An Analysis Of Women Leadership: Telescoping Benazir Bhutto And Indira Gandhi In South Asia

Abstract

Societies are made or marred by leaders. The rise and fall of dynasties are also due to the role played by the leaders. It is an acknowledged fact that leaders are the central actors of most of the activities of the world. Their dynamic role can determine the fate of the society in the context of politicoeconomic changes in positive manners. It is generally fixed impression that qualified leaders are rare and when it comes to woman leadership the fact becomes more accurate as women leadership is not experienced by many states. No matter, women have been playing a decisive role in all walks of life; however, it is evident that their participation in political matters and affairs as a leader is limited. When it comes to the case of South Asian politics, the women leadership is marginalized either due to their own training or because of prevailing political norms where male bias is unavoidable. This paper argues that in South Asian States particularly India and Pakistan, women leadership is not a regular feature of their politics rather they succeeded their father’s i.e. Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi. Furthermore, this paper aimed at to give an insight to leadership qualities of both South Asian women leaders in connection with their polities .To narrow down their role, some variables have been chosen (Economic development, reorientation of political parties and women empowerment and participation).