Low women turnout a pressing challenge ahead of polls.

ISLAMABAD -- With the general elections just around the corner, the low turnout among female voters remains a persistent challenge as Pakistan has suffered from an endemic low voter turnout in general and women voter turnout in specific, casting a shadow over efforts to enhance women's engagement in the electoral process.

Experts and researchers point to societal, economic, and mobility-related factors as they call for a renewed push to encourage women's active participation in politics, saying the ongoing challenge raises vital questions about representation and inclusivity within the nation's political sphere.

Research shows that overall turnout rates for the elections in 2008, 2013, and 2018 have been 45 per cent, 54 per cent, and 50 per cent, respectively.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), it was reported, that the women voter turnout in the 2018 general elections stood at 40 per cent with 21 of 46 million registered women voters participating in polling.

'Pakistan suffers from an endemic low voter turnout in general and women voter turnout in specific,'

Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) President Ahmed Bilal Mehboob said, 'Only 40% of women vote on the average. A lot needs to be done at a societal level to address these issues.'

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The PILDAT chief said that NADRA, ECP, civil society, political parties, international organisations and governments have worked hard to get women to obtain CNIC in order to register as voters.

The PILDAT chief said that the number of women not registered as voters has, therefore, been declining as a percentage of total registered voters.

At the heart of the problem is women not getting their CNICs, Mehboob said, because they don't need one unlike men who travel abroad, open bank accounts, seek driving licences, and arms licences, and buy or sell property for which they need to have CNIC.

Sadly, he added, these women are not part of the mainstream of society though they are hard-working productive members of society.

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'I think political parties need to do more to mobilise their workers at a grassroots level to motivate such women to get CNIC,' Mehboob said, saying this will almost automatically result in registration as voters.

However, he said, registration as a voter is just one step; actually casting a vote is another.

Pakistan Peoples...