Women Empowerment and Political Decision-Making: An Appraisal of Appointment of Women Legislators as Decision-Makers in Punjab Assembly from 1947-2018

Abstract

The research paper develops a conceptual relationship between women's empowerment and political decision-making. The goal of empowering women cannot be achieved, without effective participation and representation of women in political activities, the political decision-making process, and structure. Women’s access to resources and opportunities is quite limited compared to men's all over the world. Likewise, in Pakistan socio-cultural environment is not much favorable for women. Punjab is its largest province in terms of population and is considered more progressive regarding gender-related matters; a vast disparity still exists in all sectors. To ensure empowerment, the appointment of women legislators as decision-makers is mandatory. The paper seeks to explore the appointment of women legislators in decision-making positions in the Punjab assembly. The primary objective is to highlight the significance of women’s leadership, particularly in the legislature, which is a key rule-making organ. The paper adopts mix method research design to explore the selected research problem. The case study method is selected by the researcher. The findings show a very low ratio of women’s inclusion in the legislative assembly of the Punjab and their appointment as decision-makers. The study offers rigorous recommendations that would be helpful to make situations, more conducive for women’s inclusiveness in leadership positions.