Saddam Hussein
Election 2018 was precisely one of the most counted-on elections in Pakistan’s history; voter turnout was the highest in the country since independence. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) emerged as the most popular party in the pre-election period and soon after it won majority to form the government. PTI was since ever perceived as a different party; focused on championing youth and particularly on women empowerment in Pakistan. To address gender parity, the party promised in its manifesto, that it will effectively implement initiatives to increase women’s access to education, healthcare, economic opportunity and legal protection.
The first step in this regard was mainstreaming girls in educational domain. To make education more inclusive, PTI said it would prioritize establishment and upgradation of girls’ schools and provide stipends to girls and women for continuing and completing their education. Additionally, to ensure economic empowerment for women, the PTI promised that it would provide economic opportunities to women by: strengthening the legal framework to protect women’s inheritance rights to land and property, increasing state-provided micro-finance opportunities available to women as well as establishing residential and caretaking facilities for working women in urban settings.
However, upon assuming charge when the new government looked at the grim ground realities and tardy state of affairs, it quickly realized that country is fighting for its survival. Among other grave indicators of poor governance, financial stability was taking a nosedive, corruption was rampant, fiscal deficit was on the rise. Thus, gender equality took a back seat and the government shifted focus towards fighting corruption, improving ease of doing business, collecting more taxes and improving governance by introducing pragmatic gradual structural reforms. Though, PTI has taken some remarkable steps and delivered concrete results, in previous and current government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province; proving that the party is capable of effective reforms; as soon as other urgent issues are dealt with. Some gender-focused results obtained in KP include: women getting a share in forest royalty in Chitral; women participation in Billion Tree Tsunami project; Pakistan’s first female cadet college being established in Mardan; more than a billion rupees spent on girls’ community schools in areas that don’t have government schools; more than 1500 girls’ community schools established with more than 100,000 students enrolled, 2150 female teachers enrolled for these schools. PTI KP government also passed an act to provide Rs. 30,000 per month to deserving widows across the province. The party elected the first woman deputy speaker of KP assembly, which even liberal parties like Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) couldn’t achieve during their respective governments. It also nominated its first woman candidate from Dir, where women were not even allowed to vote. 11 women, including 3 sisters, were among 24 police commandos who joined the bomb disposal unit after completing training. Women in KP are increasingly being enabled to join the workforce as agents of change by contributing to their families, communities and society. Besides, PTI government in the province has also promised to allocate an industrial park for women entrepreneurs. Industrial plots would be allotted to the women entrepreneurs, in addition to the already announced package in the industrial policy. So, within KP, it can be safely concluded that PTI has done pretty well regarding women empowerment in general. Having produced some practical and tangible results in the KP province, it is clear that the party has the competence, will and capacity to deliver tangible results.
However, somehow PTI misses the lens for gender-focused economic reforms in particular. Now it’s time that the government pays more attention to this area, and specifically creates such an eco-system and infrastructure that facilitate women’s participation in economic productivity. This may include the better provision of transport so that women feel safe and comfortable while steeping out of the home to go to their workplaces. The government should support women-led businesses in their training, skill development, networking and also share the burden of information cost. Business and taxation related paperwork ought to be minimized for women in particular. Women-led bossiness should be facilitated in mass production initially, to gain from economies of scale. Also, reduce the regulatory burden in general and women-led businesses in specific. In fact, the government should conduct a regulatory impact study, and on the basis of this study decide what sort of regulatory burden can be reduced. Invest in public services, infrastructure, and women-friendly public spaces.
Besides that, the government should provide more comprehensive child care. Evidence suggests that the availability of child care is strongly linked with an increase in women’s labor force participation and productivity. Moreover, amend the laws that limit women’s economic independence. Bringing reforms within inheritance and family laws to lift restrictions on daughters’ legacies and to lessen husbands’ control over wives’ economic activity can have positive economic effects, going beyond the explicit outcomes they are intended to address. In Pakistan, most women are concentrated in the informal sector, which comprises jobs that are unregulated and insecure, like street vending. Policies designed to move workers from the informal sector to the formal sector would be advantageous to women. Working in the formal economy is more likely to benefit women, as it is associated with more control over their incomes than they would have in informal domain. With that, there should be flexible work hours for women. As long as it does not negatively impact the output, flexible hours should not be an issue. The world just witnessed, amidst the global pandemic, that remote working can give you as much output as one would have while ensuring physical presence at the workplace.
Lastly, it goes without saying that Pakistan cannot unleash its true potential by ignoring almost half of its population. Without gender inclusiveness, there would be no progression in real sense. If Pakistan has to flex its muscle economically, first in the region and then in the league of nations, then its men and women have to work side by side, otherwise, we are going nowhere but a dead end.
The author Saddam Hussein is a Development Economist, while he serves as a Research Fellow at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), and Program Officer for CRSS’ sister organization – Afghan Studies Center, Islamabad. He tweets @saddampide.
