As new politicians take the oath to Cabinet, Netizens are raising eyebrows at the lack of women. So much for better policies with the new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet.
As politicians took the oath as cabinet members on Tuesday, people couldn’t help but notice that out of the 31 federal ministers, three ministers of state, and three advisers in the first phase there are hardly any women.
The coalition government really only has three women in Cabinet. The list includes:
Marriyum Aurangzeb – Minister for Information
Shazia Atta Marri- Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme
Hina Rabbani Khar- Minister for Foreign Affairs,
Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha- Adviser to PM on Finance
Sherry Rehman- Minister of state for Climate change
Of course, this wouldn’t go unnoticed.
https://twitter.com/nighatdad/status/1516202173989900290
Social media users are criticizing the induction of only five females in the new federal cabinet.
3 women out of 30 federal ministers and 2 ministers of state sworn in today. Women get 33% reserved seats in Parliament but not well represented in the cabinet. #PakistaniCabinet https://t.co/vPGYo8dCht
— Annie Zaman အန်နီဇမန်း (@Natrani) April 19, 2022
4 actually but yes I agree it’s a shame that the portfolios are not equally split in a country where the gender population gap is almost equal. https://t.co/qyhBIlMvNk
— Bhevish Kumar Maheshwari (@iambhevishk) April 19, 2022
Others shared how until the last government there wasn’t any effort to balance the gender ratio.
https://twitter.com/meinhiburihun/status/1516276827769212931
Sadly many would say ‘look, there are FIVE women in the cabinet!’ As if this is a huge achievement. Thanks for pointing out that it’s not @Benazir_Shah. The PTI brought the bar even lower than it was before. Time to bring it up to where it should be: 50%! https://t.co/u2xK0fDiD1
— Nida Kirmani (@NidaKirmani) April 19, 2022
People are not holding back from calling out the Opposition coalition’s campaign promises.
Wasn’t PDM a beacon of feminism against misogynist IK? Sorry to burst your bubble. https://t.co/Uv1n3vOCrc
— Osama Bin Liaqat Mir (@oblmir) April 19, 2022
People even offered suggestions, as this was apparently only ‘phase one’ of Cabinet with more people set to take the oath.
https://twitter.com/GuruKithayHai/status/1516354692955217920
💯 especially from a coalition that has many competent women, more so than most of the men on this list https://t.co/cXAcP1DDwz
— Marium Chaudhry (@MariumCh) April 19, 2022
People also pointed out the lack of minority representation as well.
& none from any minority communityhttps://t.co/p3Mr6Q39TN https://t.co/xtL3Mpm5DI
— Zohair Nanjiani (@znanjiani) April 19, 2022
Where is Mohsin Dawar's name?!
Same old faces. Hardly any women & no critical voices from the periphery.
Pathetic. https://t.co/3OvPlOulb0
— Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir (@ImaanZHazir) April 19, 2022
What do you think of Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet? How does the gender ratio reflect on policies to come from this government? Let us know in the comments below.