64 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No.

1 Summer 2021

WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION IN 13TH NATIONAL

ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN: ASSESSING THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF GENDER QUOTA
Mussarat Jabeen* & Sher Muhammad**

Abstract
Traditionally, patriarchal mindset has kept women away from
politics, considering it a male domain, resulting in under-
representation of women in legislatures. Observing disparities in
these representations, the United Nations in various conferences
(1975-1995) recommended one-third of seats for women as gender
quota. Gender quotas have become an effective tool to enhance
women's representation in legislative bodies throughout the world.
In Pakistan, all the three constitutions reserved seats for women,
but this provision lapsed in 1988. In 2002 it was restored with 17
percent quota in the parliament. The 13th National Assembly
elections turned in higher number of women in the house, raising
an expectation that an increase in number of women would
increase their voice in the decision-making bodies. The study
analyzes the effects of a numerical increase of women
representation in the National Assembly on inclusion of gender
concerns in legislation, specifically on women issues. The available
literature suggest although gender quota has increased in numbers,
it has not influenced the legislation on women issues to an expected
level. This study deploys critical mass theory and mix research
method to examine the effectiveness of gender quota in Pakistan.
Keywords: Gender Quotas, Critical Mass Theory, Decision-Making
Bodies, National Assembly, Women’s Descriptive and Substantive
Representation

Introduction
Gender-based discrimination is a worldwide phenomenon and is
reflected in institutional policies, laws and practices whereas political
inequality in terms of gender represents a significant issue. Women’s

* Associate Professor, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan. Email:

[email protected]
** Assistant Professor, Govt. College Bhalwal, Sargodha, Pakistan. Email:
[email protected]
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 65

underrepresentation in legislatures is the main cause of inequality in

genders, along with other cultural and social disparities. Looking at the
severity of the issue, the UN tried to address the issue of gender inequality,
particularly under-representation in politics from its platform. It observed
that the lower number of women in decision-making bodies was impeding
social and economic development of women.1
From 1975-1995, the UN held four women conferences
emphasising the need to increase female political representation.
Recognizing gender inequality and discrimination in politics, the
conferences recommended equal rights. They motivated gender activists
and agents of civil society to work for removal of disparities and
discrimination in politics. However, in this period, the percentage of
women in parliaments (of world) increased only marginally 0.7 percent
(10.9 to 11.6 percent) in lower houses, and decreased, (10.5 percent to 9.4
percent) in upper houses of legislatures.2 In September 1995, the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World
Conference on Women, proved to be a turning point.3 It called on the
states to take necessary measures to ensure women’s equal access of to
power structures by setting the target of 30 percent in decision-making
bodies. It identified 12 critical areas of action: women’s concerns in
poverty, education, health, economy, violence, shared decision making and
more. The international community moved to make progress under this
initiative and it had a significant impact on numerical strength of women
in legislatures around the world. More than 100 democracies adopted
gender quota, setting the standard and taking measures to substantially
enhance women representation.4 The UN also introduced Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in

1 Mussarat Jabeen & Sajid M. Awan, “Gender Quotas as an Instrument for

Women’s Empowerment in Legislatures,” FJWU Journal of Social Sciences 11,
no. 1 (summer, 2017), 132; “Short History of CEDAW Convention,” United
Nations Department of Public Information, accessed on March 6th, 2021,
https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/history.htm.
2 Azza Karam, ed., Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers (Stockholm: IDEA,
1998); Mussarat Jabeen & Sher Muhammad, “Electoral Gender Quotas in
Pakistan: Including the Excluded, Empowering the Powerless,” NICE Research
Journal (2013), 2.
3 The United Nations, Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, The Fourth
World Conference on Women (4-15 September, 1995), https://www.un.org/
en/events/pastevents/pdfs/Beijing_Declaration_and_Platform_for_Action.
4 Mona Lena Krook, Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate
Selection Reform Worldwide (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009): 5.
66 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

1979 to ensure equal fundamental rights to women.5 Thus women quotas

increased; today, they are an important tool to ensure access of women in
legislature. Pursuing the quotas’ policies, many countries have introduced
electoral reforms to include women in policy-making.6 In 2010, women
had 19.2 percent representation in both houses of the world’s
legislatures.7 After one decade, it is 25 percent and Rwanda has the highest
number with 61.3 percent women in lower house as of January 2021.8

Gender Quota and Women Representation

Gender quota is seen as an instrument for achieving significant
increase in the level of women’s representation in political institutions and
a mechanism for securing their political interests in the legislatures. Quota
determines a specific percentage or number for women, minorities or any
previously excluded faction.9 It generally ranges from 20 percent to 40
percent or depends on a state’s policy. Women are not a ‘numerical’
minority, but a political minority.10 The system of quota is influenced by
recommendations of international organizations and cross-country
inspiration, bringing a dramatic rise in number of women in legislatures. It
is a fast-track strategy, unlike ‘incremental track modeling,’ which
proposes that gender equality, occurs as a country develops.11
The Nordic countries are on the forefront in this regards. They
have enhanced women’s status in society by ratifying different resolutions,
conventions and supporting the role of women in political parties and
feminist organizations. However, women in these countries already have a
higher representation in legislation, so the quotas bring a symbolic change.

