Special report on female participation in elections

With 10 years of political experience, Nuzhat Aamir Sadiq knows only too well the challenges facing female politicians in Pakistan. As a candidate from the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) party, she has been nominated for one of 60 seats reserved for women in the country's National Assembly of 332. An electorate of 72 million will vote in Thursday's General Election as part of President Musharraf's plan to return the country to democracy. She told IRIN that part of the secret of becoming a successful female politician was confidence in dealing with men. "I think it is all to do with how a lady portrays herself," she said. "If you are strong you will not have problems. I can look them in the eye and talk to them as an equal. This was my secret to success in politics. You need confidence." Sadiq was participating in a workshop in Rawalpindi, in the central Punjab Province, to discuss how well party manifestos were dealing with women's rights. "It's very good and a great learning experience for me," she said. "We get to share ideas and gain knowledge and find out about other parties' manifestos," she added. The PML is playing up equality and participation of women in national development in its manifesto. "When we were in power, we opened up crisis centres for the women who were abused and having problems at home, and gave legal advice," Sadiq said. The party also planned to promote the recruitment of more female teachers and relax the age limit for mothers and widows who sought employment, among other issues, she added. "For me, education is the most important issue. We need to educate those in rural areas," Sadiq said, noting that most women there had no idea of their rights. Organised by a local NGO called the Aurat (Woman's) Foundation, such workshops opened two weeks ago in the country's main cities to discuss what female candidates were offering the women of Pakistan today if they were voted into power. "I think all the political parties, except the religious ones, have committed [themselves] to reviewing and repealing laws that discriminate against women," the director of the legislative watch programme for the Aurat Foundation, Naeem Ahmed Mirza, told IRIN at the workshop in Rawalpindi. Having seen all the party manifestos, he said, this was the first time they had focused on legislation for violence against women and sexual harassment. He said he believed this could be due to recent high-profile cases of gang-rape. Mirza praised the PML for including in its manifesto a section advocating joint property rights for women, describing it as a very distinctive move. However, he noted that promises made to women by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), headed by Pakistan's only female leader, Benazir Bhutto, were "disappointing" as compared to previous years. Fozia Habib, a long-time member of the PPP and a top candidate for one of the reserved seats for women found the workshop beneficial. "We learn a lot, and it creates awareness and enables the political party to take their suggestions further and act accordingly in the interest of women," she told IRIN. Under the devolution of power promised by Musharraf, 33 percent, or some 42,000 seats in district councils, have been reserved for women through direct elections. The perecentage of earmarked seats at provincial and national level is lower though. Of the 342 seats in the National Assembly, 60 have been reserved for women, and 128 out of 728 in the provincial assemblies. For the first time ever, some 50 women are contesting general (unearmarked) seats in the national polls and 120 women are contesting at the provincial level for general seats. More than 40,000 women were elected as councillors at the district, tehsil (section of a district), and union levels in the local elections held last year. With such a huge drive to recruit women, the government developed a programme to help those elected. The Ministry of Women's Development launched a training programme for female councillors as a part of its Women's Political Participation Project. In an attempt to tackle the huge problem of female illiteracy in Pakistan, the project will also implement adult literacy programmes for women councillors. "There is an 80 to 90 percent chance for women to win seats in this election," the secretary to the government of Pakistan for the Ministry of Women's Development, Parveen Qadir Aga, told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad. "The sheer fact that they are standing shows their determination to win." But encouraging women to stand as candidates, and also to participate in voting, has been a struggle in some conservative areas of Pakistan. Last year, some female participants were attacked during local elections in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Aga said although in a few places some women had been discouraged from standing, the government had acted quickly to resolve the matter. The government-run training programme in July 2002 for 70 district councillors from all over Pakistan, had already trained them as "lead mentors". Based on a relay of information method, the lead mentors will act as master trainers and pass their skills on to some 300 councillors, thereby giving the project a wider outreach. "We must remember that it was not until 1930 in the US that women got the right to vote," Aga said, noting that there were some areas in Pakistan where women had traditionally stayed away from the polls. With female candidates from all walks of life participating in the elections, Aga said, the government planned to support them after polling had ended. "Not everyone has the knowledge of the constitution, and we want to help build their capacity." Meanwhile, back at the workshop in Rawalpindi, Habib pointed out that women's rights had always been protected under the constitution in this deeply Islamic nation, but that little was done to enforce women's rights. "The women of Pakistan have the right to take part in every aspect of life," she added, highlighting the fact that her party leader was a woman. However, Benazir Bhutto - Pakistan's most famous female politician - has been banned by Musharraf from participating in the election following charges of corruption. Habib explained that certain measures in the legal framework would be applied if her party came to power. "Previously, Benazir Bhutto did take certain measures in the parliament when she was in power, like setting up a human rights cell," she said. But critics say Bhutto did little to empower women during her two terms in office. In particular she was slammed for not doing enough to change the Islamiclaws which discriminate against women under the Hudood [code of Islamic punishments] Ordinance. The PPP candidate went on to praise Musharraf's move in reserving seats in the National Assembly for women, but added that much more needed to be done. "The announcement of the reserved seats or to push them for elections is not the answer. You have to create an environment and give them confidence and have very strong political institutions to enable them to reach required standards." Humaira Khan, the representative in the Punjab Province for Tehrik-e-Insaf - a party set up by the former cricketer Imran Khan - is the number-one candidate in her party to be nominated for one of the reserved seats in the National Assembly. "Implementation is crucial," she told IRIN. "Simply having something written on your manifesto doesn't mean anything," she said, adding that she envisaged the government services having a 20 percent quota of women if her party came to power. "There needs to be unity among women. The women of Pakistan are not united and are often under influence of other people in this country," Khan asserted. She agreed with others at the workshop that the status of women had changed since Musharraf had taken control of Pakistan. However, she reiterated the need to have candidates in positions which suited them best. "There needs to be real representation, and women who are trained in specific fields should sit in the appropriate departments and ministries."