ISLAMABAD: Spirits were high on Wednesday as the three-day international conference of women parliamentarians ended with the resolve to continue building alliances between women parliamentarians across borders.

The conference on `The Role of Women Parliamentarians in Strengthening Democracy and Social Justice` was organised by the Women`s Parliamentary Caucus. Lawmakers from Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Australia, Romania, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Maldives, Indonesia and Nepal were in the capital to attend the conference.

Addressing the participants at the closing ceremony, caucus patron MNA Dr Fehmida Mirza emphasised the importance of collective action for women`s empowerment.

`Patriarchy is not confined to borders so women`s collective action shouldnot remain confined to arbitrary borders either,` she said.

Dr Mirza called upon the women in the audience to work together to end systemic injustice against women and other marginalised groups. `Nothing about us, without us,` she declared, drawing applause from the audience.

PML-N MNA Dr Attiya Inayatullah reminded the audience that Pakistani women`s struggle for empowerment is a great success story which has resulted in major legislative changes.

Today, Pakistani women have achieved innumerable successes in civil society, media, academia, arts, sports and almost all other fields, Dr Inayatullah said.

`We deliver much more than babies,` she quipped.

Echoing the views of many participants at the conference, Dr Inayatullah underscored the importance of cooperation among women to achieve shared goals.

`Alliances have been central to fem-inist movements everywhere.

Evidence shows that alliances help generate best practices, spot abuse and build pressure,` she said. These alliances, Dr Inayatullah said, must also be built with men. She argued that no jobs should be gender-specific.

`We must bridge the distance between men and women but also between male and female tasks,` she said.

Cautioning against antagonistic feminism, she argued that the struggle for women`s empowerment should not aim to gain power over men. `The aim is for women to gain power over themselves,` she said. Women`s Parliamentary Caucus Secretary MNA Shaista Pervaiz Malik thanked the participants, organisers and supporters of the conference and read out the conference resolution draf ted by the participating lawmakers.

She said the women`s caucus is determined to continue building alliances with women parliamentarians all over the world.