5 United Nations Human Rights, Office of High Commissioner, “Convention on

the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women New York, 18
December 1979,” accessed on February 3, 2021, https://www.ohchr.org/
en/professionalinterest/pages/cedaw.aspx.
6 Ibid.
7 Inter Parliamentary Union, 2010, https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?
month=9&year=2010
8 Inter Parliamentary Union, 2021, https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking?
month=1&year=2021
9 Drude Dahlerup, “The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass,” Politics and
Gender 2, no. 4 (2006), 19.
10 Mussarat Jabeen, “Gender Quotas: An Instrument for Political Empowerment
of Women,” in Legislatures in New Opportunities and Impasses: Theorising and
Experiencing Politics, ed. E. Zeynep Güler (Istanbul: DAKAM Publishing, 2014,
April).
11 Drude Dahlerup, “Preface,” in The Impact of Gender Quotas ed., Susan
Franceschet, Mona Lena Krook & Jennifer M. Piscopo (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2012): vii-viii.
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 67

Norway was the first sovereign state, which provided partial vote-right to
women because of a strong movement.12 Before adoption of quotas,
women in Norwegian Labour Party and Swedish Labour Party held more
than 25 percent and 33 percent seats in the parliament respectively.13 Asia
had approximately 18 percent women in legislatures.14 However, Central
African country Rwanda has surpassed all other countries, having 63.8
percent of seats for women in the lower house and 38.5 in upper house
while other African countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, Guyana, Tanzania and
Cameron have more than 33 percent women in legislatures as of January
2021.15 Women’s effective political participation is considered significant
not only in terms of meaningful contribution to women empowerment, but
also ensuring consideration of their views and concerns in all public policy
matters.16
Three types of gender quotas are popular. First one is voluntary
party quota, which binds political parties to choose female candidates for
specific positions, to increase women’s share in legislative bodies. In
several countries, like Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Argentina and
Ecuador, a number of political parties have adopted this measure. All
political parties do not choose gender quota. However, the overall
representation of women increase if major parties adopt it, as the South
African National Party did.17 The second type is legislated candidate quota
that, requires political parties to fix a specific number of positions for
women. It is stipulated through party policy, electoral laws or
constitutional provisions. Nepal, the Philippines and Uganda are pursuing
this type of quota in their national parliaments under constitutional
provisions whereas France, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium and
many Latin American countries are pursuing it through the electoral
laws.18 France and India are exercising it in local bodies.19 This type is not

12 Jabeen and Awan, “Gender Quotas.”

13 Richard E. Matland, “The Norwegian Experience of Gender Quotas,” A Paper
presented at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral
Assistance (IDEA)/CEE Network for Gender Issues Conference at Budapest,
Hungary, October 22-23, 2004.
14 Jabeen & Awan, “Gender Quotas,” 136.
15 “Monthly Ranking of Women in National Parliaments,” Parline-Global Data on
National Parliaments, June 1, 2021, https://data.ipu.org/women-
ranking?month=6&year=2021.
16 United Nations Development Programme, Political and Legislative
Participation of Women: Issues and Perspectives, (Islamabad: UNDP, 2005).
17 Drude Dahlerup, No Quota Fever in Europe, IDEA, October 2004, 5.
18 IDEA, Gender Quotas Database, https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/
gender-quotas/quotas.
68 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

producing desired results as the candidates’ inclusion does not guarantee

their success.20 Finally, many states including Pakistan have reserved seats
for women;21 their arrangement originates from electoral laws and
constitution.22 Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, etc.
have reserved seats for women. Despite their individual shortcomings, all
these categories of representation are enabling women to secure their
position in politics.23

Literature Review
The literature reviewed analyzed the impact of quota on descriptive
and substantive representation of women in parliament, considering
women’s political representation in Pakistani legislature. Generally, it is
assumed that both men and women have the same political interests
irrespective of their gender, but a survey conducted by Inter Parliamentary
Union (IPU) in 65 countries negates this idea. Almost 200 female
parliamentarians were interviewed during the survey and the majority of
respondents held different perceptions about politics and explained that
women's participation in decision-making was crucial to change the
political culture. 24
Introducing the concept of critical mass, Kanter argues that 35
percent representation in female members could influence the legislation.
She tried to establish that presence of a larger number of women in
assemblies could influence gender issues.25 The idea of critical mass was
advocated widely to attain women’s enhanced representation. It was
assumed that once women would achieve a certain percentage in the
legislature, change would occur automatically. Vega and Firestone observed
if women are smaller in number, they take a back seat in decision-making.

