Daily Times

Local elections are again in vogue it seems with Balochistan becoming the first to conduct them last week. Other provinces are still contemplating. As the debate over the local bodies schedule goes on, my focus is on the ‘reservation’ debate. I have had my share of hot debates and deliberations but perhaps the debate about which I am most passionate is the one on female reserved seats. I am against quotas. I am against reservations. I understand affirmative action but I do not understand extended affirmative action that becomes a convenient excuse to not take the bull by the horns.

Women are faced with numerous challenges in the political arena. Men face them too but female challenges are a bit more different and difficult. Thus, as an affirmative action plan, for a limited time, we should have seats reserved for women within the legislative assemblies. Partially agreed, but in Pakistan we have had them for a long time, with some breaks. Have they had an effect or are the seats used as a convenient excuse not to be fully committed to women’s political empowerment? Do they have an effect? Or have they served to ghettoise women in the political arena?

I have heard the cliché that women are supposed to represent women in politics. This cliché is the result of the female reserved seats. I disagree with this cliché. Women and men are individuals and they represent individuals in their turn – they represent humans. Is the Prime Minister (PM) of the country only that of the men? Are the male parliamentarians only representing the men of their area? Thus, my response to the cliché’ “women are supposed to represent women in politics” is always that this is a regressive statement.

I cannot divide public issues and public representatives into ‘his’ and ‘hers’. For me there is no separate gynaecological ward of issues and responsibilities. Therefore, to categorise female and male public representatives into such categories is unfair and simply incorrect.

When the price of sugar increases it affects everyone, when peace breaks down and war is imminent it affects everyone and when democratic institutions break down both men and women are affected. Therefore, a public representative is the representative of Joe and Jane public.

However, of course I am aware this can be labelled as an utopian idea. For, after all, the political and social challenges that are faced by men and women are different. Men, for instance, are not told that their first responsibility is ‘the family and children’ and not ‘politics’. Women are. They have been told this over the decades, perhaps centuries. When an individual is constantly fed such concepts, she/he starts believing them too. So consistently has this message been reiterated to women that it has been internalised and leads to the quietening of her unconscious demands. I recently conducted a survey seeking opinions on this very issue of women’s political participation through reserved seats from women parliamentarians. In the survey, one response that I got from a respondent perhaps sums up this particular family and politics argument .The honourable member of the National Assembly declared: “Family is the women’s farz (obligation). Politics is the nafal (choice).” Such thinking definitely needs re-thinking to say the least.

The Pakistani woman has certainly come a long way. Many invisible barriers, which had been limiting female progress and extending their way from the glass ceiling at the top to the sticky floor below, were broken. We now have female pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. A Pakistani woman will also go into space. Another Pakistani woman has been awarded the coveted Sword of Honour. In the political arena, from the local level to the national one, some names across party lines have emerged as strong political leaders. However, perhaps there are also a number of women at the local, provincial and federal tiers who have not taken to politics and are there just because there is a provision of reserved seats that they have been obligated to fill.

Female public representatives at these three tiers have not had it easy. They have been forced by (a) the public (b) the media (c) male parliamentarians and, most importantly, (d) by themselves to be constantly apologetic and defensive. At the end of every parliamentary year, the public, media, their male colleagues and they themselves have asked, “What have the women representatives done for women’s issues?” The premise of the question is that now that women parliamentarians are here, a magic wand should be waved and deep-rooted, regressive and gender insensitive social/cultural/religious practices will be whisked away. This, of course, is unfair and incorrect.

I would also like to share another reason why I find this to be unfair and incorrect. It is not just about issues and challenges such as the Hudood Ordinance or so-called ‘honour killings’. It is about the urge to have a better society, a society that is more humane and progressive, and where individuals work and live according to the best of their potential. Instead we are being shackled by regressive religious, cultural and mental shackles that we, unfortunately, have carried with us into the 21st century.

Citizens have witnessed how women parliamentarians in the Senate, National Assembly, the provincial Assemblies and even the district Assemblies have tried to raise and articulate issues related to access to basic rights and human rights violations from a gender perspective. They have been shot down but there have also been some success stories such as when the issue of honour killings was raised. The silver lining is that at least it succeeded to bring these issues on the national political radar screen from which previously it was tragically missing.

The whole question of reservation in the context of strengthening female political empowerment in Pakistan needs to be re-examined. There are no easy answers. This is perhaps because there is no single answer to give. However, an effort to revisit reservations must be made. We should ask whether reservations are the only way to increase female political empowerment. Are reservations effective or are they a stopgap measure? Are these reserved seats liable to be misused? What other ways, if any, are there of facilitating female political empowerment?

Men and women are interest groups in societies, in the market and in politics. It is time that we realise this and re-examine the ghettoisation of women’s political participation in Pakistan.

The writer is a development consultant. She tweets at @GulminaBilal and can be reached at coordinator@individualland.com