POLITICAL MARGINALIZATION OF WOMEN IN PAKISTAN ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/grr.2018(III-I).32      10.31703/grr.2018(III-I).32      Published : Dec 2018
Authored by : MianMuhammadAzhar , AbdulBasitKhan , MuhammadWaris

32 Pages : 428-444

    Abstract

    Women constitute almost half of the world’s population but are politically marginalized and underrepresented in the third-world countries. The long-lived traditional structures as well as socio-economic factors adversely affected their mobility, socialization, political and electoral participation and representation in policy-making forums. Being low in effectiveness, they are unable to make any significant change in the patterns of socio-political development. In Pakistan, the traditional patriarchal approach and the growth of Islamic fundamentalism adversely affected their political emancipation and domesticated them. Although, women in Pakistan successfully struggled to overcome the said challenges and their representation in the parliament has significantly been increased but still need a lot to become an effective part of the policy-making process. The instant study investigates the challenges faced by the women of Pakistan to overcome their political marginalization and suggests the measures to develop a more inclusive and representative society.

    Key Words

    Pakistan, Political Marginalization, Women Participation, Patriarchal Approach, Inclusive Society

    Introduction

    Women are almost half of the world’s population; they reaped a good repute within all spheres of life ranging from reproduction to caring family, sowing to crop-harvesting and menial jobs to corporal operations. On the other hand, democracy guarantees equal and fair opportunities both for the men and women to participate actively in the political affairs of the state which is also their fundamental human right. However, in many countries especially in the traditions-led conservative societies, politics has become a nightmare for women since their political and electoral landscape is dominated exclusively by men and women are systematically kept underrepresented in the power-structure. They are politically excluded and marginalized owing to gender-inferiority portrayed by social norms, cultural barriers and even in some cases through legal discriminations. They face a set of societal and institutional barriers while exercising their basic right of political participation. Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948, the world community recognizes political participation of women as their basic human right. The declaration stipulates the enjoyment of equal political rights for all without any discrimination on the basis of one’s sex or any other ground. However, the women had to make a long and tiring journey to get them recognized as “political agent” of the society. In the first wave of democratization, only USA, Britain and some countries of Europe recognized the franchise right of women. Still, the worldwide women representation in politics is not exceeding more than 15% which is alarmingly poor. There are only 12 countries in the world which have a minimum of 33% ratio of females within the parliament. In Pakistan, political participation of women mostly depends upon how the males of the concerned segment of society perceive about that activity. Although all the three constitutions (promulgated so far) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan guaranteed equal political participation for all without any discrimination and restriction on the basis of race, religion, caste or sex, nevertheless, the electoral and political history of Pakistan indicates various socio-cultural obstacles which did not let the women (constituting majority of the population) to involve actively in the decision-making circle. At the state-level, various regimes tried to abridge the gender-gap through constitutional provisions; women quota, indirect women elections and the minimum threshold for women representation in the parliament were designed to accommodate that marginalized community of the society. In the beginning, the proportion of women representation in the parliament was very poor. Keeping it in mind, the framers of the constitution of 1956 enacted the principle of “female suffrage for the seats reserved for women to be allocated on the basis of special territorial constituencies”. The said provision granted dual voting rights to women, one for the general seats and the other for the seats reserved for women. However, it was abolished later and replaced by an indirect system of election in the constitution of 1962; this time, the elected parliamentarians were empowered to elect women against their reserved seats hence the women, instead of being elected by women through elections, were selected by the party leaders which, in fact, reduced the women members into “token representatives”. Six seats were reserved for women in the national assembly of Pakistan under the constitutions of 1956 and 1962. The proportion of these seats ranged from three to ten percent depending upon the total seats of the relevant assembly. The constitution of 1973 increased this limit to ten for a period not less than 10 years to be counted from the day of commencement of the constitution or the holding of the election to the national assembly, whichever occurred later. In 1985, these seats were increased to twenty, however, they were lapsed in 1988 and the successor governments did nothing to revive them. A significant change occurred during the first decade of the 21st century; the Musharraf regime reformed the electoral system of Pakistan and reserved sixty seats for women in the national assembly which was three-times higher than the previous quota. In the local bodies, an unprecedented increase of 33% was made to the seats reserved for women. Unfortunately, Musharraf did not restore the principle of “female suffrage” as envisaged in the constitution of 1956. Instead, these seats were to be allocated by the political parties according to their share in the national assembly. Besides, a sizeable proportion (31%) of women from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Southern Punjab was forcibly restrained to exercise their legal and constitutional right to vote in the general election of 2002. The turnout of female voter in election of 2013 was also not up to the mark as compared to the male turnout. In some constituencies, women voters were barred to cast their vote and, interestingly, political parties did nothing to address the issue. In 17 constituencies, over 95% of female voters did not cast their vote on the polling day. In five of these constituencies, the turnout of female voters remained less than 1%. However, as compared to 2013, the turnout of female voters remained much better in the general election of 2018; nevertheless, in some remote constituencies, the majority of female voters did not cast their vote and their turnout remained below 10%. It goes without saying that the electoral participation as well as political representation of women has been quite alarming in Pakistan. Since, the current study is an attempt to explore the causes of the said marginalization of women by analyzing the rights and opportunities which the state, political parties and the family have offered to them, therefore, following research question was designed for that purpose:


