Pakistans first state watchdog on womens rights will be marking its second anniversary in a few months, but activists say it has yet to claim any major achievements in advancing womens causes in this male-dominated country.

Although the creation of the permanent commission was a big victory for the womens movement here, activists say the body  which issued its first report in March  would be able to make significant gains only if the government empowers it with the authority to enforce what it recommends.

That is, they say, if the government is really serious about making the National Commission on the Status of Women more than a token institution. As it is, the government nominates even its members.

As the government has not undertaken any transparent and consultative processes to develop the terms of reference for the commission, there are serious gaps relating to the mandate and powers of the commission, as well as its membership, says the womens rights group Aurat (Womens) Foundation.

Adds the group Shirkat Gah: There is a genuine apprehension that if the commission is not given a truly independent statutory status with an enforcing authority and a clear mandate it will become yet another cosmetic body that will not be able to make any significant contribution towards changing the situation of women in the country.

That women have mere second-class status in Pakistani society is an open secret.

In July 2000, however, the military government set up the commission in answer to the call of local and international rights groups for Pakistani authorities to stop the rampant violation of womens rights in this South Asian country.

Eliminate discrimination

Among the tasks of the 20-member commission were to ensure emancipation of women, equalisation of opportunities and socio-economic conditions amongst women and men and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

Yet, today, social indicators show that there has not been much change in the lives of Pakistani women and girls, who remain more deprivedcompared to their male counterparts by all measures.

Official statistics reveal, for instance, that 29 percent of Pakistani females have no access to health services while an alarming 72 percent  as against 47 percent of males  are deprived of an education.

Observers also estimate that more than half the women in Pakistan are plagued by poverty of employment opportunities compared to just a third of men.

To be sure, activists acknowledge that it had been on the commissions recommendation that the government has so far released 22 foreign female prisoners being held in Pakistani jails on various charges and repatriated to their respective countries.

A dozen cases of individual grievances have also been attended to through the intervention of members of the commission.

In addition, Islamabad, acting on yet another recommendation of the commission, has issued a directive to all mosque leaders in the Sindh province to oppose in their Friday prayer addresses the custom of honour killing of supposedly wayward or soiled women.

Particularly helpless

But activists say these cannot be considered as major gains for Pakistani women. Indeed, members of the commission themselves feel particularly helpless especially when it comes to trying to overturn laws and rules considered discriminatory against women, as they say in their new report.

Observers say they have reason to feel this way, considering that the government has chosen to ignore many of the commissions suggestions on these.

The suggestions include repealing discriminatory clauses in the Citizenship Act, such as a provision that a foreigner married to a Pakistani woman is not eligible to apply for Pakistani citizenship. However, a foreign woman married to a Pakistani man is eligible to get Pakistani nationality by virtue of her marriage.

The commissions recommendation that women be allowed to go on the annual Muslim pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia even if they are unaccompanied by a male family member is gathering dust too in the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

On the political front, the recommendation that Islamabad follow what has already been done in district level governments and allocate 33 percent of the seats in the federal and provincial legislatures to women seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

So too has the suggestion that the Election Commission declare an election null and void if there is evidence of large-scale non-participation of women as candidates as well as in the voting.

Interestingly enough, the commission, which is headed by a government official and whose secretary is also an official of the Ministry of Womens Development, has so far not been able to come out with a position on laws that have been declared anti-women in the past, even by an official committee set up by the then Benazir Bhutto government.

These included the Islamic Hudud Laws enacted by the dictator Gen Zia ul-Haq and controversial provisions added to the Family Laws by the Federal Shariat Court in 2000.

Legal experts

Whenever asked about these, the commission only says that it will bring in legal experts and Islamic scholars to examine these laws.

But one commission member, requesting anonymity, admits, This is what we call by government influence on the commission...any changes in these anti-women laws will cause a serious backlash by the right-wing religious parties. So, these are being constantly put off by the commission for any discussion.

Activists like Kaneez Zehra believe that if there is to be real change in the lives of Pakistani women, there must first be a total turnaround in the societal mindset that still considers females to be lesser than the males.

Unless we get a similar message about the role of women at homes, schools, media, everywhere, the situation will not improve, says Zehra. At the same time, she says women should not give up too easily. The process of change is slow, but we should keep at it. (IPS)