With less than two years left for the next general elections to be held, latest data of registered voters reveal that at least 81 of the total 133 districts across Pakistan have a gender gap of over 10 percent. This means that voters’ count of the country should be more than 119 million. This is no small figure and requires the attention of not just the government but all political parties in the country. The gender gap reveals yet another area where women in Pakistan are left behind.
The constitution of the country gives everyone – irrespective of their gender, class or race – above the age of 18 a right to vote. But in a patriarchal society like ours, men in most cases take decisions on behalf of the women in their families. These decisions then also include who to vote for without realizing that voting gives an individual the power to decide on the quality of life they want to live and the choice to stand up for the issues they care about. It is then crucial for the government to create awareness campaigns across the country, especially in districts that have worryingly high gender gap.
The data revealed that four districts – two each in Balochistan and the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas – have less than 40 percent women on electoral rolls. It is then unsurprising that both of these provinces have the least number of female ministers in their cabinet with zero in Balochistan and two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. One cannot state that lack of education is the cause of it because Chakwal district in Punjab has more than 49 percent female voters. Perhaps the government can study the district’s behaviour and try to emulate the same among other districts. Door-to-door campaign must be launched to make women understand that political equality can help them gain equality in other areas. Afterall, electoral participation of all citizens is the centre of a democratic setup. Exclusion of any citizen would mean that their preferences are unlikely to matter in the affairs of the government. In this case, it is a significant percentage of an entire gender. The ruling party must consider the inclusion of women as important as their electoral promise to give overseas Pakistanis their voting right. As for the opposition, especially those riding on the fame of women in their parties, should ensure inclusion of female voters in their constituencies.