    Research Question


    Whether or not the traditional patriarchal approach along with the religious orthodoxy marginalized the political and electoral representation of women in Pakistan?

    Research Methodology

    The study is primarily qualitative in nature. The socio-economic and politico-cultural dynamics in Pakistan are critically examined to answer the designated research question. Existing literature such as books, research articles, reports, electronic and print media coverage and editorials are critically evaluated to make the study more representative and purposeful. In addition, interviews are conducted with the notable politicians, representatives of the non-governmental organizations and media persons. During the study, focused group-discussions looping the varsities’ academia and researchers have also been arranged.

    Women as Electoral Candidates

    Ranging from political mobilization of women to their active participation in the national forums, the women played a vital role in the politics of Pakistan. However, their representation in the decision-making and the representative forums remained very low. Nine women contested for the general seats in the first direct election of 1970 but no one succeeded to enter the parliament. In 1977, only one woman directly contested the election for the national assembly making a history by securing her slot within the 216 members of the house. With the addition of ten reserved seats for women under the constitution of 1973, the strength of women in the national assembly had been raised to 5.1% of the total members. In the nonparty elections of 1985, fifteen women contested the direct election for the 237-member lower house whereas only one could win. In the general elections of 1988, sixteen women contested election against the general seats while only three could win. The house elected Benazir Bhutto as the prime minister of Pakistan who also became the first woman premier in whole of the Islamic states. In the general election of 1990, twelve women contested the direct election for the 217-member national assembly; however, only two could succeed. That house enjoyed the lowest representation of women with only two female members since the seats reserved for women had been lapsed due to the sunset clause. In 1993, fourteen women directly contested the general election for the national assembly whereas only four of them could win. In 1997, thirty-five women candidates contested the election against general seats whereas only five succeeded. For the first time in the parliamentary history of Pakistan, a sizeable number of directly elected women entered in the lower house of the parliament in 2002; out of 57 women who contested the election for 342-member lower house of the parliament, thirteen women became the members of the house. Thirteenth constituent assembly elected in 2008 accommodated the highest number of female members. Out of sixty-four female contestants of direct election, sixteen women succeeded to grab the seats of national assembly; with sixty reserved seats, a total of seventy-six women became the part of lower chamber constituting 22.2 % of the total members of the house. In 2013, out of one hundred and sixty-one women contesters, only nine women won the direct elections.

     

     


     

    Table 1. Representation of Women in Pakistan parliaments (1947-2018)

     

    Sr. No.