19 IDEA, Gender Quotas Database. https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/

gender-quotas/country-view/146/35
20 Jabeen and Awan,“Gender Quotas.”
21 “Reserved Seats for Women,” National Assembly of Pakistan,
http://www.na.gov.pk/en/mna_list_w.php?list=women
22 Krook, Quotas for Women.
23 Jabeen and Awan, “Gender Quotas.”
24 IPU, Women’s insight, IPU Reports and Documents no.36, (Geneva: Inter
Parliamentary Union, 2000).
25 Kanter, “Some Effects.”
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 69

26 Lovenduski and Noris suggest that higher numbers in the parliament

would empower women to work for their causes.27
However, the critical mass theory is not in itself sufficient as other
factors contribute to change in both negative and positive ways. Women
politicians argue that ‘women parliamentarians seek to articulate women’s
issues in parliament and conduct politics in a gender sensitive way.’28 Yoon
and Bunwaree have examined the case of women parliamentarian in the
Mauritian Parliament. Their study suggests that even a small number of
women in the parliament can bring women’s issues in the limelight. 29 Saint
and Michelle’s findings on the state legislature of Arizona indicate that in
case of lower representation, men do not contradict with women on their
issues. It was further argued that 15 percent or more seats occupied by
women in the parliament can change the representation of gender issues.30
Anne Phillips’s in ‘Politics of Presence’ argue that women’s
presence is important, but warns that gender parity does not guarantee
addressing women’s interests.31 A study conducted in Taiwan indicated that
male and female legislators have different priorities. It highlighted that
women speak for their issues regardless of their party affiliation and
agendas.32 Another study examined the impact of gender in Thailand’s
Parliament during the rule of Prime Minister Thaksin. It confirmed the
thesis that only women legislators brought change through the number of
bills introduced and passed, concerning women’s issues.33 It was further

26 Arturo Vega & Juanita M. Firestone, "The Effects of Gender on Congressional

Behavior and the Substantive Representation of Women," Legislative Studies
Quarterly (1995).
27 Joni Lovenduski and Pippa Norris,"Westminster Women: The Politics of
Presence," Political Studies 51, no. 1 (2003): 84-102.
28 Sarah Childs, “The New Labour Women MPs in the 1997 British Parliament:
Issues of Recruitment and Representation,” Women’s History Review 9, no.1
(2000): 70.
29 Mi Yung Yoon and Sheila Bunwaree, "Women’s Legislative Representation in
Mauritius: A Grave Democratic Deficit," Journal of Contemporary African
Studies 24, no. 2 (2006): 229-247.
30 Saint-Germain & A. Michelle, "Does their Difference make a Difference? The
Impact of Women on Public Policy in Arizona Legislature," (1989).
31 Anne Phillips, Idea of the Politics of Presence (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).
32 Lichun Chiang and Kazuki Lwanaga, "Women as Agents of Change in
Legislation in Taiwan," Women's Political Participation and Representation in
Asia: Obstacles and Challenges (2008): 81-100.
33 Kazuki Iwanaga, and Patricia Loreskär, "Women Legislators and their Impact
on Public Policy: A Comparative Perspective," in Aazar Ayaz and Andrea
Fleschenberg eds. The Gender Face of Asian politics (Karachi: Oxford
University Press, 2009).
70 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

indicated that party affiliation was more important for women legislators in
Philippine in comparison to Taiwan.34 A review of available literature
reflects that sheer quantitative representation of women in legislatures is
not sufficient as numbers intersect with other factors like party affiliation,
electoral laws, constitutional provisions, etc.

Conceptual Framework and Research Methodology

This study deploys the “critical mass,” theory to examine the impact
of quota on women representation in the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Though other studies claim that gauging representation through this
perspective in all case studies does not show positive results, the purpose is
to go beyond numbers or critical mass to assess the effects of gender quota
in a specific context.35 Dahlerup applied critical mass theory on a study of
Nordic legislatures and affirmed that 30 percent representation of women
in assemblies helped women representation .36 In her view, moving up
from a small percentage to a large minority is significant.37 Her findings
indicated that a lower percentage, made it difficult for women to prove their
legitimacy of contribution due to patriarchal settings and to influence
policies or represent their viewpoints effectively. Gender differences in
legislative bills does not occur unless women occupy 15 to 30 percent
seats.38
However, these perspectives are debatable. A major focus of
enquiry, is the presence of women in terms of number for some time,
considering if critical mass is relevant for women’s political
representation.39 Dahlerup also pointed out that number and percentages
have slight importance for a viable policy outcome. Numbers alone are
insufficient yet impactful and always must be considered in relation with
several factors like literacy rate, societal norms, socio-economic
development, political culture and equal access to resources.40 Significantly,

