EDITORIAL: In an encouraging development, the latest voting statistics reveal that the electoral gender gap in Pakistan has fallen to less than 10 million for the first time in a decade. According to the data on record, the number of voters in the country has increased to 128 million.
Of this, the number of men registered as voters is 69.26 million, while women account for 59.32 million of total voters. The electoral gender gap, therefore, clocks in at 9.94 million in numerical terms. In percentage terms, men make up nearly 53.9 percent of total voters, while the share of women voters is at 46.1 percent.
A brief history of recent electoral data tells us that at the time of the 2007-08 general elections, the gender gap was at the 9.7 million mark, which increased to 11 million during the 2013 polls.
There was a further increase in the gap, to 12.49 million, during the 2018 polls. In November 2021, the electoral gender gap stood at 11.81 million.
Through much of the last decade, therefore, the difference between the number of male and female voters had continued to rise. Given this, the latest data represents a promising change in voter patterns.
The issue of low participation of female voters, historically, has always been a hindrance in the smooth functioning of our democratic process.
Women comprise nearly half the population of the country, so even with the electoral gender gap falling below 10 million, the overall picture still remains a grim one. A combination of cultural, societal and structural barriers has contributed to this state of affairs.
In several parts of the country, especially in pockets of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the erstwhile tribal areas, women have not been allowed to cast their votes during recent elections.
The role of all major political parties on this front has been a hugely disappointing one as they have readily acquiesced to these informal bans on women’s participation in the political process.
Regressive cultural norms have played a significant part in shaping the role of women in Pakistani society. Traditional gender roles often confine women to domestic responsibilities, restricting their involvement in public affairs.
In addition, this culture of viewing women’s presence in public spaces negatively has also meant that a huge number of them remain without CNICs. More than 10 million women in the country do not possess this vital document without which they cannot be registered as voters.
Reshaping societal attitudes towards women’s role in public life will require a multifaceted approach that would involve fostering a change in mindsets through community education and awareness programmes. Moreover, political parties must stop appeasing those parts of their constituencies that hold regressive views regarding women entering public spaces.
Pakistan cannot become a modern, progressive, democratic polity without women playing their due role in the political process, and their participation in something as basic as voting in their representatives to parliament and to local governments needs to become an uncontroversial idea.
It must be noted that a lack of representation of women in the political space means that the legislations and policies that come up as a result do not fully meet the needs of the entire population. There is often an insufficient focus on women’s issues, which end up being relegated to the backburner.
This is a situation that cannot be allowed to prevail indefinitely. With the electoral gender gap falling below 10 million, there is a need to build upon this improvement, and challenge cultural norms and discriminatory practices. That is the only way to fully ensure that Pakistan moves towards becoming a more inclusive and representative democracy that values women’s contribution to the political landscape.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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