Reserved seats for women
By: Zain Gardezi
LAHORE: This is with reference to Bina Shah’s article on December 19 titled “Hands off the reserved seats for women, please”.
I tried finding some definition, ANY definition, of feminism that may suggest that women should have ‘favourable’ rights with respect to men, to make me understand the reaction to Imran Khan’s statement on reserved seats for women, but I failed. I have always been of the view that reserved seats and quota systems of any kind are an admission of inferiority or disability for a particular group. Not only does this not provide a level playing field, it is also unfair to the group supposedly at the receiving end of the advantage. This is because once reserved seats are guaranteed; there may be a tendency towards complacency.
The road to female candidates being given tickets for general seats and winning them may be a long and gradual process but surely, that is the way forward. As activists, people should set the bar high and only then can something substantial be achieved for the group whose rights they pursue. We should not play in the hands of people who believe in different sets of abilities for different genders.
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