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| May 02, 2007 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 14, 1428 |
Concrete steps for gender mainstreaming urged
ISLAMABAD, May 1: The participants of a consultative meeting urged the Gender Working Group of the Strengthening Democracy through Parliamentary Development (SDPD) project to take proactive and dynamic steps towards gender mainstreaming and enhanced participation of civil society in the business of the standing committees of the National Assembly and the Senate.
The Gender Working Group’s meeting was arranged by the SDPD project, here on Monday, to solicit recommendations to develop a way forward for the Group, a news release said. A large number of representatives of civil society organizations and media participated in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, Marvi Sarmad, the National Programme Manager of the SDPD, briefed the participants about the project’s objectives and progress achieved so far.
She said the public hearings was missing from the parliamentary standing committees, though it was in the rules of business. The standing committees of both houses of the parliament preferred in-camera proceedings, with some exceptions, she noted.
Ms Sarmad suggested public hearings by the Parliamentary Standing Committees for more transparent execution of the agenda on these committees and promoting and mainstreaming gender issues. She also recommended proportionate representation in terms of gender, political parties, opposition and treasury benches in the parliamentary standing committees.
Being oversight bodies, these committees should be headed by opposition members for more proactive decision-making, she suggested.
Farzana Bari, a renowned activist and head of the Centre of Excellence for Gender Studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, said gender empowerment and mainstreaming was necessary for an effective democratic governance in the country.
She suggested incorporation of civil society and media representation to ensure inclusion of gender perspectives, sectoral expertise and citizens’ continued participation in the political process and national level decision-making.
Dr Rakhshanda Parveen, the Executive Director of Sachet, stressed adequate and regular participation of civil society in the business of parliamentary standing committees.
She was of the view that the heads of the committees should be sensitised about gender issues and suggested inclusion of marginalized groups, provincial representation and diverse expertise in the Gender Working Group of the SDPD.
Dr Feroza Ahmad voiced the revival of public hearings, participation of civil society and media in the meetings of the parliamentary standing committees to add value to the decision- making and its implementation.
Maria Rasheed suggested prioritising five thematic areas to work with the parliamentary standing committees and urged the inclusion of professionals, from all walks of life, for observing meetings of these committees.
Munir Ahmed, chairman of the Devcom-Pakistan, suggested representation of women lawyers, business and working-women, and media besides other civil society segments in the Gender Working Group for enhanced and diverse interaction to strengthen the democratic values and norms. He also suggested developing a mechanism for performance evaluation of the parliamentary committees.
Ms Shaheena recommended the formulation of a focal group to develop vision, structure and future working agenda of the Gender Working Group of the SDPD for a more streamlined, integrated and regulated efforts for gender empowerment and mainstreaming.
A 12-member focal group was formed after the idea was endorsed by all participants of the meeting. Ms Bari will head the focal group that will come up with a draft working paper in the next monthly meeting. Arshed Bhatti, a renowned development consultant, will coordinate the focal group meeting and prepare a draft working paper.
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