Introduction
Power and authority occupy center place in everyday life. Welfare and conflict
jointly determine decisions at various levels of the society. When power rests with only men it corrupts, when it rests only with elite classes, it doubly corrupts men and their already questionable authority. It is only when society encourages, promotes and strengthens gender equality in the exercise of power and authority. The dominating gender disturbs the smooth living of the dominated one. So the equal access to and control of political processes is the pre- requisite of a just society.
Politics involves gaining and exercising power and authority in the affairs of
any state or country. It enables people to manage, materialize and decide what the conflicts are and how to resolve them, what the issues in welfare are and how, when and for whom to settle them. Both men and women are equally entitled to programme these roles in any democratic state and society.
Political participation is the practical exercise of politics. It is both
cooperative and competitive. It is equally important that all sections of the society do cooperate or compete for the collective and individual good simultaneously. This cooperation and competition must be encouraged on the basis of gender participation in decision- making, allocation and access to resources for social and economic development. No progress can be achieved or even claimed, without such participation on equal terms. The basis of human living crumbles when half the population is forced to sit idle in running the affairs of the state.
Political system in Pakistan at the time of its inception was an acquired one.
The Government of India Act 1935 was calling the shots in the absence of a
constitution. The Constitution of 1956 was set aside by the military regime of Field Marshal General Ayyub Khan. The years from 1947 to 1956 could not yield any democratic and constitutional framework on indigenous basis. So there were no elections, no democracy based on elected representatives or gender based political participation.
