02/02/2026
๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐:
"๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐
๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: ๐ฎ๐๐๐
๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ท๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐
๐พ๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฝ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐๐๐๐๐"
๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ-๐ข๐ง-๐๐ก๐ข๐๐
๐๐ซ๐จ๐. ๐๐ซ. ๐
๐จ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ข๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐ข, Chairperson, Department of Political Science, Government College University, Lahore
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ:
๐. ๐๐ซ๐จ๐. ๐๐ซ. ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐
๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐งรฉ๐ฎ
Institute of Asian and African Studies
Humboldt-Universitรคt zu Berlin
๐. ๐๐ซ. ๐๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Government Ambala Muslim Graduate College, Sargodha
๐. ๐๐ซ. ๐๐ก๐๐ก๐ณ๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐ฐ๐๐ง
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore
๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ ๐ช๐ฎ๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฌ are considered a crucial policy measure to enhance women's representation in politics. The primary objective is to increase the visibility of women in politics, particularly in countries where female presence in legislative assemblies remains low due to entrenched patriarchal norms and socio-cultural barriers. The move may remove the inherent sense of marginalization among them. It is, however, a temporary measure until women can contest elections for general seats. Although highly controversial, electoral gender quotas are today being introduced in an increasing number of countries around the world. As a successor state to British India, women in Pakistan inherited the right to vote and contest elections, rights that had already existed before independence in 1947. Although all three constitutions of Pakistan contained provisions for reserved seats for women, their representation at both the legislative and party levels has remained very low. The lapse of reserved seats in the National Assembly in 1988 further exacerbated this marginalization. As a result, in the general elections of 1997, womenโs representation declined to a critically low level of 0.4 percent in the Provincial Assemblies, 2 percent in the Senate, and only 4 percent in the National Assembly. A significant shift occurred with the introduction of the Devolution of Power Plan 2000, which aimed to empower women at the grassroots level by reserving 33 percent of seats in local governments. This momentum was reinforced by the Legal Framework Order (LFO) of 2002, which reserved 17 percent of seats for women in the National Assembly, the Senate, and the four provincial assemblies. Subsequently, Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017, mandated that political parties allocate at least five percent of their general seat tickets to women candidates. Taken together, these institutional reforms have significantly expanded womenโs descriptive representation across national, provincial, and local tiers of governance, though their transformative impact on substantive representation and political empowerment remains subject to debate.
Existing scholarship in Pakistan has predominantly focused on numerical inclusion. This special issue critically interrogates descriptive representation by assessing the quality, efficacy, and transformative impact of womenโs political engagement through these policy initiatives. The Journal of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Government College University Lahore, invites original research articles for a forthcoming special issue focusing on gender quotas and womenโs political representation in Pakistan. The special issue aims to bring together theoretically informed and empirically grounded contributions that explore how gender quotas interact with party structures, informal institutions, dynastic politics, and socio-cultural constraints to shape womenโs political agency across national, provincial, and local levels.
๐๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ (๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ):
1. Gender quotas and the quality of substantive political representation in Pakistan
2. Reserved seats versus direct seats in electoral competition: pathways, trade-offs, and outcomes
3. Womenโs representation in political decision-making: influence, authority, and constraints
4. Party gatekeeping, patronage politics, and womenโs political autonomy
5. Legislative performance of women lawmakers: lawmaking, policy influence, and oversight roles
6. Local government quotas and the development of grassroots women's leadership
7. Intersectional dimensions of representation: class, region, ethnicity, and minority status
8. Media, civil society, and digital platforms as emerging arenas of womenโs political representation
9. Comparative and provincial-level analyses of gender quotas and representation within Pakistan
๐๐๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐:
The journal welcomes qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research, including elite interviews, legislative behavior analyses, surveys, comparative case studies, and institutional or discourse-based approaches. Interdisciplinary perspectives from political science, gender studies, sociology, and public policy are encouraged.
๐๐ฎ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ:
Manuscripts must be original and not under consideration elsewhere. Submissions should follow the Journal of Political Science author guidelines. All papers will undergo a double-blind peer review process.
๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฌ:
Abstract submission deadline: 20 February 2026
Result of Acceptance/Rejection: 15 March 2026
Full paper submission deadline: 15 June 2026
Revision and Review: 15 July 2026
Expected publication: August 2026
๐
๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง: [email protected]
We strongly encourage scholars, researchers, and practitioners working on gender, politics, and governance in Pakistan and abroad to contribute.
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