    Legislatures

    Total Seats

    Women Elected Directly

    Women Elected on Reserved Seats

    Number

    Percentage

    1

    1st Legislature Aug 10, 47-Oct24, 54

    30

    2

    6.70%

    2

    2nd Legislature May02,55-Oct07,58

    80

    0

    0%

    3

    3rd Legislature June08, 62-June12,65

    156

    6

    6

    3.80%

    4

    4th Legislature June12,65-Mar25,69

    156

    6

    6

    3.80%

    5

    5th Legislature April14,72-Jan10-77

    144

    6

    6

    4.20%

    6

    6th Legislature Mar26,77-July05,77

    210

    1

    10

    11

    5.20%

    7

    7th Legislature Mar20,85-May29,88

    217

    1

    21

    22

    10.10%

    8

    8th Legislature Ov30, 88-Aug06,90

    217

    4

    20

    24

    11.10%

    9

    9thLegislature Nov3,90-July17,93

    217

    2

    0

    2

    0.90%

    10

    10th Legislature Oct15,93-Nov05,96

    217

    4

    0

    4

    1.80%

    11

    11th Legislature feb15,97-Oct12,99

    217

    6

    0

    6

    2.80%

    12

    12th Legislature Nov16,02-Nov15.07

    342

    13

    61

    74

    21.64%

    13

    13th Legislature Feb18,08-Mar16, 13

    342

    16

    60

    76

    22.22%

    14

    14th Legislature June 01,2013-May 31, 2018

    342

    9

    60

    69

    20.5%

    15

    15th Legislature July 25, 2018-

    342

    8

    60

    68

    19.8%

     

    In national assembly, the representation of generally-elected women remained quite feeble during the electoral history of Pakistan. The maximum ratio of the directly elected women was recorded up to 4.7% in the thirteenth constituent assembly. The women remained marginalized during all other tenures of the lower house. Although the “representation” and “presentation” of women witnessed a sizeable increase after an increased reintroduction of the reserved seats for women by Musharraf regime yet too much is needed to facilitate women to contest effectively in the elections on the general seats.

     

    Table 2: Showing women in National Assemblies

     

    Political

    Parties

    Election

    2002

    Election

    2008

    Election

    2013

    Election

    2018

    No. of candidates

    women candidates

    % age

    No. of candidates

    women candidates

    % age

    No. of candidates

    women candidates

    % age

    No. of candidates

    women candidates

    % age

    PMLN

     

     

     

    223

    7

    3.1%

    221

    6

    2.7%

    125

    5

    4%

    PPPP

     

     

     

    263

    15

    5.7%

    222

    13

    5.8%

    176

    12

    6.8%

    PTI

     

     

     

    Boycotted the election

    238

    6

    2.5%

    244

    14

    5.7%

     

    In Pakistan, the political as well as electoral participation of women and their representation in parliament have significantly been increased over the years. In 1990, the representation of women in the 9th constituent assembly (1990-93) was only 0.90% of the total members whereas it is now 19.8% in the 15th constituent assembly (2018-23).

    The Women’s Parliamentary Caucus and Women’s Rights Group demanded 10% quota for women as party candidates for general seats; they tabled a private member bill in the national assembly which was referred to the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms. The committee considered the bill and fixed a quota of 5% with consensus (Naz & Mirbahar, 2018). Now, the Election Act 2017 provides that political parties are bound to allocate at least five percent party tickets to women against general seats of national assembly and provincial assemblies; failing which, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would take action against the political parties. Owing to the said legal binding, all the three mainstream political parties i.e. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarian (PPPP) allocated more tickets to the women against general seats in elections of 2108. In fact, more women contested elections against general seats in 2018 as compared to all previous elections; nevertheless, the figure still didn’t match the designated criteria of 5 percent. In the said election, out of a total of 11, 885 contestants for the national as well as provincial assemblies, 5768 contestants were the ticket-holders of 94 political parties. Out of these 5768 contestants, only 305 were the women candidates which were 5.2% of the total ticket-holders. More than forty-five political parties failed to allocate party-tickets to women candidates and many others didn’t fulfill the percentage required by the Election Act of 2017. Surprisingly, the ECP did not take any action against the parties which failed to accommodate the required women candidates. It not only allowed those parties to contest election but also assigned them electoral symbols. Ironically, most of the political parties fielded women in the constituencies where they have the least chances of success. Most of the women party-tickets were allocated only to fulfill the legal requirements. This trend was more prevalent within nationalist and religious political parties. The PPPP remained at the top while allocating tickets to females against general seats; PTI also awarded party-tickets to some potential women candidates and some of them succeeded to grab national assembly slots from some big guns.

