PAKISTAN: Lawmakers Quota Opens Doors for Pakistan Women

What challenges do women face in politics?

There have been many constraints on women entering into politics. This is why in 2002 the affirmative action plan was put in place, which reserved 60 seats for women in the National Assembly and 17 in the Senate.

Unfortunately, fighting elections is an expensive business and it has been male dominated for most of our history and parties have found it better to spend the money on male candidates. That's the reality, but we do have some great examples, such as Benazir Bhutto, the first woman to be elected as a Prime Minister of a Muslim country and our neighbouring countries have had powerful women as heads of state.

Have you had problems from traditionalists or fundamentalists?

In the last parliament, we never had any problems with them. You may think, in the West, that they would try to hinder us but they were all very nice. They might not have been supportive of women's issues, but that was their own parties perspective.
In the West, the stories that are more horrific that make it into the media and therefore there is a tainted view of how Islam treats women or how women are treated and, for the most part, women aren't held back by religious reasons. We have very dynamic women, who are not only in politics, but in the armed forces, flying fighter jets. It's really amazing to see women coming up now.

What has been the practical response to the quotas?

After we came into parliament, it almost instantaneously changed the social fabric in Pakistan. Traditionally, medicine and teaching were the professions for women who went to college. Since so many women and young girls saw us in politics, many other professions have opened up, such as journalism, not just behind desks, but reporting, even from conflicts like Lebanon. You wouldn't see that ten years ago. The first Pakistani in space is going to be a woman, she's training now with NASA! It's amazing how opening the door for women has opened the door for them in almost every field.

What do you want to see happen next?

I would like to see, is Pakistani women really seizing this opportunity that they have and excel in their professions and make themselves indispensable.

How long will you need the quota system?

Probably a generation. With women's rights issues, in any country, it's hard to take one step forward and very easy to take ten steps back, so we would like to see it ingrained in a generation.

Do you see a regional network of female representatives?

It wasn't until I went to New York for a meeting that I met a female Afghan legislator, even though they are next door. The speaker of the Pakistan Assembly, the first woman Speaker in the Muslim world is setting up a women's caucus and she has encouraged other regional states to do the same and I would like to see this grow into a regional group.