Gender and Governance:

Defining Governance:

From Essay topic

Gender and Governance:

-Women excluded from decision-making from household upto highest levels of government
- Their equal participation in governance imp to be speak & heard for social transformation of society
-Involving women in defining policies & processes will make them responsive to different needs &
situations of both genders leading to gender equality
-Effective governance needed at all levels to improve performance of governance institutions-> Example:
Inclusive governance processes that engage women/men are more likely to result in meeting needs of
both
-Some progress but policies & legislation still not eliminating gender inequalities
Example: Trade liberalization policies by WTO impacted working women (labour rights)
- Another is the continuing failure in many countries to recognize rape within marriage as crime
- At community level local customs prevent women from inheriting land
- International frameworks e.g CEDAW signatory countries not putting commitments into practice while
US failed to ratify
-Still few women then men with power to make decisions in governance insts. 2008: the world average of
women in parliaments was only 17.8%-> In E.U central bank- 5 times more men
-Indeed working arrangements of governance insts. Inflexible making it difficult for women to balance
work government insts with unpaid caring responsibilities
-Participative budgeting not possible

Gender Issues in Women as voters:

-Pakistan adopted universal adult suffrage in 1956, granting all women and men aged 18 and above the
de jure right to vote.

Arguments: Summary
1. Absence of voter registration.
2. Problems related to CNIC.
3. Gender role perception.
4. Lack of awareness for their roles and rights.
5. Absence of decision making in voting.
6. Patriarchic mindset and dominating problems.
7. Ethnic Issues and tribal Culture
8. Terrorism and Security Threats

Structural Obstacles
- Lack of documentation
- Identification and the Veil
-Issues related to CNIC and registration as a voter Especially in rural areas women do not hold CNIC and
are thus not registered as voters.
-Women who have married and changed their names and addresses may be
inadvertently disenfranchised if their records are not automatically updated.
-Remote locations and limited hours
- Sparse locations, especially in rural areas, and limited times of opening hours present
particular obstacles for women given their role in society.
 Socio-Economic Constraints
- Lack of education and high rates of illiteracy & unawareness ->Rural literacy rate in Pakistan stands at
49% of which less than 50% are females.
- Complex procedure of casting vote ->Female literacy rate is low as compared to that of male in
Pakistan.
-Women ignore the importance of the exercise of their right to vote, as they are mainly
absorbed by their domestic tasks, family duties and income-earning activities

Cultural, Social and Political Obstacles

- Religious customs & conservative interpretations of religious lawMany times women are barred by their
male family members from casting vote.
- There are instances where women, are prevented from exercising their right to vote by their families,
tribes, clans and local and religious leaders
- Male dominance in deciding whom to vote

Security situation at polling stations

Fight erupts at polling stations between any two groups..

Impact of women votes

- Research shows that women’s choices systematically differ from those of men even in political matters.
Clinton’s defeat in 2016 is attributed to a large extent to the fact that white women without college
degrees chose Trump. - Hassan Khawar
- The IDEAS Political Attitudes Survey 2017-> Women considered electricity, water, gas and security
more important than men & women in particular were more ‘disengaged’ from parties, compared to men.

Gender issues in Women as Voters: Case of Pakistan

- The National Assembly-> 60 seats reserved for women and women make 50 percent of the total
population
Legislative provision 33 percent seats were reserved for women in local government and 17 percent in
the national and provincial assemblies and senate
- The gap between registered men and women voters is too big to be acceptable, the difference being 11
million in 2013 and 12 million in 2018. CNIC primary cause
- National Commission on the Status of Women, 18 years to bridge the gap between registered men and
women voters even if 6,000 new ID cards are issued to women every day.

Requirement of 10 percent turnout of women voters

- The 2018 election of PK-23 Shangla was declared void because only five per cent of the voters were
women against the required number of at least 10 percent according to the Election Act 2017 to validate
the result.

Authority: The Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives

We find that poor political knowledge strongly correlates with women’s interest in politics and that appears
to be a result of low contact between political parties and women voters. They are invisible to political
parties and that their issues do not matter. Evidence suggests that the failure of political parties to deepen
the base of women workers and leaders is an important facet of disengagement of women from politics in
metropolitan cities like Lahore.

Critical Analysis:
-Strengths-> i) The turnout of women voters has increased from 37.05% in 2008 to 46.64% which means
more women are aware of their right to vote and exert their power
ii)The membership of women with political parties has increased over the last few years. They are seen a
potential voters
Weaknesses-> i) Women face security threats in especially conservative areas where they are not
allowed to vote by males ii)Men register voters: 110 m and women: 12.5m
Opportunities-> i)Awareness campaigns being launched in various parts esp KPK and Balochistan which
have added 4.5m new women voters
ii)More females representatives are entering political institutions- An encouragement for female voters
that they should vote
Threats-> i)As long as patriarchal mindset persists women voters will not increase considerably
ii)Attacks by militants

Gender Issues in Women as candidates:

American women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony articulates this issue as: “There never will be
complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers.”

