March Issue 2010

As part of Newsline‘s cover story “One Step Forward” on women parliamentarians and their effect on the status of women in Pakistan, we interviewed five female MNAs to find out what progress has been made in gender rights.

“Women parliamentarians should not marginalise themselves by working on merely women-related issues”
– Anusha Rahman Khan

“Women parliamentarians have a long way to go before they start making a difference in parliament and policy-making as a whole.

The mode of election of women on the reserved seats generally puts women parliamentarians at a disadvantage in the eyes of the elected members of the parliament; this, despite the fact that the constitution provides equal rights to both elected and reserved seat members.

Women parliamentarians should not marginalise themselves by working on merely women-related issues, rather they should strive to be representatives of 100% of the population, thus emerging as equal rather than segmented members in parliament.

Any perception that women should work only on gender-related issues should be dispelled and, as equal citizens of society, they should contribute in all areas of policy-making.”

Read all five of the MNA interviews:

• Sherry Rehman
• Marvi Memon
• Sameea Qazi
• Bushra Gohar
• Anusha Rahman Khan