Role of Women Legislators in Decision Making Process: An Assessment of Punjab Assembly(2008-2013)
Abstract
With the commencement of the 21st century, substantial initiatives have been taken by Member States of the United Nations regarding women’s rights and concerns. United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) directed all states to formulate and implement strategies to develop gender equality and women empowerment by ensuring women’s existence in decision-making structures. Pakistan also took various initiatives regarding women’s rights and increased their ratio of representation in both Central and Provincial Bodies. It is a fact that interests of a community can be better represented and protected by their own community representatives. In this perspective, this paper intends to highlight the relationship between women empowerment and decision-making, with particular focus on the role of women legislators of Punjab Assembly, during the period of 2008-2013. To accomplish the mentioned task, the paper explores the ratio of women, appointed as decision-makers and analyzes their contribution in legislative process, while keeping focus on commencement of bills and resolutions regarding women’s rights. The findings indicate that female members in Punjab Assembly are not getting fair representation on decision-making positions. Except for a few, most women legislators remained inactive and in-operative during the whole tenure. Collectively, they were unable to actively participate in the legislative process. They also remained inept in promoting the rights of their gender community.
Authors
Rehana Saeed Hashmi
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Hina Rashid
Ph. D Scholar, Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Keywords
Decision Making, Legislation,Punjab Assembly, Women Empowerment, Women Legislators