- Women as candidates face several barriers, ranging from lack of party support to financial constraints.
- Patriarchy within the political party disallows women wings to connect with the decision-making circles
within the party
“Somebody is going to say ‘oh, you are my daughter or sister and we will go on your behalf and talk to
the voters’,” Azeema Cheema says. Hence they are not able to establish the kind of influence a man
does.
- A total of 176 women candidates were in the run for general seats of the National Assembly in the 2018
elections.

Summary:
1. Non participation of women.
2. Tribal culture.
3. Cultural discouragement with regards to politics.
4. Quota system serves only to the family of politicians, not to the common women.
5. Small and unequal quota for women.
6. Complicated procedures regarding participation.
7. No specific quota for women regarding eligibility.
8. No facilitation to women in eligibility criteria.

- Patriarchal mindset regarding politics-> Women home maker

-Dynastic politics-.> Even women who belong to political families and occupy seats in parliament have
least say in decision making
”Less than 5% of female political representatives have fathers or husbands belonging to working class.”
(Farzana Bari)
-Complex application procedure + narrow time frame
- Discouraging cultural mindset
-Apathetic attitude of female MPAs and MNAs
- Absence of women in student wings of political parties
-No quota for women in political parties for issuing tickets
“Even a liberal estimate cannot put women’s participation in political parties above 5%”
(Farzana Bari)
-Election campaign supporters mostly and willing support male candidates.
- Economic dependence of women on men

Steps taken to address issues of women as candidates:

-Section 206 of the Election Act 2017 states that a political party shall “ensure at least five per cent
representation of women candidates
-However, most of the women candidates have been fielded to contest where less winning
- Pakistan’s National Assembly already has 60 seats reserved for women in addition to the 272 general
seats for which direct elections are held.

Authority- Arfan Latif’s analysis why less women as political candidates

-General impression among the males of the society that women are more appropriate to contribute in the
fields of health and education rather than politics.
-The female’s body structure and emotional placement make them unfit in the field of politics. Being
emotionally sensitive women can be tender and more contributing in the domain of welfare and education
in the form of teachers and mentors.
-Participants perceive that women can talk freely to females on sensitive issues like health and
contraception since they have access to go inside the house and talk to women for counseling and
guidance.

Critical Analysis:
-Strengths i) A total of 176 women candidates were in the run for general seats of the National Assembly
in the 2018 elections- unprecedented
ii)Urban areas have seen a rise in women becoming politically active to lead in future

Weaknesses
i)Lack of funding to run and win the election
ii)Lack of support from the general public

Opportunities i)More and more women are coming forward to have influence in the political spheres due
to political awareness campaigns especially after the rise of PTI since 2011
ii)The defeat of terrorism and militancy has stopped women feeling insecure to run

Threats: i) As long as patriarchal mindset persists women candidates will not increase considerably
ii)Lack of child rearing facilities in political institutions

Gender Issues in Women as Representatives

- Indirectly elected women (Quota) lack a power base because they are not accountable to a
constituency, which reinforces their dependency on the party leadership.
Women remained politically very visible during Pakistan movement and participated actively
insubsequent political and constitutional processes. Ms. Fatima Jinnah, Begum Shaista Ikramullah,
Begum Ra’ana Liaqat Ali, Begum Shah Nawaz
-However, most of them belong to politically influential families
According to the census 2017, women make up half the Pakistan’s population of 207 million citizens, and
of the overall 97 million registered voters, 42 million are women.
- The reasons behind the limited political empowerment of women have to do with socio-cultural practices
and the economic dependency of women on the male counterpart of their household.

Summary:
1. Decision making and power sharing is male domain.
2. Politics is male domain
3. Absence of networking among female politicians.
4. Female politicians are least interested towards women development.
5. Absence of women in political decision making.
6. Economic dependence on male.
7. No political support to women.
8. Women don’t have political skills.
9. Absence of training institutions regarding women in politics.
10. Absence of women in grass root politics and student politics
- Culture of male leadership

-Inequitable quota for women in assemblies

The quota given to women on seats of national assembly is not equitable to their population
-Limited role in decision making
NOTE: They should be given political representation directly proportional to their registered votes or
women’s votes polled in the elections after some reforms in the system of election to reserved seats are
introduced.

Steps taken to improve women’s political representation:

- For the first time and under military rule, in 2000, the quota for women’s political participation was raised
to 33% at the local government level. This quota was effective at three levels of the local government,
namely the union council, the tehsil, and the district level.
- Before the 2002 election, the number of women was increased to 17% in both the national and
provincial assemblies (with 61 out of 342 members in the national assembly being women).

Authority: Adnan Anjum

It can be ascertained that some women in mainstream Pakistan’s politics exercise strong influence
in safeguarding women’s rights.
However, there are wider systematic, structural and societal issues which hamper their performance in
legislatures.
While in certain cases, some of the women legislators might also be reinforcing these systematic,
structural and societal gaps. For example, women on reserved seats might be tied down to only raise
agendas which are in line with their parties’ or their party leader’s stance.

