Women rights issue echoes in Senate

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Friday stood totally divided on how much rights should be ensured to women in Pakistan but shared consensus on how they lagged behind as compared to men, as senators discussed the National Commission on Status of Women report.

Those took part in the discussion on the annual report of the commission of the year 2017, which was laid in the Senate by Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari on January 22 last year, included Senators Mohsin Aziz, Mushtaq Ahmad, Walid Iqbal, Nuzhat Sadiq and Sherry Rehman.

The widely-discussed issue of a Faisal Vawda, showing a long shoe, also echoed in the House after the question Hour, when PML-N Senator Kulsoom Parveen raised the matter, wondering should the lawmakers stop appearing in TV talk shows, the way a sitting member of this House was ‘insulted’.

She clarified that they had voted not for the boots but for the country’s key security institution, which was so dear to them. “Is this punishment of stopping the minister for a few days from appearing in talks shows is enough,” she asked.

Senators Mohsin Aziz and Mushtaq emphasised during the discussion on the commission report that the women rights should not be seen through the Western lenses and cultural invasion. They insisted that awareness about women rights could not be promoted and drives pushed for their rights while sitting in five-star hotels; instead such events be held in rural areas to read and asses the ground realities.

They said events in the name of culture in academic schools could not be allowed, which ran contrary to social and cultural values, enshrined in the shariah.

They supported women emancipation and lifting their status in the society, freeing them from the clutches of exploitation but not at the cost of values and honour. They also objected to certain slogans raised and inscribed on posters during drives for women rights last year.

Senator Walid Iqbal wondered how the goal of progress and prosperity could be achieved by leaving behind women, which are 50 percent of Pakistan’s population.

Citing a global survey, he said Pakistan was 151st out of 153 countries in terms of gender equality just ahead of Iraq and Yemen.

Senator Sherry Rehman while responding, particularly to Senator Mohsin Aziz’s speech, where she said he cited culture as a reason for oppressing women she said, "When it comes to women’s rights I expect all parties to adopt a bipartisan approach in Parliament. You cannot justify honour crimes or any other oppression, let alone condemn entire rights movements, in the name of culture. I would urge everyone not to play the religion and culture card because our religion guaranteed women better rights, which should have grown with the demands of social change”.

“It is our fault that we have not given freedom, equality and power that we should have given to women by now. It is the state’s responsibility to nurture those values and carry those rights into the modern world. We [women] are neither a second gender nor will we condone honour crimes in this House.

“Women’s rights are violated regularly in our society but for a progressive party like the PPP, they form a major component of our manifesto and value system. I can proudly say that most of the progressive legislation in the country today has been brought by the PPP or other women legislators and among the provinces by Sindh,” she said.

She thanked those who played a pivotal part in women’s rights movements over the decades and said, “Those women spearheaded the women’s movement with an unprecedented bravery, offering invaluable sacrifices as they faced a dictator like Ziaul Haq. The PPP’s name was attached to this movement as well, as it too was led from the front by a woman and Pakistan’s twice-elected Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto”.

“The civil society at the time, of which I was a member, was facing police lock-ups and stern resistance. But we were not doing it for our own rights. We don’t fight for ourselves. We fight for those who are without privilege or power as honour crimes are mostly faced for those living in deeply vulnerable situations, in rural or tribal areas or situations where they don’t know their rights or are unable to exercise them, with no access to lawyers or justice," she noted.

On a lighter note, she said, "The new women’s movement too must be supported and if Senator Mohsin did not like slogans like heat up your own dinner from the last women’s demonstrations, he should be careful as we will make sure he has to heat up his own dinner too”. The House will now resume Monday afternoon.