34 Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, "Women and the Democracy Project: A

Feminist Take on Women’s Political Participation in the Philippines,” in
Kazuki Iwanaga ed. Women's Political Participation and Representation in
Asia: Obstacles and Challenges (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2008).
35 Susan Franceschet and J. Piscopo, “Gender Quotas and Women's Substantive
Representation: Lessons from Argentina,” Politics and Gender 4, 2008;
Franceschet et al., “The Impact.”; Sarah Childs, New Labour ’s Women MPs:
Women Representing Women (London: Routledge. 2004).
36 Dahlerup, “From a Small.”
37 , “The Story,” 512.
38 Saint-Germain & Michelle, “Does their Difference.”
39 Childs, “New Labour.”
40 Jabeen and Awan, “ Gender Quotas.”
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 71

the theory places undue burden on female legislators, holding them

responsible of women’s interest representation.
Applying the Critical Mass Theory on the 13th National Assembly of
Pakistan, it was observed that numbers matter in case of Pakistan. Since,
women representation was lower in all the three elections, held after the
lapse of provision of reserved seats in 1988. Benazir Bhutto, the first
woman prime minister in 1988, could not impact women’s number visibly,
though she took several steps including establishing women police
stations (1994), a National Commission on Status of Women (1994) to
review the prevailing laws and recommending amendments, sending a
women delegation to Beijing Conference on Women (1995), ratification of
CEDAW and appointment of several women on prominent positions.
Critical actors are important as their active participation generates more
results in comparison to critical mass. In case of this National Assembly, all
female legislators are not active, but those who remain active participants
have demonstrated exceptional performance even in comparison to their
male colleagues.
The case study method is considered with in-depth, comprehensive
and intensive inquiries of individuals, communities, groups and events. In
this study, qualitative method is applied to understand the underlying
causes, reasons, motivations and opinions, while quantitative method uses
statistical data to quantify different opinions, attitudes or define variables.
The primary data includes views of women politicians and gender activists,
besides the proceedings of the National Assembly. Whereas the secondary
sources include published material particularly reports of Free and Fair
Elections Network (FAFEN), Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development
and Transparency (PILDAT) and Aurat Foundation on the subject. PILDAT
is a think tank, working on political and public policy, while FAFEEN is a
network of thirty-five domestic-level organizations working in collaboration
to improve parliamentary and electoral processes. Aurat Foundation is a
non-governmental organization working for women’s rights.

Women Representation in the Politics of Pakistan

During the British period in India, the demand for reserved women’
seats was raised when Indians launched the Nationalist Movement in the
1920s. After the WWI, Indian nationalists protested for the demand of
universal adult franchise and contesting elections.41 The Government of
India Act 1935, reserved seats for women along with other marginalized

41 Azra Asghar Ali, "The Emergence of Feminism among Indian Muslim Women,"
(1920-1947), Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2000;Mussarat Jabeen, “The
Local Government System of Pakistan: Participation, Representation and
Empowerment of Women,” Pakistan Perspectives, 24, no.1, (2019, January-
June):65-94.
72 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

segments of the population on the basis of creed, race, caste or

occupation.42 The basic idea was equality; Indian women organizations
appraised the new policy of the British government. Pre-partition, Indian
women became active not only in politics, but also participated in the
freedom struggle. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the founder of
Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah encouraged women to take part in state
affairs, his own sister Fatima Jinnah stood next to him on all occasions. Her
presence was a message to the people that women were not weaker or an
ignored segment of the society.
After independence, no constitutional or legal bar restricted
women’s political participation but their representation in politics
remained very low. All the three constitutions of 1956, 1962 and 1973 had
the provision of reserved seats for women.43 The gender quota provision
lapsed in 1988 and in 1985 the seats reserved for women were doubled in
the 8th amendment. In the general elections of 1997, women’s
representation was around 0.4 percent in all the four provincial
assemblies, two percent in Senate and four percent in the National
Assembly.44 Keeping in view, this low level of women representation, the
military regime of General Musharraf, restored gender quota and reserved
17 percent seats for women in national and provincial assemblies and
allocated 33 percent quota for women in the local body system.45 Next
elections were held in 2002, and brought 205 women into the parliament
and four provincial assemblies. This development pushed Pakistan much
higher in the regional and international ranking of the GEM (Gender
Empowerment Measurement). Pakistan secured 58th position in the GEM
index of 102 countries even higher than the UK and the US. In 1999, it had
100th position.46 After the 2008 elections, as for South Asia, Pakistan had
the highest representation of women in the parliaments.47 Following Table
provides number of female members on reserved/general seats in the
National Assembly of Pakistan:

42 Krook, Quotas for Women.

43 Farida Shaheed, Asma Zia & Sohail Warraich, Women in Politics: Participation
and Representation in Pakistan with Update 1993-1997 (Shirkat Gah, 1998);
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, Decade of
Democracy in Pakistan (2008 - 2018), Islamabad: PILDAT, December, 2020.
44 UNDP, Political and Legislative.

