March 12, 2025
By Iqra Manzoor
LAHORE
A report released in connection with International Women’s Day highlights the impressive performance of women parliamentarians who have contributed nearly half (49%) of the parliamentary agenda. However women activists and experts lament that there is a drastically low representation in parliament – Pakistan falls short of the UN-recommended 33% representation of women in Parliament.
Apart from representation in the legislature, Pakistan also has one of the largest gender pay gaps (GPG) globally, with women earning 25% less than men based on hourly wages and 30% less based on monthly wages, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The Women Parliamentarians Performance Report (2024-25) was released by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) also notes that this achievement is particularly noteworthy, because the current representation of women in parliament stands at a mere 17%, despite an average of 21% reported earlier.
Official statistics also reveal that the actual working strength of female employees in various government bodies falls significantly short of the mandated representation, standing at a mere 5.33%. This disparity is particularly pronounced in FATA, where women’s representation is a negligible 0.15%, followed closely by KP, which has a similarly low representation of 2.22%.
Pakistan’s Federal Cabinet comprises 30 federal ministers, with a staggering imbalance – only one female minister and 29 male ministers. This glaring disparity highlights the persistent gender inequality in Pakistan’s federal cabinet. Despite women making up almost half of Pakistan’s population, they remain severely underrepresented in leadership positions.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Punjab marked International Women’s Day on March 8, with great enthusiasm, recognizing the invaluable contributions of women in various institutions and fields across Pakistan.
Statistics
FAFEN sheds light on the remarkable achievements of women parliamentarians in Pakistan during the 2024-2025 legislative year, highlighting their significant contributions despite comprising only a fraction of the legislature.
Despite making up just 17% of the National Assembly (NA) and Senate, women MPs accounted for nearly 49% of the parliamentary agenda, a historic high since 2015-16. Women MNAs initiated 55% of the agenda in the NA, while female Senators contributed 31% in the Senate.
Women legislators focused on diverse issues, including institutional accountability, climate resilience, economic inequality, human rights protections, and healthcare reforms. They also proposed amendments to strengthen safeguards for women, children, and minorities, and advocated for procedural reforms to enhance inclusivity.
While women MPs made notable contributions, the rate at which their agenda items were addressed declined in 2024-25, with 67% of women-sponsored items in the NA and 77% in the Senate being addressed. This decline reflects broader stagnation in parliamentary efficiency rather than gender-based disparities.
Women parliamentarians actively participated in parliamentary debates, with higher attendance rates compared to their male counterparts. Female MNAs attended an average of 70 sittings (75% of 93), while female Senators attended 67% of sittings.
Key statistics showed that women MPs sponsored 44% of Private Members’ Bills, 49% of Private Members’ Resolutions, 44% of Calling Attention Notices (CANs), and 49% of all parliamentary Questions. Women also played a crucial role in proposing amendments to parliamentary rules.
Top-performing women MPs in terms of attendance included Shahistan Khan (PML-N), Aasia Ishaq Khan (MQM-P), and Nuzhat Sadiq (PML-N). In the Senate, Senator Husna Bano (PPP) had the highest attendance rate, followed by Senator Falak Naz (PTI) and Senator Palwasha Khan (PPP).
The report underscores the pivotal role women legislators are playing in shaping Pakistan’s legislative future despite challenges in the efficient handling of their proposed agenda items.
Equal partners in progress
As the country celebrated International Women’s Day, Nafisa Shah, a member of the National Assembly, emphasizes the crucial need for Pakistan to invest in women and girls. Shah advocated for a ‘Charter of Women’, where all political parties commit to ensuring 33% women’s representation in various sectors. “We need to make women equal partners in progress,” she said.
Shah stressed that this disparity can only be addressed if political parties work together.
“Pakistan has witnessed its own pushback with respect to representation of women in the Parliament,” Shah noted. “We can immediately reverse this trend if political parties resolve the contested question on reserved seats by sitting across the table and negotiating the best way forward.”