      

    Table 3: Women Representation in SAARC Countries

     

    Sr. No

    Country

    Lower House

    Upper House

    Election

    Total Seats

    Women

    %age

    Election

    Total Seats

    women

    %age

    1

    Nepal

    19.11.2013

    595

    176

    29.60%

    ---

    ---

    ---

    ---

    2

    Afghanistan

    18.09.2010

    249

    69

    27.70%

    10.01.2015

    68

    18

    26.50%

    3

    Bangladesh

    05.01.2014

    350

    71

    20.30%

    ---

    ---

    ---

    ---

    4

    Pakistan

    25.07.2018

    342

    68

    19.8%

    05.03.2015

    104

    19

    18.30%

    5

    India

    07.04.2014

    542

    64

    11.80%

    21.03.2016

    244

    27

    11.10%

    6

    Bhutan

    13.07.2013

    47

    4

    8.50%

    23.04.2013

    25

    2

    8.00%

    7

    Maldives

    22.03.2014

    85

    5

    5.90%

    ---

    ---

    ---

    ---

    8

    Sri Lanka

    17.08.2015

    225

    13

    5.80%

    ---

    ---

    ---

    ---

     

    After a substantial increase in seats reserved for women in national assembly, Pakistan became fourth among South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in terms of women representation in the elected houses. Women, here, are elected through indirect election against the reserved seats. Under this mechanism, seats are allocated to political parties in proportion to the number of general seats which they won through general elections. The women elected on the quota seats become the member of the house without any constituency hence enjoy a lesser status as compared to those elected on general seats. The women elected on these seats are controlled and answerable to political parties instead of voters. They can do only what their masters want from them to do which limitation undermine their parliamentary/legislative performance. Moreover, the quota reserved for women in the parliament adversely affect their representation against general seats. Under the pretext of reserved women representation as well as the male-dominant and patriarchal mindset which believe that women are comparatively less fit to conduct their electoral campaign effectively, the political parties allocate majority of electoral tickets to male candidates which results in the marginalization of women to reserved seats only. It would also be pertinent to mention that although Pakistan has made a substantial headway in women’s representation in elected houses but it still falls short of meeting the UN target of ensuring 30% of women’s representation in the parliament. Under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Pakistan has committed to achieve the 30% benchmark of women’s representation in the elected houses. In short, political parties in Pakistan do not attempt seriously to reduce the gender-gap in allocation of party tickets hence women remained marginalized in terms of political participation and representation. The following section details the socio-political and economic constraints which restrict females of Pakistan to participate actively in the mainstream politics.

    Issues and Challenges

     

    Existing social and cultural norms, feudalistic approach, patriarchal mindset, economic barriers and infrastructural problems have become the major hurdles for women of the developing states to contest elections independently and join power-corridors. Women in Pakistan, too, are fighting for their rights to get themselves into the mainstream politics. Societal awareness through vibrant media and the consequent constitutional provisions are, to some extent, making their jobs easier. A sizeable proportion of women are capturing the parliamentary slots by participating actively in the electoral politics hence the proportion of women parliamentarians in Pakistan is gradually increasing but still they have to make a long journey in order to be capable of safeguarding their due rights. Some of the major issues faced by female political workers of Pakistan are as under:

     

    Religious Orthodoxy

     

    Since power and authority are believed to be the divine rights of men in many of the religions and women are confined only to a subsidiary role in the society hence, across the world, religion has become a tool to marginalize the females from the political activities. By interpreting religious teachings and thoughts, arguments have been built to justify the social inferiority of women to men. The women, too, have assumed that politics is a dirty game and only men can be the best players. The Islamic teachings never barred the women from political participation. Islam recognizes it their due right to play an active role in electing their leader. In the early years of Islam, the legitimacy of the leader had to be made through the process of “Baiah” which was an election. The Prophet of Islam Muhammad (SAW) himself received the Baiah form both the males and females. Almighty Allah in the Quran instructs Muhammad (SAW) to accept the pledge of the women.

