Limitations of Women Political Rights as a medium for Social Change (A Case Study of Rural and Urban Areas of Pakistan)
Submitted to: Mr. Najumuddin Bakr
Submitted by: Inayat ur rehman Reg#:243/FSS/BsP&IR-F10 International Islamic University, Islamabad
1 Contents
2 Hurdles of Women Political Rights as a medium for Social Change (A Case Study of Rural and Urban Areas of Pakistan)
Statement of Problem: International and domestic legislation provides equal opportunity to participate in political activities but why women's legal ability to vote does not overcome the common obstacle to participate in government, as this issue is under the scarce attention of government and political parties.
Introduction and Significance of Research Article 51 (2), 62 and 63 of the 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan provides the right to vote and participation in the Parliament, similarly the same rights are provided by article 106 (2) and 113 of the constitution regarding provincial assemblies.1 Article 342 of the constitution aimed at participation of women in all spheres of national life. Rights of same nature are also decided by various international instruments to women. Article 213 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 7 and 8 of the CEDAW provides political rights to women. Government places no restriction on the participation of women in the political process however, they are still under represented in government and politics in the patriarchal society of Pakistan.Such political rights can be a catalyst
1The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan adopted on 10 April, 1973. Available online at:
2"Steps shall be taken to ensure full participation of women in all spheres of national life."
31) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedure. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted on 10 December 1948. Available online at: < http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/> (last accessed: 26.1.11).
3 for significant change that allowed women to successfully challenge many stereotype about women that kept them from full equality with men. However, women, in both rural and urban areas of Pakistan, still attempt with gender inequality in many ways. Right to suffrage is a vehicle for asserting human rights but possess limitations to combat discriminatory voting practices and influence political and social determinants of voting behavior.Moreover, societal pressures such asgender-stereotypes and gender-based voting behavior4, negative effect and pressures of 'personal vote on women candidates, cultural politics and environment, assumption of traits of ideal leader and belief that men make better political leaders than women do, reluctance of political parties to nominate female candidates due to presence of prejudiced voters, presumed perceptions about ineffectiveness of women in government and women still seen by society as primary caregivers for children and elders and trail men in terms of managerial positions are the determinants hindering the way of women to participate in government despite being the legal voters in Pakistan. Thus, eve’s emancipation to overcome such impediments is present in developing society of Pakistan in the todays globalized world of 21st century to exercise their rights independently and represent the government. Women are to be focused because of the fact that they have to face more societal pressures and barriers in enjoying their rights and particularly to be represented in government. This research will highlight the nature and extent of impediments faced by women in this respect in the rural and urban areas of Pakistan and will recommend how such pressures can be overcome and will help in facilitating the way of women to combat barriers towards representing their government at each level. There is a need to highlight such social barriers and lacunas in contemporary human rights regime aiming at protecting and guaranteeing equal rights without gender-based discrimination.
4KiraSanbonmastu, "Gender Stereotypes and Vote Choice", American Journal of Political Science, 46:1 (Jan., 2002), 30. Available at:
4 Questions The study is proposed to analyze the following issues: Why suffrage alone is not enough to grant rights? What needs to occur along with suffrage in order for historically subjugated population of women to assert their rights? What impact universal suffrage has had for women in both sectors of society? What are laws and are they discriminatory? What steps have been taken at international and national level to empower women in political life? Did the existing laws meet the requirements needed or is there just excess of laws? How gender-based preferences in political sphere can be eliminated? What are the similarities and differences in the nature of social barriers for women of rural and urban areas?
Hypothesis Women in both rural and urban areas are equally entitled to vote and to participate or be a part of government without any discrimination. However, they are not equally treated and given the opportunities by the pre decided social practices. Therefore, limitations of voting rights and societal impediments prevalent proved to hinder the way of women to enjoy their political rights. Social barriers and problems faced by women in both sectors are similar as well as different due to priority differences and level of awareness.
Objective The objective of the research is to measure the factual situation in the light of national and international legislation, investigate and analyze the obstacles faced by women to be elected and identify the incapability of women due to social barriers to enjoy their rights based on systematic research.
5 Research Methodology The main sources of information and data collection will be the published material such as declarations, books, journals, reports of various organisations, press releases, decided official decrees of courts and moreover, available electronic material. Furthermore, questionnaires will also be designed to gather the information.
Literature Review As far as right to vote and participation in government is concerned, various instruments of national, regional and international nature have covered it. While related to the social obstacles and voting behavior not much work has been done especially in context of women issues. Most of the existing literature just explains the existing laws without any solid and objective analysis of their applicability. Lamentably, very few authors took pain to mention about the societal pressures to participate in government but they fail to cover all the main aspects. Very limited literature exists or was gone through to talk about hurdles faced by women in Pakistan. That is why need was felt to highlight the pressures and hurdles faced by urban and rural women. Political Empowerment of Women in Pakistan Asma Afzal Shami in her article gives the detailed analysis of women's participation in the freedom movement and all political eras. The article mainly focuses on the struggle by women and various policies. Article is insufficient to explain the existing societal impediments in women's political participation. Political Empowerment of Women: A Comparative Study of South Asian Countries Amna Mahmood's article discusses the measures taken by different governments in South Asia to achieve the goal of political empowerment and participation of womenfolk in the decision making process at all levels and very briefly the domestic and societal hurdles faced in political empowerment of women. The hurdles mentioned by author are deemed insufficient and there is a need to explain these impediments. Women’s Political Participation: Issues and Challenges Farzana Bari's paper focuses on the historic exclusion of women from political affairs and identifies few of the internal as well as external factors
6 impeding women's political participation and strategies for women's political participation. However, the paper is not significant enough to encompass all the social factors behind under representation of women in politics. ` Report on the State of Women in the Urban Local Government Pakistan Report depicts the education level and number of women registered votersand women participation and describes the political and government structure of country. Further provides the historical statistics of women's political participation. Very few barriers are discussed in report, faced by women in the exercise of their right to vote and representation at all levels. Women in Politics-Problems of Participation: A Case Study of Pakistan Dr. Dushka H. Saiyid provides the historical participation of women in Pakistan, issue of under-registration of women, general seats and reserved seats for women, devolution and participation of women. Author of the article declare low literacy level, under-registration, difficulty in exercising the right to vote practically and less attention by democratic governments to empower women politically, continuously hindering the women political participation. Social impediments discussed in the article are significant however are not sufficient. Democracy or Diversity: The Effect of the Personal Vote on the Representation of Women: Dr. Melody Ellis Validini in this article beautifully explains some of the social factors impeding the way of women candidates to be elected and how voters respond to women candidates. He totally focuses on personal vote concept and based his whole research on effects of this factor on women candidates. He further explains very little about party politics, people's perception and assumptions of ideal leaders but did not mention the hurdles faced by women to exercise their right to vote and get nominated. Moreover, he did not go for other
Bibliography Asian Development Bank, "Critical Issues for Women in Pakistan", Country Briefing Paper—Women in Pakistan. Available online at:
7 Bari, Farzana, Women's Political Participation: Issues and Challenges (Thailand: 3.11.05). Available online at:
Gerber, Alan S., Donald P. Green, and Christopher W. Larimer, "Social Pressure and Voter Turnout: Evidence from a Large-scale Field Experiment", American Political Science Review, 102:1 (Feb., 2008). Available at:
Hepburn, C. Gail, and Julian Barling, "To Vote or Not to Vote: Abstaining from Voting in Union Representation Elections", Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22:5 (Aug., 2001). Available at:
Mahmood, Amna, "Political Empowerment of Women: A Comparative Study of South Asian Countries", Pakistan Vision, 10:1. Available online at:
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