Sensible Change

April 07, 2026

Newspaper, Opinions, Editorials

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The rejection of the proposed amendment seeking to increase women’s role within political parties was, on balance, the correct decision, though not because the objective itself was misguided. Greater female participation in politics is a legitimate and necessary goal in a country where women remain underrepresented in most centres of power. The problem lay in the timing, the medium, and the mechanism chosen to pursue it.

Mandating that 33 per cent of party office-bearers at federal, provincial, and district levels be women, and then linking non-compliance to denial of an election symbol, would have introduced a punitive threshold that many parties, especially smaller and less organised ones, would struggle to meet. That would not strengthen democracy; it would narrow political participation and hand the Election Commission of Pakistan an intrusive gatekeeping role over internal party structures. The near-universal opposition to the bill across party lines reflects this concern.

Austerity Implementation

There is also the question of whether the Elections Act is the right place for such social engineering. Electoral law must protect fairness, participation, and transparency in the public contest for power. It should not be overloaded with conditions that can effectively disqualify parties from that contest on organisational grounds. Reserved seats for women already exist at the parliamentary level and do provide a structured mechanism for representation within legislatures. One may debate whether that framework should be improved, but it already addresses the central issue of women’s presence in elected houses.

Education Crisis

The real weakness lies elsewhere. Pakistan has not done nearly enough to ensure women’s meaningful inclusion in the executive branch, in appointments, administrative leadership, cabinet structures, and the wider machinery of governance where policy is shaped and implemented. That is where reform should now be directed.

Political parties should certainly be encouraged to widen the space for women beyond dynastic and symbolic roles. Training, leadership development, and internal quotas can all be part of that conversation. But these steps are more likely to succeed through political consensus and executive initiatives than through rigid electoral penalties.

More Than Textbooks

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