    “O prophet whenever believing women come unto thee to pledge their allegiance to thee…then accept their pledge of allegiance.”

    The term “Imam” is used in the holy Quran as a source of guidance. It is not used specifically for one who leads the prayers since the criterion requisite for leading the prayer is only the ability to read and understand the Quran and teachings of Muhammad (SAW). Only leading the prayer is not required from the Imam but one (male or female) who observes the principles and teachings of Islam as well as have the capacity to lead the followers is called the Imam. The Quran speaks favorably and positively of Queen Saba. Muhammad (SAW) appointed Shifa bint Abd Allah as controller of the market in Madina where she was reappointed during the caliphate of Umar (RA) who also appointed Hazrat Umm Hakim Bazia at the post of Khilafat. Above all, Hazrat Ayesha (RAa), the wife of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), took over the command of army in the battlefield and in the time of peace she taught the companions of the Prophet (SAW) whatsoever their gender was. Nobody objected to the command and capacity of Hazrat Ayesha (RAa). 

    In Islam, there is no such provision which restrains women to take part in politics; moreover, there is nothing in adverse in Quran which prevents women from holding any executive position.  However, the religious orthodox propagated the saying of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW); “A people who entrust power to a woman will never prosper”. Islamic Jurists and scholars had raised concerns over the reliability of the said tradition on several accounts. They believes that if it was reliable then Hazrat Ayesha (RAa) would never command the battle against Hazrat Ali (RA) who was the fourth caliph of Islam. In a nutshell, Islam provides equal rights and opportunities to all and has no discrimination on the basis of gender.   

    The socio-political structure of Pakistan is largely integrated and motivated on the basis of religion. The society is patriarchal in practice and the life of women, too, is governed by religious beliefs; the dogmatic approach observed by the religious leaders adversely affected the socio-political fabric. Women, here, are facing a set of injustices; they are physically, financially, psychologically and politically marginalized and subjugated in the name of religion. Although, the state-religion and all the three constitutions promulgated so far guaranteed equality of rights and dispelled all the gender-based discriminations but the societal norms evolved under the religious orthodoxy made the life of women miserable and politics has become the job of men only. Consequently, when Fatima Jinnah (sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah-the founding-father of Pakistan) contested the presidential election in 1965, the hardliner ulemas including Maulana Madudi, who was then a renowned religio-political leader, issued a fatwa against her leadership and called it un-Islamic. However, the majority, later on, supported her candidacy under the doctrine of political necessity. 

    The Islamization campaign carried out by General Ziaul-Haq provided the state-patronage to those who were against the political participation of women. Zia proposed and implemented a number of gender-based discriminatory laws. Women were barred from taking part in all types of sports; the political parties enjoying state-patronage opposed the political and electoral participation of women calling it un-Islamic. They granted fatwa against the government of Benazir Bhutto. When she tried to table a constitutional bill for the reintroduction of the reserved seats for women, the religious and pro-conservative political parties opposed the bill. They termed the move as Western agenda and against the preaching of Islam. Later, in 1997, the Nawaz Sharif led-government, formed with a two-third majority within the national assembly, rejected the proposal of reintroduction of reserved seats for women. One of the member from the treasury benches said: “If the government will resume seats for women then the third sex can also demand separate seats.” This reveals the narrow-minded and biased approach adopted by the males of Pakistan towards the females.

