Activists and journalists are calling out the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for a lack of female representation in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) cabinets after the names of cabinet members were announced on August 26.
Punjab has a 23-member cabinet out of which 22 are males.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced a twenty-three member cabinet for Punjab. #Punjab #PTI pic.twitter.com/sUTLICn8n5
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 26, 2018
The KP cabinet consists of fifteen members but no woman was appointed to any ministerial position.
خیبر پختونخوا کی 15رکنی صوبائی کابینہ کا اعلان کر دیا گیا#KP #PTI pic.twitter.com/T7i2dsaiS3
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 26, 2018
International legal adviser Reema Omer shared on her Twitter account that Pakistan ranked 143 out of 144 at the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) gender index. She added that the PTI government vowed to work on gender equality but has not done anything to improve the low women representation in cabinet.
Pakistan ranks 143 out of 144 countries – ahead only of Yemen – in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality index (something PTI acknowledges and seeks to improve in its manifesto). A key reason for this poor score is the abysmally low number of women in ministerial positions https://t.co/xZC4iUYVFV
— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) August 27, 2018
Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) founder Nighat Dad shared that women represent more than 50% of Pakistan’s population but there is only one woman appointed to Punjab cabinet while there are no women ministers in KP.
Only one woman minister in Punjab cabinet and no woman minister in KP cabinet and we represent more than 50% of Pakistan’s population. https://t.co/eqbX8HN9UT
— Nighat Dad (@nighatdad) August 27, 2018
Zia Ur Rahman, journalist and author, commented that PTI had large support from women in general elections but they ignored the gender when making their ministerial appointments.
PTI won mainly because of votes of women and youth but it didn’t include any women MP in KP cabinet and only one in Punjab. ?
— Zia Ur Rehman (@zalmayzia) August 27, 2018