45 “Legislative Quotas for Women A Global & South Asian Overview of Types and
Numbers,” Aurat Publication and Information Service Foundation, July, 2012,
https://www.af.org.pk/pub_files/1358744372.pdf
46 Jabeen and Muhammad, “Electoral Gender.”
47 Inter-Parliamentary Union, Women in Parliament: World Classification, 2008,
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm.
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 73

Table 1: Women Representation in the National Assembly of Pakistan

(1947-2013)
Legislature Years Total Women Women Total Percent
Seats Elected On on Seats age of
General Reserve Held by Women
Seat d Seats Women Seats
1st NA (1947-1954) 30 2 - 2 6.7%
2nd NA (1955-1958) 80 - - 0 0%
3rd NA (1962-1965) 156 6 - 6 3.8%
4th NA (1965-1969) 156 6 - 6 3.8%
5th NA (1972-1977) 144 6 - 6 4.2%
6th NA March 2 to July 210 1 10 11 5.2%
05, 1977
7th NA (1985-1988) 217 1 21 22 10.1%
8th NA (1988-1990) 217 4 20 24 11.1%
9th NA (1990-1993) 217 2 - 2 0.9%
10th NA (1993-1996) 217 4 - 4 1.8%
11th NA (1997-1999) 217 6 - 6 2.8%
12th NA (2002-2007) 342 13 61* 74 21.2%
13th NA (2008-2013) 342 16 60 76 22.2%
*One woman was elected on reserved seats for minorities.
Source: http://www.na.gov.pk .com.

Women’s Contribution in Legislation during

the 13th National Assembly (2008-13)
The general elections for the 13th National Assembly were held on
February 18, 2008. These were the second elections after restoration and
an increased number of reserved seats. Sixty women were elected on
reserved seats while 16 won the general seats, constituting 22.2 percent
share of the assembly.48 After increased number of women in the
parliament, it was expected that women-specific issues would be addressed
because the male parliamentarians ignored them before 2002; they rarely
introduced any women related bill to in the parliament.49 The changing

48 Reserved seats are filled through indirect elections and seats are distributed
among the political parties in proportion to their position on elected seats. No
physical constituency or voters’ representation exist. Members on general seats
are directly elected on a ‘first past the post’ basis by a single member constituency.
The basic eligibility criterion is same for the two types as they must be Pakistani
citizen, having age of 25 years or above, must be part of the voter list, qualifying
the conditions, provided in Article 62 and 63 of the 1973 Constitution. The
condition of graduation was removed by the 13th NA. Naeem Mirza and Wasim
Wagha, “Performance of Women Parliamentarians in the 12th National Assembly,”
(2002-2007) (Lahore: Aurat Foundation Publication, 2009).
49 Jabeen and Muhammad, “Gender Quotas.”
74 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

situation brought women members together to work on raising gender-

related agenda in the National Assembly. This act was not only to draw
attention to public forums, but also helpful in advocacy of making these
demands, a part of public policy. It was natural as increased number in the
legislative bodies raised expectations and feelings of achievement. However,
the success ratio was low in terms of laws, but a higher number of bills on
women and social issues were initiated by female members in the house.
Total 50 sessions of the 13th National Assembly (2008-13) were
held for 690 days to perform its basic duty of law-making and amending the
existing one. The article 54(2) of 1973 Constitution of Pakistan restricts
the House to meet not less than 130 days in a year, and three sessions
must be held in one year.50 In the first parliamentary year, the session of
the NA met for 132 days, 136 days in the second year, 134 days in the third
year and 144 days each during fourth and fifth parliamentary years.51
However, the numbers of days when the NA met and worked were less than
its total working days as Shah (2013) pointed out in her study, which
provided data of the first three years; these days were 97, 104 and 104
respectively.52
The parliamentary business works under a code called ‘Rules of
Procedure and Conduct of Business.’ On one hand, this code helps in
legislation; on the other, it provides an opportunity to intervene and talk on
public issues.53 This document is provided to all members after the oath-
taking ceremony along with a copy of constitution. It equips them with
knowledge of legislative interventions through different tools like Questions,
Calling Attention Notices (CANs), Resolutions, Point of Order (POs), motions
and parliamentary debates. These legislative interventions are helpful for
the members to address the public concerns as well as accountability of
ruling executive.54 These tools are also important in terms of showing the
interest and performance of the members to run the parliamentary affairs.
Since the restoration of reserved seats, women members have been more
active, vocal and vigilant, as compared to their male counterparts in
exercising these tools.

