Political Challenges of Women Empowerment in Pakistan

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Political Challenges of Women Empowerment in Pakistan

Journal Title: IOSR journal of Business and Management - Year 2018, Vol 20, Issue 2

Abstract

Right from the freedom struggle of the country, women in Pakistan have been actively participating in political activities in a number of ways. They have organized campaigns, raised funds, mobilized other women during the independence movement and subsequently made valuable contributions to consolidate democratic rule in the country. However, for much of Pakistan’s turbulent political history, women have rarely been given party tickets for contesting elections. Their quota for reserved seats remained negligible. Legally, at the provincial and the federal legislative forums, women were given nominal representation by providing a few reserved seats. For example, up till 1988, women had only 10 reserved seats in the national assembly and 5 seats in each of the provincial assemblies. During 1988-2000, this number was reduced to 3-4 reserved seats in the national and each of the provincial assemblies (NCSW, 2005). From the year 2001 onwards, the legal framework has made space for absorbing a greater number of women into mainstream electoral politics. Beginning with the Local Government Ordinance (2001) that granted a 33% quota to women for contesting elections at the district, tehsil and union council levels, progress on women’s political representation was further enhanced in 2002 when 17% of the seats in the national and provincial assemblies were reserved for women. For the first time in the country’s history, 40,000 women councilors were occupying local government seats at different levels (UNDP, 2005). Though enhanced legal facilitation resulted in the participation of an unprecedented number of women at the local government level, the direct election of a substantial number of women to general seats of the national and provincial legislatures did not take place. For instance, in the 2008 general elections, only 10 women got directly elected to the four provincial assemblies, and that number only increased to 12 in the 2013 general elections. The socio-cultural and economic constraints barring women from active political participation in the male dominating society has in fact undermined their access to equal opportunities given by law. This research will help to find out the root causes for slow growth of women empowerment in Politics of Pakistan and will devise ways to women empowerment for democratic governance in Pakistan.

Authors and Affiliations

Mahgul Ghafoor, Dr. Kamal Haider

Keywords

Women Empowerment Politics Pakistan Asia Muslims IPU

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EP ID EP409630
DOI 10.9790/487X-2002036679.
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