ASSALAM- U- LAIKUM LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
It is indeed an honour for me to attend this conference and be allowed the privilege to address this distinguished gathering. I wish to thank the government of Afghanistan, the Afghan Interior ministry and Ms Tonita Murray, the police gender advisor for giving me this opportunity to interact and learn from police officers from other Muslim countries.
I look forward to exchanging views and information, comparing police services and finding similarities to help me and you towards a better future. I pray that this platform will create a sisterhood for Muslim policewomen and strengthen their bond of friendship.
I, belong to a developing country where progress can only be possible with the participation of both men and women. In Pakistan women constitute half of its population. In the recent decade the quality of life for women and girls in Pakistan has improved considerably yet, the average Pakistani woman is beset with the crippling handicaps of illiteracy, constant motherhood and poor health. They remain disadvantaged because of legal and social discrimination, based on social and cultural norms and attitudes.
As we all know that women in this part of the world live in a male dominated society which subjects them to all kinds of injustices, oppressions and sufferings. I for one am often amazed at their perpetual capacity for endurance.
In order to empower the women of developing countries it is imperative to give them an enabling environment, their economic status needs to be improved, financial independence will allow them to exercise their rights of equality and freedom of choice, and also help them to realize their full potential. They must be able to have control over their own fertility, to delay marriages and childbirth, to be able to take better care of themselves and their children, to live healthier and happy lives.
Pakistan is making efforts to ensure that state policies and programmes are gender responsive and that women participate equally in the development process. Due to this realization, in the education sector school enrollments have risen in all the income categories. Child health indicators like, immunization, infant mortality has improved for both boys and girls. Better health care is being provided for women, women’s participation in paid labour has increased, their involvement in the political process has also risen.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
Since the late 1990,s the Government of Pakistan has nurtured a climate that is conducive to achieving greater gender equality. Pakistan has ratified the convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Now it needs to adopt a legal frame work for translating the provision of CEDAW in its domestic laws. More awareness about CEDAW amongst the women and civil society is also required. The National Plan of Action (1998) and National Policy of Advancement and empowerment of women (2002) have articulated specific policies for promotion of gender equality. A National Commission on the status of women has been established in (2000). The commission for effective output, needs to acquire implementing mechanisms and concrete policy measures.
In recent years the Government has encouraged women to join professions like the Army and the Airforce. In order to ensure women political participation, 33% seats have been reserved in the local bodies and 17% for National and Provincial assemblies. The quota of female officers in all the Civil services has been increased to 10%. Discriminatory laws against women are being tackled by the lawmakers and the legislators currently.
Yet gender disparities still persist. In a country like Pakistan, the effect of customs on women welfare is very complex, according to a report, the interaction between custom and law within the domain of the family essentially defines the defacto set of opportunities available to women, as well as the barriers they confront in fulfilling other basic needs such as education and health." Articulated laws may not be sufficient to change their fate, equally important is the need to build enabling institutions, which allow women to take advantage of available legal protections. Unfortunately, the gap in Pakistan exists between policies and their actual implementation. This lack of implementation has hindered the success of our policies of empowerment. Illiteracy itself is a major obstacle in accessing relevant information and dealing with electoral processes and political issues. We require policy makers to incorporate long term measures to create an environment that enables the reduction of gender gaps.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
Let me now move towards introducing you to women police in Pakistan. The first women police officers were probably appointed in the province of Sindh in 1976. Thirty women were inducted to perform a supportive and clerical role. It was perceived that women were less corruptible than men and more diligent in their attention to detail. Gradually women were admitted to other police roles and gender quotas were set.
In 1994 Women Police Stations were established by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. They were conceptualized as places where women could go freely and confidently to lodge their complaints and also as safe shelters for
women accused of offences. They were established in all the major cities of the country, their jurisdiction was the entire city where they were located. Currently we have nine women police stations in the country. We have 03 in Punjab, 03 stations in Sindh, two in NWFP and one station in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. We have a total force of approximately three thousand women police in Pakistan in comparison to approximately four lakh male police officers.