50 Constitution of Pakistan 1973, http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/

51 Free and Fair Elections Network, “Five Years Performance of 13th National
Assembly (2008-2013),” (Islamabad: FAFEN Publication, 2013), https://fafen.org/
five-years-performance-13th-national-assembly-pakistan-march-2008-march-
2013/
52 Shaheen Ashraf Shah, Women’s Contested Politics of Presence: Learning from the
Experiences of Pakistani Women Parliamentarians, PhD Dissertation, Centre for the
Study of Women and Gender, Department of Sociology University of Warwick, June
2013, http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/57732.
53 Mirza and Wagha, “Performance of Women,” 26.
54 Shah, “Women’s Contested.”
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 75

The record of previous assembly (2002-07) was not disappointing

either as the most of the women parliamentarians were elected for the first
time. They worked enthusiastically and took keen interest to learn the rules
and their implementation. Their performance and roles were highly
appreciated despite their marginalization. It was reported that in the 12th
National Assembly (2002-07), only 17 male members (6.3 per cent) out of
269 stood by their female colleagues or individually initiated the bills of
women’s rights in the house. The attitude of women elected on general seats
was the same. Amongst 25 active female members, only two were elected
on general seats.55
Following Table provides details of legislative interventions
by the MNAs to control the working of the house:

Table 2: Performance of the 13th NA (2008-2013) in terms of

Legislative Interventions
Agenda Item 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Total
Year Year Year Year Year
Number of Sessions 11 9 9 11 10 50

Number of Sittings 100 107 108 106 100 521

Number of Treasury Bills 16 22 20 17 27 102

introduced
Number of Private Bills 39 58 17 40 35 189
Introduced
Number of Questions on Agenda 3,483 4,23 3,127 2,54 2,66 16,05
8 5 3 6
Number of resolutions adopted 16 14 12 9 34 85

Number of adjournment 6 10 8 5 1 30
motions raised
Number of CANs on agenda 109 108 120 122 84 543

Number of points of order raised 741 1,00 1,239 1,28 828 5,099
2 9
Note: there is a bit difference in collected numbers as data varies from one
to other source.
Source: http://openparliament.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/
Performance-of-the-13th-National-Assembly.pdf.

A gender review of data of 2008-13 shows active contribution of

women in legislative business. Different categories provide a quantitative
analysis of women representation. A brief gender-based description of

55 Mirza and Wagha, “Performance of Women,” 98.

76 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

various tools used by the MNAs for intervention in the working of the
house (2008-13) is given below:

Figure 1: Comparison of Participation of MNAs by Gender

Source: “Performance of the 13th National Assembly (2008-2013),” FAFEN,

http://openparliament.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Performance-of-
the-13th-National-Assembly.pdf

Discussion and Findings

During the 13th National Assembly (2008-13), women’s
performance was better. A total 16,178 questions were raised in the house
during the five-year term out of which 8,212 (51percent) were raised by
women. Out of 76, 55 women legislators put forward these questions
whereas 162 out of 263 male members put 7,966 questions. Members on
minority seats submitted 234 questions. Female member had an average of
148 questions, whereas male members’ average was 49. This indicates
that women have been more active and vigilant regarding the performance
of official institutions.
Calling Attention Notices (CANs) are a key tool to draw the
attention of members on the assembly’s floor toward any crucial issue.
Total 573 CANs were tabled and 82 percent were introduced by females and
one was related to minorities’ rights. The total number of Resolutions were
243, which were tabled on various public issues, while 85 (16 percent)
were adopted. Women authored 142 (59.4 percent) of the moved
Resolutions. Another encouraging aspect was the 53 joint resolutions by
males and females. The NA passed six resolutions on women’s issues and
one each on blasphemy and minorities’ rights. Mostly resolutions focused
on foreign affairs, religion, land-reforms, missing persons, target killings
and terrorism while social issues like price-control, unemployment, poor
children and gender inequality were also highlighted through resolutions.56
Shah (2013) explored that there was a remarkable difference in the