Is Pakistan doing enough for its women citizens?
Khawar Mumtaz, renowned women’s rights activist and the former Chairperson of the National Commission on the Rights of Women (NCSW), emphasizes the significant contributions women have made in legislatures despite their limited presence.
“Women in legislatures have repeatedly proved that they are more active, more prepared, raise more issues, move greater numbers of resolutions (in proportion to their numbers) and more regularly attend sessions than their male counterparts despite their limited numerical presence (18% give or take a couple of percent points),” she says. “In short, they take their role seriously.”
Mumtaz notes that women’s optimal potential remains unfulfilled due to their underrepresentation, falling short of the UN-prescribed critical mass of 33%.
“Their participation can be even more meaningful if women on reserved seats are directly elected, know their constituents and represent them and their issues. For democracy to prevail and be sustained, women in political parties have to have a voice in decision-making bodies of political parties through 33% representation at that level too,” she added.
Mumtaz argues that Pakistan is doing a disservice to its women citizens by not adequately acknowledging their contributions to the parliamentary process and lawmaking.
“Women parliamentarians also have to realise their potential and the impact of their voices especially on issues that unite them because of their gender,” she stressed. “These issues need voices that go beyond party lines which a true ‘critical mass’ can ensure — like through the women in the parliamentary caucus.”
To unlock women’s potential and agency, Mumtaz calls for multi-pronged structural reforms.
“In other departments where women’s quotas are not filled, greater push with support provisions are needed,” she concludes. “A timeline to fill quotas must be set to accelerate the induction with departmental assessment linked with quota completion. Most importantly, the 33% quota at all tiers of local government must be restored. It was a game changer for women at the grassroots. The challenge is to unlock women’s potential and agency. Perhaps too much, but unless multi-pronged structural reforms are undertaken, we will continue to remain at the bottom of global ranking. And leave our women at large weak, dependent, marginalised (except a few).”
Why women’s representation must increase
Tahira Abdullah, a renowned human rights defender, also shared her thoughts with Voicepk.
“This information from FAFEN is nothing new or surprising – we have been seeing similar research data consistently over the past 3.5 decades. Kudos to the women currently in parliament.”
Abdullah emphasized that the impressive performance of women legislators is not the primary reason for demanding increased representation.
“However, women legislators’ demonstrated performance is not the reason women’s rights activists have been demanding 33% reserved seats for women for the past 40 years now,” she said. “Gender equality and parity is a fundamental human right, irrespective of performance, hence we will continue to demand 33% reserved seats and allocation of 15% tickets for general seats to women by all political parties by law.”
A call for inclusive representation
“By and large, most Pakistani male parliamentarians are even more patriarchal, feudal, tribal, sexist and misogynist than men in other institutions,” said Abdullah. “Why would they want to enact laws to ensure parity of women in the legislature?”
Abdullah said that all vulnerable and disadvantaged sections of society need to be proportionately represented, including the transgender community, religious and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, PWDs), rural agricultural women and men, factory workers, and so on.”
Pakistan’s women left in the lurch
It is important to note that while women in Pakistan face serious issues, the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has been without a chairperson for months, sparking concerns over the government’s commitment to addressing underrepresentation and issues related to women.
Munizae Jahangir, a senior journalist and co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has expressed her astonishment over the government’s delay in appointing a chairperson for the National Commission on the Status of Women.
“Everyday in Pakistan women are subjected to honor killings, acid attacks and gang rapes. In a country where the indicators are so poor for women and violence against women is so rampant, it is astonishing that the government has yet to appoint a chairperson for the NCSW and it has been months since that post was vacated.”
Jahangir further revealed that “According to well placed sources the reason why a chairperson is not being appointed is because intelligence agencies are supposed to be vetting nominations on the criteria of ‘national security’.”
She condemned the involvement of the intelligence agencies in a decision making process that is the domain of elected representatives.
“The government in power must take their responsibilities seriously and walk the talk on ending violence against women.”