WUNRN
Women's Parliamentary Caucuses,
uniting Parliamentarians across party lines,
provide a practical forum where
information is shared, policies discussed,
common interests and concerns are
channeled, to have an impact for gender
issues in public policy and
development.
Across Party Lines - Women's Parliamentary Caucuses
By Mehreen Saeed
http://www.undp.org.pk/sixthissue/more/Across%20Party%20Lines.pdf
Breaking the glass ceiling
Of the many things
certainly one. The current
representation of women in legislature stands at 19.9%.
Although this falls short of the
33% mark advocated by civil society organizations and
recommended by the National Plan
of Action for Women, it is still the second highest
representation after
break, albeit one crack at a time.
A political force to reckon with
Even though these are encouraging
signs, the journey towards empowerment does not
end here. How women use this
representation to affect public policy is extremely
important. Women's Parliamentary
Caucuses provide a practical forum to do that,
information is shared, policies
discussed, common interests and concerns are channeled
here. Enabling women
parliamentarians to unite across party lines, this congregation of
committed women thus represents a
broad-based powerful political force to help forward
the agenda of women development.
Caucuses around the world
There are many success stories of
women caucuses across the world.
women parliamentary forum that
works on and advocates issues relating to gender and
legislation and monitors policies,
gender strategies and budgets. In
works on legislation relating to
widows and inheritance, the custody and maintenance of
children, citizenship, marriage
and divorce. The
Association has been instrumental
in including gender equality clauses in the Ugandan
Constitution. In
stalled the abolishment of the
Ministry of Women Affairs.
Drawing on these successes, the
UNDP’s project, Strengthening Democracy through
Parliamentary Development in
women parliamentarians in
Parliamentary Caucus was formed.
It gained impetus under the leadership of the first ever
women Speaker of the National Assembly,
Dr. Fahmida Mirza. She saw this as an
opportunity ‘to attain broad-based
consensus among all women members of parliament to
work beyond and above party basis
for the women of
who has taken this idea forward in
full strength. Her vision is to make this a vibrant
platform to ensure effective
parliamentary oversight for implementation of international
and regional commitments, national
policies and programmes. Reiterating this objective
she adds, ‘the caucus will facilitate
exchange of views and information on critical areas
of concern, particularly social
discriminatory practices at different levels both national
and international.’
A melting pot
Interestingly, the caucus has
served as a melting pot of sorts. Despite divergent and often
contentious views of political
parties on many issues, these twenty three members
represent a broad spectrum of
Pakistani politics. The PPP, PML (N), the MQM, the
Awami National Mutahidda
Majlis-e-Amal and the Jamiat-e-Ulama Islam are all
represented in this unique forum.
MP Nafisa Shah, who is also the Secretary General of
the Caucus, has termed it is as a
‘historic’ and ‘bold’ step.
Voicing women’s concerns
The Caucus members are a power
house to reckon with. They are the ones who are very
often the most vocal
representatives when the Parliament is in session. Their energy and
gusto is inspiring. United by a
common cause, these members have a very challenging
agenda: ranging from advocating
gender-sensitive legislation to reviewing and amending
discriminatory laws and practices.
Despite its infancy, the Caucus has several
achievements to its credit. It has
made concrete recommendations to improve the working
of women police stations in the
country and to strengthen legislation in support of female
burn victims who are very often
among the most vulnerable and violated of the human
family. The Caucus has also worked
with their provincial counterparts to divert
development funds to build burn
units in three districts of
are underway for
The Caucus members are also
present in each of the Standing Committees that review
and approve proposed laws before
they are passed by the Parliament. Capitalizing on this
representation, UNDP is now
planning to build the capacity of the caucus members to
mainstream gender in legislation
and ensure that the needs of women are addressed in
policies across the board.
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