56 PILDAT, Decade of Democracy, 43.

Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 77

patterns of resolutions, especially those moved individually by male or

female members from 2008-11.57 Female members mainly raised social
issues through resolution in the parliament.
The Rule 259 of the NA’ s procedure, allows the members and
ministers to give a notice of motion for consideration of any matter of
public importance like policy, statement or other relevant issue. During the
13th NA, total 318 motions were moved under this rule by 94 members and
47 were taken up. Among these members, 34 (36 percent) were women
lawmakers.58 A total of 5,099 Point of Orders were raised, which did not
contribute to any output of assembly.59
Table 2 shows that women MNAs actively participated in legislative
interventions as compared to men. Aurat Foundation’s FAFEN reports
endorsed women’s dedication, purpose-oriented role and persistence
despite their limited experience of parliamentary affairs. Only eight percent
of legislative interventions were made by women elected on general seats.
Another point was passive role of 23 legislators, who did not show interest
in contributing to parliamentary business and five of them were women. It
was also reported that each year about 70 percent questions were not
answered by concerned departments and ministries.60 Under the rule 88
(Chapter XI) of the code (Procedure and Conduct of Business) of the
assembly, “a member may call the attention of a minister to any matter of
urgent public importance and the minister may make a brief statement or
ask for time to make a statement. It is also provided that no member shall
give more than one such notice in a sitting.”61 PILDAT report showed
serious concerns, highlighting the significance of an effective system to
collect questions and getting answers from concerned ministries, otherwise
the interest of public’s representatives in proceedings of the assembly
would decline and the task of monitoring the performance of executive
would be not done efficiently.62

57 Shah, Women’s Contested.

58 PILDAT , Decade of Democracy, 48.
59 FAFEN, Five Years Performance.
60 PILDAT, Decade of Democracy; FAFEN, Five Years.
61 National Assembly of Pakistan, Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the
National Assembly, 2010, http://www.na.gov.pk/uploads/publications/
rules_procedure.pdf.
62 PILDAT, Citizens' Report: Performance of the 3rd Parliamentary Year; 13th NA of
Pakistan (Islamabad: PILDAT, 2011), 11.
78 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

Figure 2: Legislation output of the 13th National Assembly (2008-13).

Parliamentary Year Government Private Total
Bill Passed Members’ Bill
Passed
1st Parliamentary Year 4 1 5
2 Parliamentary Year
nd 29 3 32
3rd Parliamentary Year 30 2 32
4th Parliamentary Year 25 4 30
5th Parliamentary Year 28 9 37
Total 116 19 135
Source: “Performance of the 13th National Assembly (2008-2013),” FAFEN,
http://openparliament.pk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ Performance-
of-the-13th-National-Assembly.pdf

The basic task of parliament is legislation, and its performance is

measured in terms of bills submitted and passed. Not all the bills are
processed and accepted. For instance, in the 13th NA, 135 bills were passed
(116 government and 19 private members bills) in its 5-year tenure.
However, 81 became the acts of parliament. Out of total 116 government
bills, four (3 percent) were introduced by women. Out of 19 PMBs, women
introduced 15 (80 percent). The main focus of these bills was the
government services, education, electoral laws, end of discretionary quotas
in public housing schemes, domestic violence against women including acid
throwing events and prohibition of anti-women practices.
Women introduced 104 (55 percent) of total 189 PMBs while 38
(20 percent) were joint venture in collaboration with male colleagues.
Overall women’s share in passed PMBs was 80 percent, which showed
their interest and devotion towards the legislative output; but their share in
the treasury passed bills was three percent, which was lower in
comparison to 22 percent representation in the NA and constituting half of
the population of Pakistan.63 It is evident that in patriarchal setting male
members were accommodated in the legislative business. Following bills
were tabled and passed:

1. The Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace

Act, 2010
2. The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill 2010
3. The Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Bill 2010
4. Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act, 2010
5. The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act, 2011
6. Women in Distress and Detention Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2011
7. Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2011

63 FAFEN, Five Years, 5.

Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 79

8. National Commission on the Status of Women Bill, 2012

The passing of eight bills show that the years 2008 to 2013 (13th
NA) tried to address anti-women practices. Women members worked
actively for introducing pro-women bills, specifically covering areas like
domestic violence and harassment. Women contributed with full strength
and worked as critical actors in this period. Two bills were passed on
gender rights, pursuing the international tradition and as a party to CEDAW.
One was to provide protection at workplace from harassment. The Act
made it mandatory for public and private institutions to introduce an
internal code of conduct to avoid the happenings of sexual harassment at
workplace.
It encouraged more women to be part of workforce, contributing to
the economy of the country. The other bill, Prevention of Anti-Women
Practices Bill (Criminal Law Amendments) declared many customs illegal
such as marriage of women with the Holy Quran or handing over a female
to settle the disputes, forced marriages and depriving women of inherited
property. Gender-based violence was also addressed through the Acid
Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act. This Act prevents the import,
production, sale, storage and use of acid to control its misuse for heinous
crimes. It also demands from the State to provide legal protection to both
victims and survivors of acid and burn crimes.64 Broadly, these laws
exhibited Pakistan’s commitment and endorsement to international law,
treaties and conventions. Other bills also addressed sectarianism and
custody of minor children, prohibiting the discriminatory practices and
elevating women’s status through the formation of commissions on status
of women.65 The image of the assembly improved due to its pro-women
legislation.
On balance, the number of passed laws was much higher than the
12 National Assembly, which passed 50 out of 222 bills/ordinances
th

