From Women’s Quota to “Women’s Politics”: The Impact of Gender Quotas on Political Representations and Practices in the Pakistani National Parliament

Abstract

In 2002, the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced that 17% of the seats in the National Assembly and Senate would be reserved to women. Though quotas for women were not a new phenomenon in Pakistan, they had never reached this level. Moreover, after they had been dropped in 1988, the representation of women in the Pakistani parliament fell under 3%. Thus the entry of more than 80 women in Parliament (about 20% of all MPs) in 2002 was considered as a game changer in Pakistani politics, and Musharraf’s decision was generally praised by activists of the women’s movement. The article tries to evaluate how women construct new ways to do politics in their discourses and practices, and what place gender norms and representations occupy in this process. While recognizing women’s agency though quota regulations, it is also argued that a distinctive demarcation of ‘women’s politics’ can bring about constraints, contribute to women’s marginalization in the political field, and strengthen gender stereotypes.