LAHORE-Distinguished women parliamentarians from South Asian countries, who gathered here on Monday at a local hotel, have stressed the need for redefining democracy by enhancing womens participation in politics in proportion to their population, besides giving them a role in the decision making process within their respective political parties. Speaking at South Asia Regional Conference on Engendering Democratic Governance in South Asia organized by South Asia Partnership (SAP), they talked about the factors responsible for the marginalization, exclusion and alienation of women in politics. Former presidential candidate in Afghanistan, Dr. Massouda Jalal, member Bangladesh parliament, Ms Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, Vice Chairperson, Women Security Group in Nepal, Ms Sharada Pokharel, former MNA, Ms Mahnaz Rafi, member Sri Lankan Parliament, Ms Rosy Senanayake, and a gender activist on political issues, Ms Neelam Hussain, attended the conference and shared their experiences with each other and the audience on the gender related issues in their countries. The women parliamentarians were unanimous on the point that the issue of marginalization of women in politics should not be perceived as an issue of women. It should rather be recognized as an essential human concern, a matter vital to the survival of democracy. They identified a hostile mindset against women as one of the major obstacles in the way of women to participate in the democratic process. This mindset, according to them, manifested itself in the form of violence, in the form of discrimination, intimidation, character assassination and threats and prevented women from actively participating in politics. Speaking on the occasion, Masouda Jalal said that all stakeholders in a democratic set up need to change their mindset about womens role in the decision making process within political parties and in the government. She opined that there could be no good governance unless the government is gender sensitive. Masouda said it was an encouraging sign that women parliamentarians wanted to be recognized for their work in the Parliament. Ms Rosy Senanayake, also a former beauty queen, said that despite high literacy rate in Sri Lanka, majority of educated women were forced to do labour intensive jobs. She also talked about women movements in her country, which, she said, had failed to make any impact on the minds of men occupying important positions in political parties and government departments. She said women had little role in the decision making process within their political organizations. She said representation of women in the Parliament was not proportionate to their population (56 per cent). She said Sri Lanka needed new constitution to ensure equal opportunities of development for all sections of society. Rosy believed that 18th amendment in Sri Lankan constitution would kill democracy as president is not answerable to any one and can run the show for ever with no constitutional curbs on the number his tenures. Mahnaz Rafi said that unless political parties involve women in the decision making process, the fate of women parliamentarians was not going to change. Ms Sharada from Nepal was of the view that there was complete male domination in her country and the neighboring India. She said recruitment of women in army was banned under a law, but it was lifted later on when they took up arms. Though Indra Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi rose to prominence and had fullest control over their party and in government affairs, the fate of thousands of women did undergo any visible change, she added. Quoting a report, member Bangladeshi Parliament, Nilufar Ch said female politicians have been found less corrupt compared to their male colleagues. Highlighting objectives of the conference, Mr Rohit Kumar from Nepal said that it had been organized to make an assessment of the issues and challenges of womens political participation in South Asia, and to measure appropriateness and effectiveness of existing policies for addressing issues of marginalization of women in politics. He said the conference would identify causes and implications of gender insensitive practices prevalent in political governance institutions of South Asia. Meanwhile, according to a paper circulated by SAP, womens legislative representation is 33.2 per cent in Nepal. 27.3 per cent in Afghanistan, 22.2 per cent in Pakistan, 18.6 per cent in Bangladesh, 10.8 per cent in India, 8.5pc in Bhutan, 6.5pc in Maldives and 5.8 per cent in Sri Lanka.