TOWARDS UNLOCKING PATRIARCHY: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL POLITICS IN PAKISTAN A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY NAIMA TABASSUM IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY FEBRUARY 2011 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Ay şe Saktanber Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ay şe Gündüz Ho şgör (METU, SOC) Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk (METU, SOC) Assist. Prof. Dr. Canan Aslan Akman (METU, POL) Assist. Prof. Dr. Fatma Umut Be şpınar(METU, SOC) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Simten Co şar (BA ŞKENT, POL) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name: Naima Tabassum Signature : iii ABSTRACT TOWARDS UNLOCKING PATRIARCHY: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL POLITICS IN PAKISTAN Tabassum, Naima Ph.D., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk February 2011, 328 pages This dissertation is a qualitative case study of women’s political participation in local government in District Hyderabad, Pakistan from a feminist perspective. There is a longstanding patriarchal trend of elite women’s selective political participation in Pakistan. But recently introduced local government system with increased quota (33%) for women brought a large mass of non-elite women in local politics. This research explores the social dynamics behind this changing pattern through semi-structured interviews with 53 elected women local councilors in the district. It argues that there is a dialectical relationship between patriarchy and women’s political participation. It shows how patriarchal structures have reconfigured to enhance their interest by bringing non-elite women into politics for their power interest. The women, who entered politics, do not challenge the patriarchal structures; rather they use them as resources to facilitate their entry and survival in politics. This process has rendered somewhat of a compatible co-existence between these two antagonistic forces. Patriarchy has gained more modernized outlook while still retaining male domination. The non-elite women, although still controlled by and submissive to male domination, have gained ever broader legitimate space for their autonomous action. The research contributes to the debates concerning patriarchal transformation, arguing that certain features of patriarchy, when responding to accommodate new socio-political developments, gives rise to its own contradictions, thus potentially creating the conditions for overall societal change. Keywords: Women, Political Participation, Local Government, Pakistan, Patriarchy. iv ÖZ ATAERK İNİN K İLİDİNİ AÇMAYA DO ĞRU: PAK İSTAN’DA KADINLARIN YEREL S İYASETE KATILIMI Tabassum, Naima Doktora, Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk Şubat 2011, 328 sayfa Bu doktora tezi Pakistan’ın Haydarabad bölgesindeki kadınların yerel yönetim düzeyinde siyasi katılımını feminist bir çerçeveden inceleyen niteliksel bir örnek olay çalı şmasıdır. Pakistan’da, elit kadınlar patriarkal yapıya ba ğlı olarak siyasal alana seçici bir şekilde katılagelmi şlerdir. Ancak, yakın geçmi şte de ğiştirilen yerel yönetim sistemi kapsamında getirilen kota artı şı (%33) elit olmayan kadınların yerel siyasete katılımlarının artmasına neden olmu ştur. Bu ara ştırma, de ğişen bu durumun ardındaki toplumsal dinamikleri, bölgedeki yerel meclise seçilmi ş olan 53 kadınla gerçekle ştirilen yarı-yapılandırılmı ş görü şmelere dayanarak incelemektedir. Çalı şmanın temel iddiası ataerkillik ile kadınların siyasi katılımı arasında diyalektik bir ili şki oldu ğudur. Çalı şma, ataerkil yapıların, elit olmayan kadınları siyasetin içine çekerek devamlılıklarını nasıl sa ğladıklarını göstermektedir. Siyasete katılan kadınlar ataerkil yapılara meydan okumak yerine, bu yapıları siyasete katılımlarını ve siyasette kalmalarını kolayla ştıran kaynaklar olarak kullanmaktadırlar. Bu süreç, bu iki karşıt güç arasında birbirini besleyen bir yapının olu şmasına neden olmu ştur. Böylelikle ataerki modernle şmi ş bir görünüm kazanırken, erkek egemenli ği de korunmu ştur. Elit olmayan kadınlar, erkek egemenli ği güdümünde olmalarına ve bu egemenli ğe itaat etmelerine ra ğmen, ba ğımsız hareket etmelerini mümkün ve me şru kılan daha geni ş ve bir alan elde etmi şlerdir. Ara ştırma, ataerkinin belirli özelliklerinin yeni sosyo-politik geli şmelere kar şılık verirken kendi çeli şkilerini yarattı ğını, dolayısıyla potansiyel olarak genel bir toplumsal de ğişime yol açabilecek ko şulları yarattı ğını iddia ederek, ataerkilli ğin dönü şümü tartı şmalarına da katkıda bulunmaktadır. v Anahtar kelimeler: Kadınlar, siyasi katılım, yerel yönetim, Pakistan, ataerkillik. vi To My Parents vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are several people without whose support this dissertation could have not been completed. I am fortunate to have very good teachers at Middle East Technical University. Particularly, I feel honor to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Yakın Ertürk for her continuous guidance, encouragement and trust throughout this research. It was her intellectual, academic and motherly teachings that enabled me to successfully finish this doctoral research and dissertation. I am also thankful to all the committee members for their guidance to give proper direction to this research. I would like to pay my gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ay şe Gündüz Ho şgör, for her intellectual support and critical readings of my chapters. Her backup support beside the chapters in some crucial phases of my studies also helped me to keep my enthusiasm and moral high to finish this doctorate. I am also grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilek Cindo ğlu for being in my thesis supervisory committee untill her sabbatical. I highly appreciate Assist. Prof. Canan Aslan Akman for accepting to step in as a member of the advisory committee at an advanced stage of the drafting process of my dissertation. Her interest, encouragement and positive feedback was invaluable. I also owe great gratitude to Assist. Prof. Fatma Umut Be şpınar and Assoc. Prof. Simten Co şar for being part of my Thesis examination committee. Of course this dissertation could have not been possible without the women councilors who agreed to participate in this research and provided me with their precious time. I am thankful to them for sharing their experiences with me in detail. Beside women councilors, I also thank to those men and women in local government who facilitated me to reach these women. Above all I want to thank my family; my father, mother, sisters, brothers and my niece, whose support enabled me to reach this place in my life. I could not be what I am, without their precious emotional and moral companionship. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................iv ÖZ....................................................................................................................................v DEDICATION...............................................................................................................vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................viii TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................ix LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………..…...1 1.1. Focus of the Dissertation………….......……………………………...……1 1.2. Background of the Research Problem ...………………….…...…...……...3 1.3. Research Problem ..………………………………………………...……...7 1.4. Research Hypothesis………………………..…………………..…………7 1.5. Significance of the Study………………………………………..………...9 1.6. Scope and Procedure of the Research ...................................................…10 1.7. The Plan of the Chapters ...…………...…………………...……………..13 2. FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON WOMEN IN POLITICS…………….….….17 2.1. Introduction.………...……………………..…………………….......…...17 2.2. Defining Patriarchy………………………………...…………...………...19 2.3. A Review of Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Exclusion from Public and Political Sphere…………………………………………………....…21 2.4. Patriarchal Transformation: Different Forms of Patriarchy……….....…..35 ix 2.5. Women’s Political Participation: Is Patriarchy Losing Grounds?..............41 2.6. Subverting the Patriarchy from within: An Emerging Approach of Patriarchal Transformation……………………………...…….………….43 2.7. Masculinities Theory and Broadened Space for Women’s Autonomous Action…………………………………………...…………………….......55 2.8. Conclusion: Theoretical