Daily Times

The Free and Fair Election Network recently asked the Election Commission to probe an alarmingly low turnout of women voters during the by-elections earlier this month. The Election Act of 2017 recognised the need for women to participate more actively in electoral processes. It also entrusted the Election Commission with investigating instances of voter suppression. In instances where women represent less than 10 per cent of the total votes cast, the Commission has the authority to invalidate the polls altogether.

The Election Commission’s efforts to encourage female voter participation are admirable but still not enough. The evidence reveals that Pakistan is still far from achieving electoral gender parity; 43 female polling stations reported a turnout below 10 per cent, with two polling stations recording a turnout of less than two per cent. So, why haven’t those polls been rendered null? The Election Act was only passed five years ago, meaning that for the majority of Pakistan’s existence, policymakers failed to account for the underrepresentation of women in the political arena. It is also worth remembering that while there may be a policy that protects women’s right to vote, enforcement remains an issue, largely due to socio-cultural barriers that continue to restrict women’s mobility in public.

Clearly, the primary problem is that women simply do not feel empowered to vote. Politics has traditionally been a male-dominated sphere in Pakistan, and there still remains a huge stigma around women assuming a greater role in public spaces. There is also a glaring lack of female politicians, which reinforces the widely accepted impression that women and politics simply do not mix.

During the 2018 by-election, a group of men attacked a female polling station in Peshawar to prevent women from voting. This issue is most apparent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly in its tribal constituencies where patriarchal notions continue to reign supreme. Many women in KP exercised their right to vote for the first time in 2018, yet made up only two per cent of the total votes cast.

It will take a slow and arduous paradigm shift before the Pakistani public is prepared for women to make their presence known in politics. Until then, we must brace ourselves for years of tragically small voter turnouts. *