ISLAMABAD: Women in Pakistan are nearly 50 percent of the country’s population, but only 43.5 percent are registered voters, while the situation is more pathetic in the rural areas where they do not know how to vote.
There was zero turnout of women during the 2008 general election in 564 women-only polling stations, and women-only polling stations were just 25 percent of the total polling stations set up during the last election.
Nighat Siddique, an official of the UNDP, admitted that women do not recognise the importance of vote. She underlined the need for enhancing women’s participation and increasing female staff in the election process with an objective to bolster voters’ turnout during the upcoming general election.
“Active participation of women in the electoral process must be ensured at all cost,” she said, adding that enhancement of women’s representation and increasing female staff in electoral process was very important.
“The problems that hampers registration of women include lack of pre-requisite documentation for making new computerised national identity cards, which is a major stumbling block,” said Samina Nazir of the Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy. “The irony is that rural women do not know at all about voter registration processes and there is no mobilisation whatsoever about the importance of registering as voters,” she said.
Samina Nazir said that restrictions in the name of illiteracy and poverty were the main reasons why women do not show up on the polling day. Terming transportation as a big hurdle, she said rural women do not come to polling stations due to severe transportation issues they face.
“They depend on their male counterparts to take them to the polling station and if the male members of the family are not available, they cannot go to polling stations,” she said. “Women are looked down upon in polling stations and male members are reluctant to take women to polling stations where no female staff is working.” Internews
