Gender parity is good for both women and society. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s performance in reducing the gender gap is depressing as this year’s World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report has placed it at 153rd slot among 156 countries in the global gender index. The country has lost another two points from last year’s ranking. Among the eight South Asian nations, the country stands at seventh position, one place above Afghanistan. The region is the second-lowest performer in the world.
The report shows that the gender gap in the country has widened in most economic and social sectors. Since women constitute 49.2% of Pakistan’s population, it is time the authorities increased efforts to reduce the growing gender inequality. We cannot make real progress by ignoring nearly half of our population. It is imperative to increase female literacy rate from the current 46.5% and to provide women necessary opportunities so that they can contribute to the progress and development of the country. Now things are far from satisfactory as the WEF report has placed Pakistan among the bottom 10 countries in terms of women’s economic participation and opportunity, their health and survival.
The country is at the 152nd place in economic participation and opportunity index and 153rd in health and survival. It stands at 144th position in educational attainment and at 98th place in political empowerment. At all levels of education, the gender gap in the country is 13%. Around 22.6% women participate in the labour market; 25.3% hold technical roles; and 4.9% hold managerial positions. The income of an average woman is 16% lower than that of an average man. Women’s share as ministers is down to 10.7% from 12%. Women in Pakistan also suffer due to lack of equal access to justice, problems in matters of ownership of land and inheritance rights. However, the report shows improvement in women’s share in professional and technical roles. Corrective measures are needed to provide women with substantive equality.
Daska by-poll verdict
So the Daska by-election will be held afresh. The Supreme Court yesterday rejected PTI’s appeal against the February 25 order of the Election Commission of Pakistan to carry out re-polling in the entire constituency of NA-75 (Sialkot-IV). The by-poll held on February 19 had been marred by rigging – also involving the disappearance of presiding officers of more than a dozen polling stations – as well as deadly clashes between the workers of the ruling PTI and the PML-N that resulted in two deaths and injuries to many. The election commission had thus declared the election null and void. While the commission’s verdict fell in line with what the PML-N had also been demanding, the PTI only wanted the re-polling to be carried out in selected polling stations and not the entire constituency. The PTI candidate, Asjad Malhi, had therefore challenged the ECP verdict in the top court, but failed to convince it.
A short order by a three-judge bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, only says that the court has taken the decision in the light of the law, the Constitution and its own jurisdiction. In his remarks, however, during the hearing, the honourable judge observed, “Re-polling can take place if the results are disputed.” Is this going to set a precedent? Perhaps yes. Let’s wait for the detailed order to know what the court has based its judgment on. Justice Bandial also said that guidelines would be issued to prevent similar incidents in the future. It is hoped that such guidelines would lead towards reforming the electoral exercise.
The by-poll in Daska had raised questions on the seriousness and capability of the election commission to fulfil its constitutional duty of holding free and fair elections; on the intentions of the sitting government about ensuring peaceful polling through impartial use of the administrative machinery; and on the sincerity of our political players to play a role for transparent elections. A re-poll in Daska must provide the answers.
Anti-rape crisis cells
In light of the horrific rape cases that have surfaced during the past many years, the federal government has decided to set up anti-rape crisis cells in all districts, which will be supervised by a 42-member Anti-Rape Ordinance Implementation Committee. The purpose of these anti-rape crisis cells will be to ensure that the due process — registration of a case with the police, medical examination and forensic analysis — is carried out promptly and efficiently. The government believes that this, coupled with the salient features of the Anti-Rape Ordinance and the establishment of special courts, will surely help curb the long-standing issue.
No doubt, Pakistan is slowly catching on with regard to better understanding and addressing the issue of rape — the two-finger virginity test has been abolished and stricter punishments such as castration have been introduced — but, will merely strengthening the legal and administrative side of things be enough? While this new system may provide some semblance of relief and justice to rape victims, it does not address the issue in its totality. The only way to ameliorate such a crisis is by nipping it in the bud; the point is to prevent such incidents from occurring in the first place. In this regard, the government has failed to acknowledge that perpetrators are a product of our own society. The prevalent rape culture normalises harassment and violence, while extreme ideologies that are enforced on individuals from a young age result in sexual repression during adulthood. Both instances lead to a person committing the evil act.
Even though there isn’t a set solution to the problem, education is a powerful tool that can be used to combat the stigma attached to women and teach children about “good” and “bad” touch. The fact that most people do not know about or don’t believe in marital rape shows that we as a society severely lack awareness. Apart from putting an end to impunity, empowering rape survivors and creating a safe space, the government must also direct these soon-to-be established “crisis” cells to address cultural stigmas through education and awareness. Our society’s moral compass has gone astray