In Islamabad the total number of women police is 169. They are serving in the Women Police Station and are performing security and traffic duties. The Women Police Station Islamabad deals with crimes of various nature but cases of domestic abuse are more frequent. The Women Police Station acts as a shelter and mediator for family disputes especially those between husband and wife.
The worst endemic form of violence faced by women in Pakistan is domestic violence, rape, honour killings and incest. The worst victims of violence are women of the poor & middle class who are also more vulnerable to oppressive customs. Women are burnt for want of dowry and are often denied the right of marriage by choice. Discriminating laws further aggravate the problem. Women require effective social and legal protection in the form of improved laws, shelters and a sensitized police force.
In Pakistan training institutions for police are opening up to the concept of “gender sensitization”, “Workshops” and seminars are held to create awareness amongst the stake holders. This sensitization has to be made within the context of the local religio-cultural environment.
Identical training is imparted to both male and female recruits. They are taught law, financial rules, Police rules and forensic science. Anti-terrorist courses and first aid trainings are also imparted to them and physical training is also stressed upon. In the police service providing an enabling environment for the incoming women officers should be a top priority of the service and of the government. Their standard of training needs to be upgraded with special emphasis on professionalism.
At present the women Police Stations have been trivialized due to gender bias and are not performing the role, they were established for. Policy makers and relevant authorities need to be mobilized to bring them to their optimal use as facilitators for women victims and accused, a ray of hope for the oppressed section of society.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
The future lies in our own hands, we alone must endeavor to change it. Though change has set in but it needs to move at a much quicker pace in order to overcome these disparities. The disconnect between policy makers and those at the grassroots level must be put right by enhanced coordination and communication between the two.
Only women alone can take up their cause but they must do so with conviction and commitment. A critical mass of committed women needs to be evolved and woven into our socio- cultural fabric. The existence of this mass will help in propagating gender development planning towards a better future.
Ladies, let me now introduce myself to you. My name is Helena Iqbal Saeed, in a country of 160 million people, I am the only female member of the Police service of Pakistan that constitutes the management cadre of Police in our country. What led me to be a Police Officer? What still motivates me to remain in the Police service of Pakistan: To begin with, as I mentioned above, I am the first (and still the only) female police officer in Pakistan. Though a woman has been twice the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and though a large percentage of our doctors are women, unfortunately, due to many reasons, our police service is still heavily staffed with men, I believed someone had to break with tradition and set up new rules. I am happy, and proud, to have been that person.
Secondly, I think we need a lot more women in the Police Service. It is not only a question of dignity and self-respect, a matter of gender equality, important though these issues are and significant though my position as a role model for millions of young women is, for me, personally, the most important achievement, and the source of my satisfaction with my job, has been the use I have been able to put my status to, in the service of women.
I will expatiate on this. Even in western countries, where women and men are educated, where the norms of religion are less binding, where the laws are more user-friendly, how difficult it is for female victims of rape, incest, molestation and other humiliating crimes to come forward and testify. Can one imagine the plight of female victims in a country still dominated by males? I cannot narrate the harrowing, and moving, experience I have had in this regard. And yet I know women have come forward at the mere sight of another woman, albeit in uniform.
In my country there are scores of women who have never in their dreams thought it possible of becoming a Police Officer, let alone having tried and failed. The weight of history, of millennia of bias and discrimination, of maltreatment and of deprivation have left their mark. The fact that I am the only Police Officer to have joined the elite Civil Service of Police in Pakistan has placed a heavy burden on me.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
I have served in the Police Service of Pakistan for some years now in different capacities and to my Western friends I say this: you have no idea how difficult it is for women in Third World to get help from the Police. The walls erected by society, by history and by prejudice seem so daunting, the effort seems so useless – and yet, while education, equality, social and other rights are what women need ---- what is the most important thing for women in any country, especially in a developing country? It is an easy, safe, effective and socially acceptable access to the Police.
Individually, I am nothing but a Police Officer from Pakistan but symbolically, I represent a very tiny but ever growing ray of hope for 80 million women of my country.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
Please, remember that our objective should not be limited to increasing the percentage of women in the Police in all countries laudable though this vision is. Our goal should be to change the attitude of society, and especially all Police Officers--- men and women, towards the plight of women all over the world. |