5.1 Introduction
The current chapter presents the views of the women and men who follow political careers, with a focus on the topic of structural challenges to women’s political participation in Pakistan. By probing via interviews, it navigates the success stories of women career politicians who bypass the structural challenges related to women’s political participation beyond elections in Pakistan.
Moreover, it reveals the perspectives of male career politicians on some of the vital aspects of women’s political participation.
The debate over gender-balanced representation is part of a global new wave of feminism and calls for a real-time understanding of women’s political challenges. Women seeking to participate in politics find that the cultural and political environment is often unfriendly or hostile. Based on the theoretical model of Supply and Demand of Candidate Selection, the initial challenges concerning women’s political participation are related to structural challenges. Such challenges serve as inequalities ingrained in the social structure and restrict the entry of women aspirants into the political realm. A significant part of the interview guide focused on the initial structural challenges regarding women’s political participation through the back-and-forth interaction of data. Such challenges confront a woman aspirant who may have less political ambition, fewer financial resources, dual responsibilities, and who faces harassment in the political sphere (see figure 7, chapter 3). Keeping in view the above-mentioned structural challenges, categories and sub-categories are identified, and the following sections demonstrate the perspectives of the participants on each of these categories in detail.
5.2 Lack of motivation in politics
Women are less likely than men to run for political campaigns or be recruited for public office.
Furthermore, they are more likely to consider themselves less competent and perceive the political environment as unfair. In developing countries, women’s political participation is expected to be significantly challenged. However, with Pakistan being a developing country characterized by a growing economy, women have been struggling actively to engage in politics to build a women-oriented civil society. Nevertheless, women’s representation is still low in
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Pakistan. The first structural challenge pertaining to women’s lower political participation is connected to a lack of motivation as indicated in the Supply and Demand Model of Candidate Selection. In the current research, participants were initially asked to share their motivation to join the PTI party, whereby multiple motivations were revealed. In the present study, out of the sample of career politicians (18 women and eight men), 13 women and four men nominated Imran Khan as their motivation to join the PTI party. In contrast, three women career politicians were motivated by their political kinship ties, while offers of clientelism inspired two. In contrast, four male MPAs mentioned the PTI women’s wing and four nominated Imran Khan as a motivation for women aspirants to join the PTI party. A brief overview of the significant motivations revealed by career politicians is presented below.
5.2.1 Motivation through effective leadership
In the present study, five of the 18 women career politicians cited the encouragement given by the PTI party leader, Imran Khan, as their sole motivation to join the PTI party. Two of the women participants were involved in social work, four in other professions, and two engaged in student politics before joining the PTI party. However, all of them joined the PTI party after being motivated by the party leader, Imran Khan. In contrast, four of the male career politicians also observed that Imran Khan was a key motivational factor for women to join the PTI party.
Overall, of the 26 participants, 17 nominated Imran Khan as a significant motivational factor for women to join the PTI party.
Women leaders are usually nominated as role models that affect women’s motivation to join the political sphere. Before Imran Khan, Benazir Bhutto, who became the Prime Minister of Pakistan for two terms (1988–1990 & 1993–1996), can be classified as one of the influential woman leaders in the history of Pakistan. During her premiership, she launched various reforms to empower women, including adopting the International Convention on the Elimination of All Kinds of Discrimination Against Women in 1996. In addition, she was the founding member of the Council of Women World Leaders in 1996. She launched the “First Women Bank”, aimed to cater the special needs of poor, widow and orphan women in Pakistan, which expanded into a countrywide network.
However, despite her reforms to improve conditions for women, she did not inspire women in Pakistan to join politics. Although Benazir Bhutto is recognized as an influential woman leader,
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her regime did not catalyse a shift in women’s political participation. One possible explanation would be that she belonged to a well-established political family (Bhutto family) and already had a powerful family legacy to advance her political career instead of mobilizing women as supporters.
Figure 9 Motivational triangle by PTI party leader, Imran Khan to include women in politics
Researcher’s sketch Based on reseracher’s perception
The 2013 general election in Pakistan was dynamic as the country’s politics witnessed a shift in political culture. This shift marked a move away from a two-party system (PML-N and PPP) to a three-party system with the advent of the PTI party. The most evident achievement of the PTI party was to mobilize women to participate in politics. However, Pakistan’s political history is dominated by the participation of women politicians belonging to influential political backgrounds, suggesting less than active participation by women from the mainstream. In the analysis below, Imran Khan’s motivational strategies are illustrated with the help of success stories of women career politicians from the PTI party.