Impact of Political Quota in Pakistan

According to article 51 of the constitution of Pakistan, there shall be 60 seats out of the total 332 seats.

-Inspired by1995, the Beijing Platform for Action calling for full participation in power structures
- For removing discrimination against women
-For:
i)Significant increase in the level of representation of women in the political process
ii) Ensuring that women’s political interests are represented and safeguarded.
But deprives women from having constituencies & cannot establish contact with the electorate and remain
dependent on their male-dominated political hierarchies.

Arguments against the quota system

- Against the principle of equal opportunity for all. Since in these systems women are given preference
over men, as such they are undemocratic.
- Quotas are also called undemocratic, as they take away voters right to decide who is elected.
- It is also argued that quotas imply that politicians are elected because of their gender and not because
of their qualifications; and in this way more qualified candidates are pushed aside.

Arguments in favour of the quota system

-Do not discriminate, but compensate for actual barriers that prevent women from their fair share of the
political seats.
- Several women together in a committee or assembly minimizes the stress
- Election is about representation and not educational qualifications.

Types of quotas:

Reserved seats (constitutional and/or legislative):

-Reserve a number of places on electoral lists for female candidates or reserve a number of seats in an
assembly for women
-Through a clause in the constitution or by legislation

Legislated candidate quotas (constitutional and/or legislative)

-Minimum proportion of women on candidate lists, as a constitutional or legalrequirement.
-Such quota provisions are stipulated in the national legislation or electoral laws of a country
-. It is done through a clause in the electoral law which states that a certain percentage or number among
those elected must be women.

In Pakistan, the Electoral Act 2017 makes it mandatory for the political parties to nominate at least 5% of
theseats for women in the national and provincial assemblies.

Political party quotas (voluntary)

This type of quota set a minimum proportion of women on candidate lists, as a measure written into the
statutes of individual political parties.

Political Quota in Pakistan

- The number of women who contested the election in 2018 is unprecedented in the electoral history of
Pakistan. Out of 171 women candidates for the National Assembly, 105 were awarded tickets by the
political parties. Similarly six candidates from religious minorities got elected and five transgender
contested election.

Impact of political quota in Pakistan

.
Farzani Bari:
Positive impacts
-Transforming the socio-political perceptions about recognizing and legitimizing women’s entitlement to
their inclusion in the public domain.
- It has resulted in unleashing a process to make women’s concerns a visible priority on the national
agenda.
-Now active women on reserved seats command a lot of respect too. They are neither a frill nor frivolous.
-Parties have also improved the representation on quota seats.
- More women coming: Veeru Kohli, a Hindu bonded labourer, belonging to a schedule caste decided to
contest in the 2013 election on provincial assembly seat PA-50 in Hyderabad, Sindh

Negative impacts
-Treating as social gathering
-Most relations of important men, granting the seats on the basis of political favour. This marginalizes the
true representation of women in national legislature, especially that of the rural areas.
- Women dependence on male leadership of political parties has been reinforced as Indirect election
deprives women of any opportunity to develop their own constituency/power base.
-Political parties select women of their choice, belonging to their own families, elite background and those
who are willing to toe the party line rather than push for women’s agenda.

Suggestions
- Women who fill the reserved seat quotas have some experience of political processes and can fulfil the
serious responsibilities with which they are entrusted on behalf of Pakistan’s women.
- A consensus on the direct mode of election on the reserved seats for women has emerged from
numerous consultations conducted by national and international NGOs, UN agencies

Authority: Dr Farzana Bari

In view of the entrenched patriarchal mindset and non-democratic dynastic nature of political parties,
change in Political Party Act 1962, is decisive to make it mandatory for political parties to hold periodic
party elections, give 33 percent representation to women in decision making bodies within the party, and
at least 20 percent party tickets to women to contest elections on general seats.To engender the
parliament, 20 percent representation must be given to women at the chairpersonship level and in the
membership of the standing committees of the parliament.

Critical Analysis- Alternative to Gender Quotas for women in politics in Pakistan

-Raising awareness: In Turkey, the Association to Support Women Candidates has waged innovative
campaigns. In preparation for general elections in 2007, for example, the group created posters of well-
known businesswomen and female artists wearing a tie or mustache, asking ‘Is it necessary to be a man
to enter parliament?’
- Fund-Raising Networks. Fund-raising initiatives seek to ensure that women have the financial resources
to wage a successful campaign example US-based EMILY’s List, a group founded in 1985 organizes
funding for women from supporters
- Anti-violence Laws. An emerging problem in some countries is electoral violence against women running
for and/or holding elected office. It includes inflicting physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering,
with the intention of deterring women’s political participation.
-Encouraging women in student wings of political parties to lay a path for them to enter politics later by
building a support base
-Focus on education of women