University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 4-9-2019 Descriptive to Substantive Representation: A Study of Gender Quotas in the National Assembly of Pakistan, 2002-2018 Ameena Zia University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, Development Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Islamic Studies Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, and the Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons Recommended Citation Zia, Ameena, "Descriptive to Substantive Representation: A Study of Gender Quotas in the National Assembly of Pakistan, 2002-2018" (2019). Dissertations. 811. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/811 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Descriptive to Substantive Representation: A Study of Gender Quotas in the National Assembly of Pakistan, 2002-2018 Ameena Mohyuddin Zia M.A. Political Science, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2019 M.S. Criminal Justice, East Carolina University, 2010 B.A. Political Science, East Carolina University, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science with an emphasis in Comparative Politics May 2019 Advisory Committee David Kimball, Ph.D., Chair Farida Jalalzai, Ph.D. Adriano Udani, Ph.D. Meg Rincker, Ph.D. Copyright, Ameena Mohyuddin Zia, 2019 2 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Descriptive to Substantive Representation: A Study of Gender Quotas in the National Assembly of Pakistan, 2002-2018 by Ameena Mohyuddin Zia Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science University of Missouri-St. Louis, 2019 David Kimball, Ph.D., Chair Women’s political representation is linked to the empowerment of women in society. In efforts to alleviate women’s disenfranchisement from the political discourse, the international development framework included gender quotas as mechanisms to facilitate an increase in the presence of women in parliaments. Existing research has examined the link between Hanna F. Pitkin’s conceptualization of descriptive representation and substantive representation with a focus on performative measures of women parliamentarians. This longitudinal study expands the scope of existing inquiry and captures the transformational change in power relations as an outcome of the increase in women members of parliaments. This research provides an in-depth review of the constitutional mandate of 17 per cent gender quotas in Pakistan’s National Assembly from the adoption in 2002 to 2018. An intersectional comparative approach is utilized to trace Pakistan’s longest democratic rule to date of 16 years, comprised of three National Assemblies, as a case study of representation. A review of historical and feminist dimensions suggests geo-political and identity implications on women’s participation in the political sphere. The findings demonstrate a limited impact of the increase in descriptive representation through gender quotas on women’s substantive representation. 3 Acknowledgments As I sit down to write this section, I find I am at a loss of words. This is not because I do not have enough content, but because I have too much to write. Over the last few years, I have come across many wonderful people and have met with opportunities that have allowed me to grow professionally and add to my research work. My academic journey has been a source of inspiration in my life. The practice of learning, producing and sharing knowledge has served as a conduit in turning passion into deliverables. I am grateful to my parents for instilling the importance of civic engagement and for encouraging me to harness opportunities of leadership development which helped shape my interest in the higher education of social sciences. I chose to attend the University of Missouri St. Louis because I wanted to study under the leadership of the Public Policy Institute. As I began the Ph.D. program, I knew I wanted to study “representation”. With a background in policy and development, I soon found myself working for St. Louis County Government while simultaneously enrolled in the program. I was fortunate to work under the leadership of St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley who believed in my theoretical ideas of securing representation as a policy and allowed me the space to turn theory into practice. I am grateful to Terry Jones for his continuous guidance and positive feedback which made it possible for me to juggle both work and school through the coursework. I would like to acknowledge Joyce Mushaben who was one of the toughest critics of my work and guided me through my coursework. I am thankful to Kenny Thomas for his continuous support, guidance and friendship during the coursework. I am thankful to the City University of New York’s York College for my appointment as an Adjunct Professor which let me to share knowledge and craft my own teaching philosophy through practice. I am also thankful to the United Nations Civil Society Network participation modality for providing me with the opportunity to engage in policy recommendation and formation. These experiences have been a source of my personal and professional inspiration throughout this research project. I am very fortunate to have a wonderful dissertation committee. I met Farida first of class and it was then, that I knew my dissertation topic and she helped me to outline my course of study towards it. I am grateful to David for his guidance in statistics through the years and his help through the dissertation process. I am appreciative of both for their guidance, knowledge and friendship through the years. I am also grateful to Adriano and Meg for their time, feedback and interest through the writing process. Above all, I am thankful to my family for their encouragement and support through my academic journey and especially throughout the PhD process. I am especially grateful to my mother, Anjum, for her invaluable help, continuous encouragement and faith in me. I am appreciative of my father, Ahsan, who continues to inspire me through his resolve. In addition, my brothers Ibrahim and Yaqoob have been my constant support network and have always believed in my abilities. 4 Last, but certainly not least, my best friend and husband, Yaseen’s, understanding has been phenomenal throughout the project and without his support this project would not have been possible. I am thankful to my two-year old daughter Lana and my two-month old daughter Eva, for their love, patience and sheer entertainment through the writing process. 5 cogito, ergo sum. -Rene Descartes, 1637, Discourse on the Method 6 List of Tables and Charts Table 1 Women Membership in the 12th, 13th and 14th National Assemblies Table 2 Mandated Women’s Reserved Seats in the Provincial Assemblies, 2002 Table 3 Conceptually Tracing Change in National Assembly, 2002-2018 Table 4 Case Study Analysis Cycle Table 5 Distribution of Seats in Provincial Assemblies Table 6 Number of Women Federal Ministers Table 7 Number of Women Ministers of State Table 8 Number of Women Committee Chairs Table 9 Number of Women Parliamentary Secretaries Table 10 List of Prime Ministers during 12th, 13th and 14 National Assemblies Table 11 Number of Women Contesting General Seats Table 12 Women in Legislature of Pakistan, 1947-1999 Table 13 Total Net-Worth of Women Elected on Reserved Seats in 12th, 13th and 14th National Assemblies Table 14 Education Level of Women Elected on Reserved Seats in 12th, 13th and 14th National Assemblies Chart 1 Distribution of the 60 Reserved Seats for Women in National Assemblies Appendix 1 Women-Friendly Legislation 2002-2018 7 Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….2 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………….3 List of Tables and Figures………………………………………………………………..6 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..10 1.2 Significance of the Research………………………………………………………11 1.3 Existing Research………………………………………………………………......14 1.3.1 Examining Gender Quotas, as Reserved Seats, in Pakistan……………..…15 1.3.2. Recognizing the Role of the International Development Agenda…………..17 1.3.3 Recognizing the Role of the Colonial, Historical and Feminist Discourse….18 1.4 outlining the Theoretical Framework…………………………………………..… 21 1.5. Examining the Case Study of the National Assembly of Pakistan……...…….23 1.5.1 Research Design…………………………………………………………...…….26 1.6 Outlining the Dissertation…………………………………………………...……..28 1.7 Summary…………………………………………………………………………….29 Chapter 2 Representation, Making the Absent Present Again 2.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..30 2.2 Conceptualizing Representation…………………………………………………..31 2.2.1 Pitkin’s Representation…………………………………………………………..33 2.2.2 Representation as a Mobilizer…………………………………………………..35 2.3 Mandating and Mobilizing Women’s Political Participation in the Development Framework……………………………………………………………………………….37 2.3.1 Feminization