Islamabad - The speakers yesterday called for increasing representation of women in all government departments including police to ensure their effective role in decision-making and empowerment.
“There is a dire need of increasing the number of women in all government departments especially in the police department as more than half of 180 million population of Pakistan is estimated by women but their contribution within the police department is less than one percent,” the speakers said while speaking at a focus groups discussion on Women police in Pakistan. The event was organised by Individualland Pakistan, a research based consultancy organization in collaboration with Friedrich Naumann Foundation.
MNA Munaza Hassan said if women are given top position in police department, the number of women in police department will increase or more women will be encourage to join police force. She said that lack of education is big problem for creating barriers for women to join police other department.
She dismissed the perception that women parliamentarian is not playing their active role in the parliament, saying that female MNAs have moved more bills during the two and a half year as compared to male parliamentarians.
Another parliamentarian Nafeesa Khattak said that the responsibility to encourage representation of women in government department as well as in police department does not lie only upon women parliamentarians, it is also the responsibility of every male including male parliamentarian to think about this serious issue and allow their women to join security forces. “Our men encourage other women to join forces but do not allow their own relatives or kin to do so,” she said.
MNA Aasia Naz said that women parliamentarian is playing active role and are fighting for women rights. She said that she will raise the issue regarding one percent women representation in police department in the parliament. The participants were in agreement that there is a need for separate police stations for women but they also recommended that women should be posted in every police station so that the aggrieved women are not reluctant to visit any police station.
Since 2011 Individualland Pakistan has conducted two surveys on women police in Pakistan and has also published two publications. Apart from this Individualland Pakistan also contributed in a research publication “Women Police in South Asia” by compiling the findings of Pakistan in the report. In order to improve the image of police in the society and create awareness amongst the public, Individualland Pakistan organized sessions, printed brochures and also employed the social media in this regard. Individualland Pakistan’s main objective of organizing a session with parliamentarians and the media was to share the findings of their research on Women Police and to involve them for a way forward.