London, April 15 Women's representation in Pakistan's police forces remains abysmally low accounting for less than three per cent of the total workforce.
The lack of representation has contributed to "underreporting of violence against women, improper investigation in gender crimes, legal noncompliance, miscarriage of justice and growing mistrust and reluctance towards police", a report has highlighted.
Pakistan was ranked 145th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2024 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) — underscoring the deep-rooted gender inequality.
“Notably, Pakistan lags behind the countries in South Asia by big margin, where the share is at least triple of that in Pakistan. Its situation is as bad as Afghanistan. In Nepal, women police personnel accounted for 11.73 per cent, as per the latest figures, while the share was 11.5 per cent in Sri Lanka. Even Bangladesh has recorded about 8.63 per cent women staff in the police department, while female personnel constituted 12.60 per cent of the total police workforce in India," a report in UK-based newspaper 'Asian Lite', detailed.
Citing a policy brief document published by an Islamabad-based civil society organisation ‘Accountability Lab Pakistan’, it stated that the underrepresentation has hindered efforts to address crimes such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and other gender-based offences.
“Pakistan’s standing, with 3 per cent of women in the police, is among the lowest not just in the region but also in the world. The lack of sufficient representation of women in the police adversely affects law and order and justice issues for women in Pakistan," the report quoted the document as stating.
Highlighting the stark gender disparities across Pakistan's provinces, the report noted that women comprised only 2.62 per cent of police force in Sindh, 1.46 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1.74 per cent in Balochistan.
The report described a grim picture in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), with women representing only 2.48 per cent and 3.36 per cent of police personnel, respectively.
Despite the politically dominant Punjab province recording a higher share of 4.4 per cent of women police personnel — the ground realities remains alarming.
The report highlighted the case of a 13-year-old rape survivor from Punjab’s Kasur region who set herself on fire after the acquittal of the accused by a Pakistani court.
Expressing serious concerns over the poor representation of women in the police force and the lack of legal accountability in the justice system, Peshawar-based researcher Furqan Ali was quoted as saying by the Asian Lite: "Pakistan’s conviction rates for gender-based crimes are abysmally low: 0.5 per cent for rape and honour killings, 0.1 per cent for abduction and just 1.3 per cent for domestic violence," he said. "And, with women constituting only 1-1.5 per cent of the police force, institutional imbalance shapes every stage of reporting and investigation."
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