    After 9/11, Pakistan witnessed drastic societal changes and the one which hit the most was the rise of religious extremism, militancy and terrorism. In the general election of 2002, the religio-political parties instrumentally used slogans focusing “anti-Westernization” and “anti-liberalization” of women in their campaign and bagged a sizeable proportion of the seats of national and provincial assemblies especially from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan. Ironically, the leaders, who had publically propagated the political participation of women as un-Islamic, struggled to accommodate their daughters, wives and sisters against quota seats reserved in the assemblies for women.

    Comparatively, within the more conservative societies, the religious orthodoxy forcibly restricts the women not to become part of the politics. They are barred to avail their right to vote and contest the elections. In remote areas of Pakistan, the political and electoral participation of women is alarmingly poor and the elders of the tribes restrict them from casting their votes in the name of religion and culture. They believe that Islam never allows women to mingle with the opposite sex and do that business which is not in their domain.

    Financial Constraints

    Gender has become a distinguishing factor in the civic society of Pakistan. Local traditions and culture are led mostly by patriarchal values which determine the societal norms in general and gender-based values in particular. Traditional division in the name of religion and culture placed women in the reproductive roles of mothers and wives caring for their families and children in the private arena of home and men in the productive role of breadwinners active in public arena. Financially, the majority of women are dependent upon their families or male partners since they are doing non-payment household jobs but their services have never been acknowledged and respected duly. The quantum of investment both from the family and state in the capacity-building of women remained much lower as compared to the men. Here, institutionalization of the biased patriarchal approach as well as unethical cultural barriers restricting women’s mobility in the name of religion has generated gender-based discriminations and disparities in all walks of life. Any superior socio-economic status of women would enhance their participation and representation in the political sphere. The more they would be financially independent, the more they would be active in politics hence there would be more representation of women in policy-making forums of the state which ultimately would ensure the protection of their rights. 

    The dilemma of the traditional societies is that women are barred there to cross the boundaries of their homes and earn their livelihood independently. In the third world countries, the overall per capita income is not well and the women are living miserable lives. They are forced to be confined and even deprived of their economic rights in remote areas. In interior Sindh of Pakistan, women are forced to marry with Holy Quran only to deprive them of their inheritance. The participation of women in political life depends largely on their access to financial resources and opportunities which will make them independent as well as skillful and confident. Moreover, they have limited opportunities to access the labor market due to their non-professional experience and skill. Women constitute only 21% of the labor force while the remaining market is captured by men. This dominance of males adversely affects the socio-political orientation of women. 

    Economic impediment, societal and cultural constraints restrict their mobility, independence and socialization which lead to economic dependency and social exclusion. Structural and socio-economic factors disallow the women to enter into the arena of politics. Generally, political parties in third world countries, hesitate to allocate party-tickets to the women applicants against general seats due to their economic dependency, restricted mobility and limited socialization. Inglehart and Norris believe that agrarian societies have more traditional beliefs whereas the post-industrial societies demonstrate more egalitarian trends. The countries with higher level of development are more likely to have greater degrees of gender equality. 

    Politics has become a game of billionaires in Pakistan. Limited financial resources restrict women to participate in electoral politics since they cannot spend the large amount of money required for elections. Political parties, on the other hand, do nothing for financial support of the women to make them capable of contesting the elections. In the traditions’ led society of Pakistan embedded with religious orthodoxy, women are forcefully excluded from all spheres of life particularly politics. Moreover, the women quota of reserved seats has become a modicum for political parties to adjust influential political families. Almost all the political parties did nothing to adjust genuine women political workers against the reserved seats. For political mainstreaming of the deserving female political workers, the political parties should develop a financial support fund so that they can contest the elections against general seats. 

    Patriarchal Approach

    In many societies, women are considered incapable of making smart decisions. They are forced to do what their male partners or relatives want hence the societal norms and values are designed in such a way to facilitate men at the cost of women. Under the patriarchal framework, the family has become the main actor to promote inequality in the society since patriarchy means the dominance of men over women. Giving undue higher social status to men over women has been internalized in the public life of Pakistan. The gender-based socialization of the children within the family expecting and accepting different roles has created a social mechanism for the development of values that have engendered several forms of discrimination against the females. Ironically, everyone agrees in the principle of equal political and electoral participation of women and their proper space in decision-making forums, but no one makes an honest attempt in this regard. Preventing women from creating their own leadership and obstructing them from political participation and representation in the supra-state institutions is a continuation of patriarchal approach and gender subjugation. However, politically motivated and socially influential women themselves can inspire more women to resist these trends and patterns. 

