Thirty years after world leaders adopted a historic blueprint to achieve gender equality, Pakistan has called for stepped up efforts to accomplish the goal of 50/50 parity.
The call was made by Dr. Nafisa Shah, a member Pakistan’s National Assembly and Chairperson of the NA Committee on Gender Mainstreaming, at a high-level event organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women, part of the ongoing 69th session of the UN Commission on Status of Women.
The event marked the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and the 40th anniversary of the IPU’s Forum of Women Parliamentarians.
Dr. Shah acknowledged IPU’s achievements in amplifying women’s voices and pushing for gender equality, noting the remarkable progress in women’s parliamentary representation worldwide.
In her remarks, she also highlighted that Pakistan elected Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as the first Muslim woman of any Islamic nation in 1988, and that she represented her country at the 1995 Beijing conference where she played a role in shaping the discourse on gender equality.
“While we assess pushbacks, and look minutely at where women are in decision-making and representation, it is no small accomplishment” that Pakistan was represented by Ms. Bhutto at this significant forum.
At the same time, Dr. Nafisa Shah, pointed out that the biggest pushback against women’s rights was war, and conflict.
“As a parliamentarian from a region in South Asia that has been engulfed in decades of war, civic strife, and political instability I have experienced and witnessed how all this contributes to extremism, intolerance, and conservatism which further shrinks women’s rights leading to marginalization and exclusion.” the Pakistani delegate said.
As regards Pakistan, Dr. Shah noted that while women’s representation in parliament peaked at 22%, it has now declined to 17% due to electoral and legal disputes over the reserved seats. She, however, expressed the hope that once the issues are resolved, the figure would return to approximately 21% in the National Assembly.
Highlighting a key success in narrowing the gender voter gap, she said: “Over the last decade, Pakistan has reduced the gender voter gap from 12% to 7% through legal reforms, increased enrollment, and gender-disaggregated data publication.”
Dr. Shah lauded the role of women lawmakers, stating that despite low representation, Pakistani women lawmakers continue to make a significant impact.
“Women may constitute only 17% of the National Assembly, but they contribute 49% of the parliamentary business and have initiated 55% of the agenda. I can safely say women in Pakistan hold half the parliament in terms of performance,” she asserted.
The Pakistani delegate also underlined the role of key institutional mechanisms supporting gender equality, including the bipartisan Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, now in its fourth electoral cycle, and the recently established Gender Mainstreaming Parliamentary Committee, which provides critical oversight on executive policies affecting women.
Dr. Shah urged the IPU and global leaders to move beyond numbers and beyond firsts to focus on substantive equality and empowerment.
She said, “While tracking women’s representation is crucial, we must ask whether special measures like quotas alone are enough. Does an increase in numbers automatically translate into empowerment?”
She called for a re-assessment of democratic structures, political systems, and overall indicators of women’s rights to ensure lasting and meaningful change leading to greater women empowerment.
As the premier forum for women’s representation, Dr. Shah said the IPU must assess whether quotas and special measures are sustainable or whether we need broader systemic reforms in the way politics is conducted.”
Dr. Shah concluded her statement with a strong call for political institutions worldwide to ensure that gender parity efforts go beyond symbolic representation, with women at the heart of decision-making — not just in numbers but in influence.
“The future of gender equality depends on how we redefine representation, power, and leadership,” the Pakistani delegate said.
