Thread by @PoliticalPrism_

Thread: Historical Overview - Participation of Women in Politics (1947-2002)
Historically, under different political systems, women’s participation and the shares of the seats in Pakistan's national & provincial assemblies were different.
#InternationalWomensDay #WomenDay2023
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In the first Pakistani legislative assembly (Aug. 10, 1947, to Oct. 24, 1954), for example, women acquired 3% of the total seats (the number of total seats was 30, and women acquired 2 of these).
During the period from 1947 to 1956, there was no office of the president.
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The head of state was the governor-general. During this second (lasting from May 02, 1955, to Oct. 07, 1958) women had 0% representation (the total number of seats was 80 and women acquired 0 seats).
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For the period of 1956 to 1958, the political structure changed. Iskander Mirza, who was the governor-general, assumed office as the president since the post of governor-general was abolished. Subsequently, the military-ruled country for the next 13 years, from 1958 to 1971.
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After the Zia era that lasted from 1978 to 1988, another shift in the political structure once again brought changes in the representation of women in politics.
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By 1988, the 3% assigned quota that existed since first legislative assembly rose to 10%, & women attained 22 Natl Assembly seats (the number of women elected to reserved seats was 21, and 1 woman was elected directly) along with 5% of the seats in the provincial assemblies.
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However, from 1990 to 1997, the provision of reserved seats for women lapsed. Therefore, no seats were allocated for women in 1990, 1993, and in 1997 elected assemblies, at neither the provincial nor the national level.
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As a result, women’s representation was minimal – in 1990, for example, it was 0.9%. In 1993, women’s representation was 1.8%, and for the 1997 national assembly, the percentage of women in elected assemblies slightly increased to 2.8%.
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For the first time and under military rule, in 2000, the quota for women’s political participation was raised to 33% at the local government level. This quota was effective at three levels of the local government, namely the union council, the tehsil, and the district level.
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A significant increase in the quota also increased women’s overall participation in the political system for the election of 2002. As a result, the largest ever number of women contested and won general seats.
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In the election of 2002, 188 women in total contested general seats, and of these 188, 101 were nominated by political parties, and 39 among them won their respective seats.
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To compare this to the 1997 election, this ratio was almost one-third: only 56 women contested the election at that time, among them, 39 were nominated by political parties, and only 7 managed to win.
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