Women senators contributed only fifth of Senate agenda, says Fafen report

ISLAMABAD: Women senators contributed about one-fifth of the regular plenary agenda during the Senate’s 23rd parliamentary year, according to a new performance report issued by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen).

The report, released for the 2025–2026 parliamentary year under the title Women Senators Did It Too!, said female lawmakers accounted for around 20 per cent of the regular agenda, slightly higher than their nearly 18pc representation in the upper house.

Fafen said Balochistan Awami Party senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri was the most active female member during the year. She submitted 62 of the 207 agenda items put forward solely by women senators.

She was followed by PML-N senator Anushe Rehman with 32 agenda items, PPP senators Qurat ul Ain Marri and Sherry Rehman with 25 and 24 items respectively, and PML-N senator Bushra Anjum Butt with 23 submissions. Fafen noted that these five senators were responsible for more than 80pc of all agenda items submitted by women members.

On an individual basis, women senators submitted agenda items at a slightly higher average rate than men. Each female senator submitted an average of 12 agenda items during the year, compared to 11 per male senator.

However, women’s overall share in the Senate agenda fell from 31pc in the previous parliamentary year, 2024–2025.

Attendance and participation

In terms of attendance, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf senator Falak Naz attended 100pc of sittings, according to Fafen. She was followed by PPP senator Husna Bano, who attended 97pc of sessions.

Other women senators with high attendance included PTI’s Fawzia Arshad at 83pc, Saadia Abbasi at 80pc, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement senator Khalida Ateeb at 77pc. Overall, female senators attended an average of 38 sittings, compared with 34 attended by male senators.

Fafen also examined how the Senate responded to legislative business initiated by women members. Using its Gender Responsiveness Score, the organisation gave the Senate an overall score of 0.9 and described the house as somewhat less responsive to women Senators’ agenda.

Calling Attention Notices and proposals for amendments to rules submitted by female senators were not taken up during the year. At the same time, their questions and private members’ bills were addressed at rates similar to those of male senators.

Although women senators were active in placing items on the agenda, the report found that most fell into the 'rarely spoke' category under the Participation Rate Index for plenary debates. Fafen said only one female senator did not take part in any debate and contributed only through agenda submissions. This trend may indicate possible institutional or procedural barriers affecting women’s verbal participation.

Range of issues and representation

Fafen said the findings challenge the view that women parliamentarians focus only on gender-related matters. Agenda items submitted by female senators covered economic policy, national security, taxation, governance and parliamentary procedure, in addition to women’s rights and social protection.

Women’s representation in the Senate has historically remained around 17 to 18pc, with most female members entering the house through reserved seats. At present, PPP senator Sherry Rehman is the only woman elected on a general seat.

It further noted that the positions of chairman, deputy chairman, leader of the house and leader of the opposition are all currently held by men. However, women senators chair eight of the Senate’s 44 committees, accounting for 18pc of chairmanships across standing, functional and domestic committees.

Fafen concluded that political parties need to play a greater role in increasing women’s representation on general seats instead of limiting them mainly to reserved quotas.