Women Representation in Pakistani Legislatures

Abstract

Women representation in decision-making and law-making is considered as a vital step in women empowerment. The Martial Law regime of General Pervez Musharraf1 brought in a drastic change in the composition of Pakistani legislatures at both central and provincial levels and has increased 17 per cent of reserved seats for women in 2002. However, this was much less than the 33 per cent stated in Strategic Objective G-2 in the plan. This step was deemed as a landmark in materialising the long-cherished dream of empowering Pakistani women. The purpose of this study is to assess the discourse on women’s political empowerment and their level of participation in mainstream politics by analysing the gender gaps in the Election Laws—General Elections of 2002, 2008 and 2013. Women are now present in all the legislative assemblies of Pakistan from more than a decade. How far this change has remained useful in addressing and solving the problems faced by Pakistani women? Furthermore, how these women legislators have performed on specific women-related issues or is this step just an extension of strengthening the dominant families in Pakistani politics? The issue of quota discourses in the Parliament is also discussed.