Talking to the press the other day, Secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan, Babar Yaqub Fateh, had some disconcerting information to disclose regarding the latest electoral rolls revision exercise. The gap between registered male and female voters has widened by as much as 12.7 percent since the last general election. Whereas at the time of the 2013 elections out of the 86.25 million voters 56.4 percent were men and 43.6 percent women that ratio now shows a negative trend. Before last year's local government elections, the overall number of registered voters was 93.06 million out which 52.36 million were men and 40.7 million women. The latest statistics reflect about the same ratio: 56.26 percent of voters are male and 43.74 percent female. It needs to be figured out why so many women are being denied their constitutional right to participate in the democratic process.

It is worthwhile to note that going back four-and-half decades, women's participation in the electoral process reflected a progressive trend. In the 1970 and 1988 elections the ratio was 78 women: 100 men. In the 2002 election it went up to 86 women per 100 men. Considering that over the years there has been a relative increase in literacy and rights awareness levels the genders gap should have gotten much closer to the desired ratio of 96 women voters per 100 male voters. But it is moving in the other direction. An obvious reason behind this regressive drift is the increasing influence the religious right has come to exert on society. In some of conservative areas such as Lower and Upper Dirs, and a certain parts of Punjab, local influential people and colluding major mainstream political parties have been preventing even registered female voters from going to the polling stations, in the name of local traditions. This amounts to disenfranchising a large part of the population which should be a matter of serious concern for all. For no nation has progressed by keeping its women down.

The ECP needs to make concerted efforts to increase enrolment of female voters before the next general elections. It should also seek Nadra's help. As it is, the number of CNIC holders is 102.87 millions and that of registered voters 97.01 million. These CNIC holders who are missing from the electoral lists surely include women. It would make sense therefore for the ECP to get the information about these people from NADRA to include them in its electoral rolls. The political parties must also encourage their supporters to register the votes of their female relatives.