STATEMENT ON GENDER IN PAKISTAN

FROM THE HEADS OF UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES RESIDENT IN PAKISTAN

July 1998

I. INTRODUCTION

(a) The United Nations

The United Nations is based on the goals of peace, human rights and justice, with the equal rights of men and women highlighted at the very beginning of the UN Charter. Thus all efforts of the United Nations to promote gender equality, equity and empowerment as part of people-centered sustainable development arise from the UN human rights mandate. We believe that equality between women and men is a matter of fundamental human rights and a condition for social justice. As agencies of the United Nations, we will strengthen our joint efforts to assist the Government of Pakistan to achieve sustainable human development through full participation of, and partnership between, both women and men in all spheres of life. The purpose of this Joint Statement is to explain how we propose to achieve this.

The UN’s approach to issues of gender is based on a number of internationally agreed commitments. The following are a few examples:

"...to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women..."

The United Nations Charter (1945)

"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion..."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

"...State parties shall take in all fields, in particular in the political, social, economic and cultural fields, all appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men...."

The Convention on the Elimination of

All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW; 1979)

"...improving the status of women also enhances their decision-making capacity at all levels in all spheres of life...

International Conference on Population and Development (1994)

 

"...Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental for the achievement of equality, development and peace."

Beijing Platform for Action (1995)

Many other UN conferences and legal instruments embrace the same basic values. Thus, the full and equal participation of women in political, economic and social life at all levels of society, and the eradication of all forms of discrimination on the grounds of gender, are priority objectives of the international community. The recently adopted Beijing Platform For Action constitutes a powerful global agenda for the empowerment of women and calls for the integration of a gender perspective in all policies and programmes.

(b) Pakistan’s Commitment

The Constitution of Pakistan (1973) guarantees this equality between women and men. It has the following provisions for affirmative action for women:

    • Article 25 states: "All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection before the law; there shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex alone; nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the protection of women and children."
    • Article 34 states: "Steps shall be taken to ensure the full participation of women in all spheres of national life."

Pakistan has also adopted several of the international commitments to protect basic human rights and gender equality. These include:

  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948);
  • International Labour Standards and ILO Basic Human Rights Conventions, e.g. Freedom of Association and Protection of the Rights to Organise 1948; Discrimination in Employment and Occupation 1958;
  • The Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (1985);
  • Education for All, Jomtien,1990;
  • Convention on the Rights of the Child, (CRC) ratified by Pakistan in 1990;
  • Agenda 21, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio, 1992;
  • Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Vienna Conference on Human Rights, 1993;
  • The Programme of Action, International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo, 1994;
  • Platform for Social Development, World Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995;
  • Beijing Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995;
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, (CEDAW), Pakistan acceded in 1996;

Moreover, Pakistan has been seeking to operationalise its commitments in a variety of ways. Implementation of the government’s Social Action Programme (SAP) started in 1992/3 with a major focus on removing gender disparities, especially in basic education and primary health. Efforts are under way to include gender concerns in all planning initiatives. The Ministry of Women’s Development, Social Welfare and Special Education is also striving for greater gender sensitisation of the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1998-2003).

 

(c) The Situation in Pakistan

It is recognised that in Pakistan, as in many other member states, many women in particular do not enjoy many of the rights laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite the best efforts of the Government, many NGOs, CBOs and other women’s organisations, there remains in Pakistan, as in many other member states of the United Nations, a significant disparity between these statements of principle and day-to-day reality.

Gender disparity can be seen, for example, through the lens of the gender-related development index (GDI) and the gender empowerment measurement (GEM), both introduced in the 1995 UNDP Human Development Report. Pakistan’s GDI ranking is 120th out of 146 countries whilst its GEM ranking is 92nd out of 94 countries.

Below are some human social indicators for females and males in Pakistan, taken from both the Global and South Asian Human Development Reports, as well as from Pakistan’s own Integrated Household Survey, 1996/97. It should be recognised, though, that there is a lack of gender-disaggregated data available:

II. THE UN’s COMMITMENT IN PAKISTAN

Each of the UN Agencies has been working in the area of gender and development for a number of years, by providing support to the government, NGOs and civil society. Building on this experience, we, as Heads of the UN Agencies resident in Pakistan, have committed ourselves to collaborating closely in the following three interlinking areas:

    • Advocacy
    • Programming
    • In-House Policies

Following are more specific commitments under these three components.

