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Historically, gender quota in politics is divided into three phases in Pakistan. The Phase one involves reservation of minimal 3% of quota for women in national and provincial assemblies under first constitution of Pakistan, 1956.   Which was later revised as 2.75% quota in national assembly and 5% in provincial assemblies provided in constitutions of 1962 and 1973. In the Second Phase, women quota in the politics increased up to 10% in 1985 for the period of 10 years. This of course, was also the time when international organisations such as the UN were beginning to recognise the importance of women in public life. In the Third and current phase , Pakistan adopted the Gender Reform Action Plan (GRAP) funded by Asian Development Bank in 2002 and which become the part of PSDP in 2005. GRAP proposed four central policy reform areas in gender and governance. Top of the list was “ to improve women’s representation and participation in political and administrative structures ”. Therefo...

Women's full and equal participation in the political arena is fundamental to democracy and justice. Improving the representation of women at national level politics can deliver broad change.  The Election Act, 2017 has recognized   the need to increase representation of women in politics (as voters and candidates) and imposed three key measures to promote their participation: Returns from any constituency where women’s turnout was less than or equal to 10 percent be nullified. Criminalized the practice of preventing a woman from voting in or contesting an election. At least five percent women quota on general (non-reserved) national and provincial assembly seats. Despite strong legislations and reforms, Pakistani women in politics has continued to face multiple challenges as political candidate due to patriarchal system: Lack of say in party-decision making Lack of funding to support election campaigns Civic or public participation is still problem due to male dominance or so...

Although Pakistan was the first Muslim-majority country to elect a female head of government in 1988, and 60 of 342 seats in the National Assembly and 128 of 728 seats in provincial assemblies are reserved for women, female political participation continues to lag behind that of men – particularly when it comes to voting.  Approximately, 46.7 million Pakistani women are registered to vote. But this still only accounts for  44 percent  of the electorate, though women make up  48.76 percent of the population . When it comes to voting, we need a better overall system to ensure that more and more women are encouraged to come out to the polling stations. But, there’s not just one barrier, it’s a systemic thing where the environment doesn’t enable women to participate politically. Following things are part of problem when it comes to women’s voting:   Challenges in obtaining ID cards   The distance to polling stations Religious and Cultural ...

Topics Covered:   Suffragist Movement Gender Issues in Women as Voters  Gender Issues in Women as Candidates/Representative  Impact of Women Political Quota/Participation in Pakistan  Suffragist Movement in the USA Suffragist Movement Suffrage means the right to vote in political elections. It is a sad fact that throughout history, there have been many restrictions placed on who can and can’t vote, based on things like age, gender, race, education, wealth and social status. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, men in the UK, USA and other parts of world had the right to vote but women did not. Many people – including women – didn’t believe that women should be able to vote. Even  Queen Victoria  called the fight for women’s rights a “mad, wicked folly” – despite being a powerful woman herself! In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many women started to campaign for women’s rights. ...

Mera Jism Meri Marzi VI. Status of Women in Pakistan Topics Covered: ▪ Status of Women’s health in Pakistan ▪ Status of Women in Education  ▪ Women and Employment  ▪ Women and Law ▪ Status of Women’s health in Pakistan (2024) Status of Women's health in Pakistan What is status of women’s health in Pakistan? How it could be improved within the available economic resources? Health is a state of complete mental, physical, and social well-being and does not mean the mere absence of disease or infirmity. The progress and development of nations are interlinked with the health of women. If the women are healthy, they will have healthy children and they may be in a position to take care of the entire family. Pakistan, despite many national and international commitments, has failed to uplift the poor health conditions of women. Following indicators shows the actual state of women’s health in Pakistan: Statistics of women's health issues in Pakistan The status of women health can be...

  Gender and Development V. Gender and Development  Gender Analysis of Development Theories: 1.  Modernization Theory (to gender equality) Modernization theory states that, modern societies are more productive, children are better educated, and the needy receive more welfare. It, further states that development in the developing countries can be attained by following the processes of development that are used by currently developed nations (Rostow, 1960). Rostow said that development is a phased process. So, he developed a five-stage model of the economic development that will be applied to all the countries specially the third world countries, 1) traditional society, 2) precondition for takeoff, 3) the takeoff process, 4) the drive to maturity, and 5) high mass consumption society. Modernization Theory  blames internal cultural factors for women’s subordination in the developing world. It is argued that some traditional cultures, and especially the religiou...