terms of access to resources, financial services, skills development, education, extension and labour markets will work in the long-run.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2013.
Perhaps, it’s time to take stock and see what has been gained in this century worth of struggle. The accordance of equal voting rights for women was a key aspect of the original campaign in 1909.
Today, women have this right in most countries, with the exception of Saudi Arabia and Vatican City.
Recently, even the Saudi government has allowed 20 per cent female representation in its Shura Council.
The down side is that women’s participation will be segregated, they must enter the Shura through a separate door and they must sit behind a screen during proceedings so as to not tempt their male colleagues.
Despite this overall move forward, there are countries where women voter turnout is low due to social conventions.
I have heard of cases in Pakistan, as recently as the by-elections in Mianwali, in February 2012, where the local jirga forbade women from voting in the elections.
I remember visiting a community in Swabi in the early 90s, where the candidates on both side of the political divide had met and agreed that women would not be allowed to vote in the elections.
The move by the Election Commission of Pakistan to call for a re-election in constituencies where women’s turn out is below 10 per cent is good start; however, the benchmark is too low.
Pakistan also faces a voter registration issue as revealed in a recent report by the Asia Foundation, suggesting that 10 million women are missing from the electoral roll.
Low female voter registration can be primarily attributable to women not having acquired national identity cards which are a pre-requisite for voter registration, combined with the fact that the Election Commission’s house to house campaign to register votes has been thwarted by male respondents, who have not allowed their women to be registered by simply not mentioning them to the enumerators.
Another point worth considering is the representation of women in parliament, which stands at 19.1 per cent globally; the highest, of course, in the Nordic countries, which consequently also have the highest ranking on the World Economic Forum’s gender index.
I have mixed feelings as a woman and a Pakistani about reserved seats for women in the National and provincial assemblies. Pakistan is not alone in this, of course; other countries have adopted similar practices to boost women’s political presence, for example, Bangladesh and India.
However, Argentina goes a step further by ensuring that 30 per cent of all candidates fielded by political parties are women. In other words, most reserved seats or quota systems do not push for the direct election of women, which in my opinion reduces the value and the impact of women’s presence in the parliament.
Though, ceteris paribus, another report states that female members of the National Assembly in Pakistan ask four times as many questions as their male counterparts, while 51 per cent of the 77 bills tabled in 2011 and 2012 were by women, which have culminated into the Women Protection and Rights Acts and the Acid Crime Bill.
I think, as women, we need to ask for more on the political level and should insist political parties to field more female candidates. Furthermore, political parties also need to play their part as well. Ensuring women are accountable to the electorate will help broaden the female voter base while also placing women’s issues on the front burner.
The second feature of the women’s movement is related to economic rights, equal pay for equal work and reduction in work hours. Like the analysis of political rights, the assessment pertaining to gains in the economic sphere are also mixed.
A recent International Labour Organisation report reveals that despite progress, the average monthly wage rate for women is still 75 per cent of the average rate for men; the same holds true in Pakistan as well.
Furthermore, the same study reveals that women are disproportionately represented in the low wage sector, which in turn also impacts the gender wage gap negatively.
Research has soon that overall labour productivity and wages are linked to educational attainment and skills level.
Women’s lower educational levels and their limited skills when compared with men can explain part of the gender gap in wages.
However, other factors also impact on this like the fact that women may work fewer hours due to multiple demands on their time, they are over-represented in low paid jobs like domestic work and their returns are curtailed by the existence of discriminatory practices that under-value women’s time.
Such imperfections in the wage market are marred by the presence of social norms that reduce the mobility of women, force them to contend with low paid jobs and reduce women’s opportunities for collective bargaining.
This is particularly visible amongst the 11.6 million or so female home-based workers, who are usually paid a pittance for their hard work.
There is no doubt that women have made some strides in the political sphere, however, their lack of active participation in the economy is one primary factor that holds them back.
The way forward includes enhancing women’s access to financial services and other infrastructure, while their access to assets within the home has to be more equitable.
For example, a Department for International Development study shows that if inputs to women workers in agriculture in Africa were the same as those given to men, the agricultural output would be 20 per cent higher.
In other words, the employment opportunities for women, both within the formal and informal sector must be strengthened by increasing the recognition of women’s unpaid work.
Overall, a holistic approach that eliminates discrimination against women in terms of access to resources, financial services, skills development, education, extension and labour markets will work in the long-run.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2013.