(a) Advocacy

It is the responsibility of the United Nations, and of its Voluntary Funds and Specialised Agencies, to promote human rights as spelled out in the Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights including the rights of women. The UN agencies believe that issues of gender must be addressed by national processes. We will therefore seek to support these processes by advocating early action on a number of high priority issues:

  • Nationwide awareness of the rights of women and children, and of individual and institutional obligations towards fulfilling these rights, including the empowerment of girls and young women to be role models and agents of change within their families and at a community level;
  • The formal adoption of the National Plan of Action (NPA) by the Government of Pakistan, based on the recommendations from the Beijing Platform for Action and Pakistan’s National Report; and assist the Ministry of Women’s Development and all line ministries in its implementation;
  • The adoption of a constitutional amendment, establishing 33% reserved seats for women in the National and Provincial Assemblies, as well as in all local bodies;
  • The repeal of all laws and other legislative reforms, discriminatory to women, so as to inter alia increase women’s protection from violence and improve law enforcement, as per the recommendations of the "Commission of Inquiry for Women"(1997);
  • The improvement in women’s mobility through increased gender awareness aimed at reducing discriminatory barriers, alongwith improved personal status and competence;
  • The elimination of gender gaps in access to basic education, health, nutrition and water supply and sanitation, as well as credit and support services for economic production;
  • The importance of developing and maintaining a gender perspective on both the causes and consequences of poverty, recognising that women are often disproportionately affected by issues of household food security, drug abuse, HIV infection, etc.;
  • The promotion of reproductive rights, and increased access of both women and men to quality reproductive health care including family planning;
  • The promotion of gender equity norms and values in children, youths and adults through educational programmes at all levels;
  • The promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment in employment, with increased participation and integration of women in economic activities, both as entrepreneurs and employees. 

(b) Programming

In the context of our development programmes/projects, the United Nations agencies have made the following commitments:

    • To promote the mainstreaming of gender and ensure that gender concerns are incorporated at all phases of the project cycle: identification, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; and include gender-based performance indicators in all UN programmes/projects;
    • To ensure that all programmes implemented by the UN agencies are people-centered, provide equal access to women and men, and that, of the total number of beneficiaries reached by these combined UN supported projects and programmes, at least 50% are girls and women.
    • To work within a common gender framework, with a view to implementing pilot joint programmes;
    • To assist the government in collecting and analysing gender disaggregated data, and establishing an accurate and reliable database for effective dissemination and use among planners and policy makers;
    • To assist the government in the identification of, and solutions to, gender-related problems vis-à-vis its commitment to international goals; and promote the mainstreaming of gender in line ministries;
    • To strengthen and promote the work of Civil Society Organisations and community groups dealing with issues of gender;
    • To support the Ministry of Women’s Development, in association with other government ministries, in its efforts to implement the National Plan of Action (NPA) and processes related to the implementation of CEDAW;
    • To promote UN/Donor coordination in providing technical assistance to gender-related government, NGO and other civil society initiatives; 

(c) In-House Policies

With regard to our own internal policies, we will make the following commitments:

    • To increase the number of female staff members in our organisations - we will seek to recruit more women at all levels, with due regard to qualifications and availability, until gender parity is achieved;
    • To create and maintain an enabling and gender-sensitised environment, we will conduct gender-sensitisation workshops for all staff, at all levels of our organisations;
    • To develop the in-house capacity of UN staff to ensure that the gender dimension is taken into account in all activities and programmes undertaken by our agencies;
    • To establish a culturally-sensitive and transparent internal mechanism whereby complaints of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment are dealt with fairly and effectively.

III. SUMMARY

The UN Agencies are well aware that much more needs to be achieved in the area of gender if Pakistan is to secure human rights for all and achieve a sustainable level of human development in the 21st Century. The above commitments represent only the first steps in what will be a long journey. The UN looks forward to working with the Government and the People of Pakistan to realise all their aspirations.