    The socio-cultural barriers promoted by patriarchal structure in Pakistan restrict the independent mobility and socialization of females. In remote areas, they are bound to act according to the wishes and whims of their male elders who deprive them of their basic human rights including education, health and mobility. Male dominance keeps the women in the lower strata and preferences are made by men in all the spheres of life; they also decide whether or not the women can cast their votes in elections hence the proportion of female voter-turnout remained alarmingly poor in most of the elections. 

    In sum, women, are restricted to cast their vote, barred to contest elections, deprived from their right of political participation, kept away from the corridors of power and decision-making forums in the name of religion, culture, and societal norms and values.  

    Conclusion

    Religious orthodoxy, financial constraints, economic dependency, socio-cultural barriers, limited and restricted mobility, illiteracy, family responsibilities and comparatively weak decision-making power are the main factors which restrict the women to become an active political actor in the society. In Pakistan, the militant Islamic fundamentalism has widened the gulf between male and female. The Islamic principle of equality has dramatically been revised and misinterpreted by the religiously orthodox segments. The self-oriented move of “Islamization” by General Ziaul-Haq affected the polity of Pakistan adversely. Women have been excluded from the mainstream politics under the slogan of religion. Moreover, the socio-cultural patterns, patriarchal nature of the society and agrarian-based economy also lasted negative impacts on the mobility and socialization of women. All these factors not only marginalized the women politically but also decreased their share in bureaucratic and administrative institutions. In the contemporary Pakistan, some initiatives have been taken to address the grievances of females; enhancement in seats reserved for women, enactment of anti-harassment laws and the institutionalization of “Women Ombudsman” are some of the major examples but more societal awareness is still required for augmenting the socio-political status of women. In this regard, all the stakeholders should play their role to provide political space to them, acknowledge their services and protect their rights. Women, in power, should be the torch-bearers for other women to motivate them

     to stand for their basic human rights.

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  • Paxton, P., Kunovich, S., & Hughes, M. M. (2007). Gender in politics.Annu. Rev. Sociol.,33, 263-284.Rehman & Memon,
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  • Mahmood, B., Sohail, M. M., Khalid, S., & Babak, I. (2012). Gender specific barriers to female entrepreneurs in Pakistan: A study in urban areas of Pakistan.Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 339-352.
  • Begum,S. (2015).Political Participation of Women : Some Issues and Challenges1(11),480-486.
  • Kassa, S. (2015). Challenges and opportunities of women political participation in Ethiopia.Journal of Global economics,3(4), 1-7
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Cite this article

    CHICAGO : Azhar, Mian Muhammad, Abdul Basit Khan, and Muhammad Waris. 2018. "Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges." Global Regional Review, III (I): 428-444 doi: 10.31703/grr.2018(III-I).32
    HARVARD : AZHAR, M. M., KHAN, A. B. & WARIS, M. 2018. Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges. Global Regional Review, III, 428-444.
    MHRA : Azhar, Mian Muhammad, Abdul Basit Khan, and Muhammad Waris. 2018. "Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges." Global Regional Review, III: 428-444
    MLA : Azhar, Mian Muhammad, Abdul Basit Khan, and Muhammad Waris. "Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges." Global Regional Review, III.I (2018): 428-444 Print.
    OXFORD : Azhar, Mian Muhammad, Khan, Abdul Basit, and Waris, Muhammad (2018), "Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges", Global Regional Review, III (I), 428-444
    TURABIAN : Azhar, Mian Muhammad, Abdul Basit Khan, and Muhammad Waris. "Political Marginalization of Women in Pakistan: Issues and Challenges." Global Regional Review III, no. I (2018): 428-444. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2018(III-I).32