PAKISTAN AND GENDER (IN) SECURITY A NEED ASSESSMENT FOR SECURITIZATION OF GENDER ISSUES

Abstract

The World Economic Forum in its report, The Global Gender Gap Index 2020, ranked Pakistan at 151th position out of 153 countries just above Iraq and Yemen. Women form almost 50% of Pakistan’s total population yet the laws generally lag in properly addressing crimes that violate or deprive the rights of women and girls in the country. Even the laws designed to address issues related to gender-based violence like the “The Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010” lacks in its purview by not granting protection to women who work in informal workplaces. Despite the Constitution of the country granting rights to each citizen irrespective of their gender and status, discrimination and violence against women and girls is pretty pertinent in Pakistan. This paper takes into account the harrowing situation of gender parity in Pakistan by discussing statistics from different reports and studies while illuminating the gap between rhetoric and implementation on state level. And in that context argues that the state should move to ‘securitize’ the issue of ‘Gender (In)security’, given that it concerns a large portion of its population. Gender Security is also an extremely important factor in achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper also puts forth recommendations for all three pillars of the state i.e., executive, parliament and judiciary for the addressal of these issues.