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Who Speaks for Women in Parliament? Patriarchy and Women MNAs in Pakistan

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Women in Governing Institutions in South Asia

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of ‘quota women ,’ constituting 17.5% of the total members in the National Assembly of Pakistan. Available evidence shows that with the presence of more women, representation of women’s issues increased and therefore confirms the relationship between female representatives and representation of women. Data also reveal that reserved-seat members of the National Assembly represented women better than those elected from general seats ; they also made major contributions to promote women’s issues. There are, however, limits to what women members can do. Women’s substantive representation does not depend solely on the number of women elected but on the presence and complex interactions of institutional and individual-level factors. These factors intervene in the process of substantive representation of women. These findings indicate that the relationship between descriptive and substantive is not deterministic but complicated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Nusrat Jahan Chowdhury

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  1. Nusrat Jahan Chowdhury
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Correspondence to Nusrat Jahan Chowdhury .

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  1. University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh

    Nizam Ahmed

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Chowdhury, N.J. (2018). Who Speaks for Women in Parliament? Patriarchy and Women MNAs in Pakistan. In: Ahmed, N. (eds) Women in Governing Institutions in South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57475-2_6

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