Constraints to Women’s Substantive Representation in Parliament of Pakistan

Globally, women are still underrepresented in politics and decision-making institutions, particularly in developing countries. Even inside political institutions, there is still discrimination against female candidates and elected officials. Feminist movements have pushed governments to embrace laws that are "women-friendly." Gender quotas are one of the policies that have been implemented to ensure women's representation in legislative politics, and they are widely regarded as a major policy measure to boost women's representation in politics. Women's representation in mainstream politics can aid in the transformation of male-dominated structures of political institutions. The key aim of this study is to determine whether gender quotas are an effective strategy for eradicating gender inequality in politics. The case study of Pakistan, which was one of the first countries in the world to implement a gender quota system, is particularly relevant for this purpose. In Pakistan's Parliament, women who are elected to reserve seats face a number of institutional hurdles, which are investigated and discussed in this study through a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with female lawmakers.