The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) is developing a gender tracker system to monitor cases of online harassment and the unauthorised use of images and videos of women. A dedicated portal and digital dashboard for gender-based violence cases have already been developed and are expected to be launched soon, marking a step toward more structured, technology-driven monitoring of crimes against women across the country.
The initiative was outlined during a briefing to a parliamentary committee chaired by Nafisa Shah, where NCSW Acting Chairperson Noreen Bano detailed reforms aimed at making the commission’s complaint system more accessible to women nationwide. Bano told the committee that baseline surveys are currently underway in all four provinces to reform the grievance redressal mechanism, with a key part of this effort involving rebuilding the complaint system to operate in Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi. This move is intended to address barriers faced by women who are more comfortable filing complaints in their regional languages rather than English or standard Urdu.
As part of the broader reforms, the commission has also proposed deploying women lawyers in each province to assist complainants navigating the system. Central to these efforts is a National Gender Dashboard that will consolidate data on the status of gender equality using 115 indicators, offering a comprehensive, data-driven view of where the country stands on various gender-related metrics. This dashboard initiative is being paired with plans for Women Facilitation Centres, envisioned as one-stop facilities offering NADRA registration, passport services, healthcare, counselling, and court support, with completion targeted for 2027.
On the accountability front, Bano said the NCSW has requested data from all provincial police chiefs to ensure timely and complete reporting on crimes against women, an effort aimed at closing gaps in how such cases are tracked and addressed at the provincial level. She added that the commission is compiling a National Gender Equality Report to accompany the dashboard once finalised, which is expected to provide a consolidated national picture of gender equality progress alongside the real-time tracking capabilities of the new digital tools.
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