Women’s Representation in National Assembly of Pakistan

Abstract

This paper aims to review the patterns of women’s representation in National Assembly of Pakistan. The review is based on secondary sources. The data was gathered about number of women elected on reserved, general and minority seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan in different time periods. The main argument is that there was marginal representation of women in National Assembly till 2002. The situation remained same in both military and democratic governments. The number of women in National Assembly increased with the increase of political quota allocation for them in the year 2002. Women mostly enter the house on reserved seats. Women elected on general seats were less in number; as it was difficult for women to win on general seats. Only one woman could ever get elected on minority seat in National Assembly. The mode of election for women on reserved seats was always indirect. There is need for further measures to make women’s participation equal to men.