during its 5-year term and 38 became Acts whereas 180 remained pending
while eleven were withdrawn.66 A significant improvement with positive
change was visible in case of the 13th NA, making its performance as one of
the best assemblies in terms of its legislative contribution.67
Here worth mentioning point is active role of quota women for
drafting and submitting the bills. About 70 percent of PMBs were
sponsored by female members and they initiated 104 bills in comparison to
47 by male members. Overall women’s sponsored bills were 77 while 27
were presented by a group of female members. It is further observed that
female members do not just focus on gender-related legislation, but cover a

64 PILDAT, Decade of Democracy.

65 FAFEN, Five Years, 5.
66 Mirza and Wagha, “Performance of Women,” 26.
67 F AFEN, Five Years, 2.
80 Journal of Contemporary Studies, Vol. X, No. 1 Summer 2021

wide array of issues in the parliament. They contributed in diverse debates

and discussions regarding national and international affairs. They
exhibited strong unity and solidarity towards women-specific legislation
even above their party affiliation. They constituted a Women's
Parliamentary Caucus. Another cross-party consensus was demonstrated
for an amendment to Political Parties Order 2000 and an increase in gender
quota to 33 percent in the parliament. Indirect mode of election and
selection stigmatized women’s position and without constituency, even
their uphill tasks were not reaping any positive outcome as no voters were
to appreciate their performance or raise slogans in their favour. Gender
quota in itself was insufficient for substantive representation.68 A great
achievement of this assembly was the 18th constitutional amendment,
which not only brought the system on parliamentary track, but also
provided provincial autonomy, addressing the grievances of provinces. It
also removed Article 58-2(b), curtailing the presidential powers to dissolve
the legislature.

Conclusion
Women’s representation in 13th National Assembly was descriptive
as well as substantive. Women were beneficiary of restoration and increase
in number if of reserved seats. Critical Mass worked and women succeeded
in ensuring their presence and share in parliamentary affairs. They had
two types of identity in the legislature: quota and general seats. Quota seats
were never utilized to work for women’s issue only as parties’ selection is
either to oblige the influential political families or women with feudal
background or some other compromise. This choice never allows women
to work independently as they are indebted to parties and families,
pursuing party policy or observing their feudal or tribal traditions, where
women have a subordinate status.
However, in the 13th legislature, majority of the women members
tried to work beyond these restrictions and succeeded in bringing a visible
change. Their presence and active participation in legislation rejected the
concept that politics is a male domain. Viewing the parliamentary
proceedings, it is explored that women legislators were very active and
contributed a lot through legislative interventions like resolutions, CANs,
PMBs, questions etc. In comparison to their male colleagues, they worked
much more for women-related issue and tried to legislate on crucial themes
as two bills were passed against domestic violence and harassment at work
place. Their percentage for raising social issues was higher than male
colleagues and they submitted 80 percent of PMBs and total passed PMBs

68 FAFEN, “Annual Appraisal of the 13th National Assembly; Third Parliamentary

Year (March 2010 to March 2011),” (Islamabad: Free and Fair Elections Network,
2011).
Women’s Representation: Effectiveness of Gender Quota 81

were 19 and women introduced 15 of the passed bills. The same trend was
visible in non-passed PMBs, they introduced 104 individually and 38 jointly
out of 189 bills. They succeeded in making their presence, proving the
argument if women have 20 to 30 percent (critical mass) representations
in a parliament, there would be women prone legislation.
Apart from parliament, this number helped women change the
public perception, exhibiting their performance on other forums. Women
politicians successfully depicted seen as public representatives. However, a
large number of government bills introduced by female members were lost
in the initial stages. Total passed government bills were 116 and women
introduced only three. Same trend was observed in non-passed official bills
and out of 102 bills, women submitted six bills only. Legislation on women-
specific issues was not according to the expectations, which were much
higher in the presence of a female speaker.
Absence of constituencies made their position weaker and
sometimes awkward, while on the other hand, majority of the women
elected on general seats had nominal engagement in their constituencies
due to traditional environment. In overall view, statistics revealed women’s
active participation and they became part of the process, showing a
descriptive change. It was a positive sign and indicates that women
demonstrated substantial activity within parliament and substantive
representation in the process despite the males’ domination of legislation. It
was also viewed that some quota women were more active than others, and
they contributed as they wanted to secure their position not only for next
elections, but also to promote the cause of gender equality, showing their
performance and abilities in this regard.