Women, Peace and Security in Pakistan: Institutional Change, Women's Influence and Comparative Lessons from Nepal

Abstract

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is typically measured using the formal indicators of adoption of National Action Plans (NAPs), the representation of women in peace and security institutions, and the presence of women in formal peace processes. This article contends that while significant, these signs cannot completely explain Pakistan's institutional evolution. Development of WPS related architecture in Pakistan has not been through a single, cohesive national WPS framework. Rather, gender responsive functions have been introduced gradually in various institutions that have a role in national security, the prevention of violent extremism, policing, justice, women's rights and humanitarian responses and community peacebuilding. The article therefore does not just suggest that Pakistan is a case of institutional absence of the WPS, rather it is a case of institutional dispersion and increasingly connected institutionalization. Historical Institutionalism offers an understanding of this path in terms of path dependence, critical junctures, institutional layering and conversion and Human Security expands the focus on security from state protection to lived security of individuals and communities. To make this argument more concrete, the article presents a Representation, Participation, Influence and Institutionalization (RPII) framework. The framework clearly separates numerical representation from substantive involvement; and it captures the ability of women to impact decisions and the sustainability of gender responsive practices. Five main findings emerge from the qualitative documentary case study of Pakistan with the bounded comparison of Nepal. First, institutional dispersion should not be confused with institutional absence. Second, reforms that are entrenched in the mundane mandates, procedures, capacities and accountability systems of government are more likely to last. Third, women's influence is a more complex indicator of WPS progress than representation. Fourth, international support is most impactful when it enhances the capacity of nationally owned institutions and links them with women's groups and women's expertise. Fifthly, coordination and consolidation, not the establishment of a new policy field, are Pakistan's next institutional requirement. The case of Nepal shows that a formal NAP has a coordinating role as well as limitations in implementation. The article concludes that a future Pakistani WPS framework needs to build on existing institutional gains, enhance the federal-provincial linkages, provide for responsibility and funding, enhance monitoring, and establish durable pathways for women to influence policy and implementation.

Keywords: Women, Peace and Security; Pakistan; Historical Institutionalism; Human Security; institutional layering; Women's Agency; Women's Influence; Violent Extremism; National Action Plan; Nepal.