Pakistan faces severe voter gender gap
Source: Human Rights Watch
Out of 127 million registered voters in Pakistan, 10 million more men than women have registered to vote in the general election scheduled for February 8, 2024. This is a large gender gap in a country in which women make up 49 percent of the population.
Although voting is a constitutional right for all adults in Pakistan, in past elections millions of women have been effectively barred from voting. Particularly in Pakistan’s most conservative constituencies, political party officials, local elders, and other powerful figures have colluded in broadcasting messages telling women not to vote and sometimes physically preventing them from polling stations. Courts have been slow to uphold legal challenges to these practices.
Click here to read the full article published by Human Rights Watch on 20 November 2023.
Image by Human Rights Watch
Out of 127 million registered voters in Pakistan, 10 million more men than women have registered to vote in the general election scheduled for February 8, 2024. This is a large gender gap in a country in which women make up 49 percent of the population.
Although voting is a constitutional right for all adults in Pakistan, in past elections millions of women have been effectively barred from voting. Particularly in Pakistan’s most conservative constituencies, political party officials, local elders, and other powerful figures have colluded in broadcasting messages telling women not to vote and sometimes physically preventing them from polling stations. Courts have been slow to uphold legal challenges to these practices.
Click here to read the full article published by Human Rights Watch on 20 November 2023.
Image by Human Rights Watch
