ISLAMABAD – Despite achieving progress on several fronts, particularly after reservation of 17 per cent seats in the Parliament and provincial assemblies and 33 percent seats in the local government, many longstanding women rights issues still remain unaddressed.
As the second consecutive democratic setup coming to close and all the political parties are preparing for the upcoming elections and writing their election manifestos, Aurat Foundation, an NGO working for women rights, has prepared a set of recommendations for women empowerment to be shared with the political parties so that these could be incorporated in their manifestos. These suggestions in fact comprise the actions, which are still valid to be considered due to the absence of concrete legislative, social, economic and/or administrative actions taken in the last ten years.  Aurat Foundation informally launched the booklet, titled ‘Suggestions on Women’s Empowerment for Election Manifestos of Political Parties’, last month i.e. December 2012, and is currently sharing it with the manifesto committees of major political parties.
The suggestions, prepared by Ms Naheed Aziz and Ms Tahira Abdullah, renown development practitioners and committed activists of the women’s rights movement in Pakistan, address women’s rights in various sectors including The State and Governance, Poverty and Economy, Institutional and Financial Mechanisms, Legislation, Judiciary and Law Enforcement,  Political Participation and Representation in the Public Sphere, Labour and Employment, Health, Reproductive Rights and Population, Education and Training, Violence Against Women and Girls, Environment and Climate Change Impact,  Women and Girls in Humanitarian/Conflict-Related Emergency Situations,  Women and Media, Creative Arts and Sports, and Physical Infrastructure and Basic Services.
The process of writing and compiling the manifesto suggestion, although spread over four to five years, starting soon after the general elections in 2008, much of the suggestions were, however, evolved through deliberations at meetings which brought together representatives of government, political parties and civil society, besides academics, scholars and technocrats representing various disciplines, through a series of consultative meetings at Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad, held under the auspices of the Legislative Watch Programme of Aurat Foundation during the  last two year i.e. 2011 - 2012.
The civil society organizations and networks involved  in the consultative process were the Women’s Action Forum/Karachi, HomeNet Pakistan, Hawwa, HRCP, Shirkat Gah, Simorgh, SAP-Pk, AGHS, SPO, SDPI, Sungi, Rozan, Uks, PODA, the Pakistan Coalition for Education, Idara-e-Taaleem-o-Agahi, Funkor Childart Centre, Ethnomedia, CCE, CPDI, ASF, and several other organizations during the last two years.  Women and men from the grassroots in nearly 30 districts of four provinces were also consulted through Aurat Foundation’s Women Leaders Groups. The document also benefitted from the recommendations which were developed through a consultative process steered by the National Commission on the Status of Women in 2011. 
Earlier, prior to the 2002 elections, Aurat Foundation had put forth a comprehensive set of recommendations to political parties to guide their manifesto formulation in the interest of empowering women. 
The issues raised in the document deserve considerations from political parties to ensure that their election manifestos and policies and programmes become more attuned to the needs, aspirations and rights of women, girls and other disempowered sections of society in particular.  It also needs passionate attention of both print and electronic media to discuss these women’s rights in their papers and programmes with socio-political and economic experts.