5.2.2 Motivation by PTI party’s vision
Since the formation of PTI, Imran Khan has focused on the ‘Movement for Justice’ and proposed the vision of ‘Change’ and ‘Remaking Pakistan’. His vision of ‘Change’ is focused on reforming the old corrupt system of Pakistan and building a self-reliant modern Islamic
‘Naya (new) Pakistan’. The idea of ‘Naya Pakistan’ is centred on freedom from political,
Dynamic vision
Inspirational speeches
Inflential leadership
Catchy slogans
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economic, and mental slavery. In addition, it focuses on speedy justice for people, poverty reduction, the provision of two million jobs, houses for low-income families, educational facilities, freedom of expression, and equal rights for minorities (for details see chapter 2, section 2.11.4).
Rabia, a woman career politician at the Transitional level of political participation, stated that she was highly inspired by Imran Khan’s vision and his appeal to people to work for Naya (new) Pakistan. Upon being inspired by Imran Khan’s vision, Rabia, with a social work background, contacted the PTI’s local constituency office. She had voluntarily run Imran Khan’s political campaign in 2018. She was assigned to conduct door-to-door canvassing for the PTI party in Rawalpindi city. She revealed that although she did not know the local candidate, she canvassed for the candidate only because of the PTI party leader, Imran Khan. It was enough for her that candidate belonged to the PTI party. As in the Pakistani context, party affiliation is very significant, and the supporting political party can determine the electoral strength of a political candidate. Rabia spent her own money during the PTI election campaign, which gave her satisfaction that she had played her part in building a ‘Naya (new) Pakistan’. Rabia nominated Imran Khan as her motivation to join politics and stated:
I worked for PTI's vision. I worked in PTI to build the ‘Naya (new) Pakistan’. I am happy that I played my part in Pakistan. PTI is the party that can bring change to the country. In our area, people blindly supported the PTI candidate just because of Imran Khan. I worked in all areas of my constituency, and that’s how I came to know about people’s mentality that they voted just for Imran Khan’s name. So even I joined politics just for Imran Khan (Rabia, personal interview, September 2018).
There are multiple influential aspects of Imran Khan’s personality that appeal to his followers.
Another woman MPA, Samina, also named Imran Khan as a source of her motivation to join politics. She stated that he has built a robust public image under his corruption-free history and is known as ‘Mr. Clean’. Furthermore, she stated that Imran Khan is committed to implementing multiple reforms for women’s empowerment in a context wherein women’s rights are routinely infringed. He has vowed to end discriminatory laws against women in a setting dominated by a conventional ‘Jirga system’ and characterized by a miscarriage of justice in the name of customs and traditions. Even Pakistani courts sometimes fail to provide justice for fear of reprisals if their decisions contravene traditional Jirga laws. Such a situation is particularly acute for tribal
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areas, which tend to be exempted from the state’s writ due to their special status as agreed upon since independence. Upon being inspired by the vision of Imran Khan, Samina nominated him as her motivation to join politics and declared:
I joined politics mainly because of Imran Khan. I always liked Imran Khan when he was a cricketer, and even when he became a politician. He promised to give due rights to women and justice to them. He has a very charismatic personality and owns a corruption-free background. He was elegant and clean, always spoke the truth, has a promising vision for women, and is not scared of anyone to empower Pakistan’s women. I followed him because he stood against the traditional Jirga system (Samina, personal interview, November 2018).
Imran Khan’s vision of ‘remaking Pakistan’ represents the idea of a ‘Utopian Pakistan’, where everything is going to be perfect. Moreover, his vision is highly dedicated to ensuring women’s participation and empowerment. With such a promising picture of participation in the remaking of new Pakistan, Imran Khan has inspired many women to join the PTI party during his election campaign in the general elections of 2013 and 2018.
5.2.3 Motivation by speeches
Political speeches can build a strong connection between the leader and the masses. Following this strategy, Imran Khan integrates a motivational script in his speeches and tweets. During the general elections of 2013 and 2018, he launched a series of social media campaigns to contact, mobilize and engage the masses, especially women. He activates women through his motivational speeches, tweets, and statements. Imran Khan talked publicly about women’s rights and motivated them towards participation in politics. Bano, one of the women career politicians from the Transitional level, revealed that she was motivated by Imran Khan’s speeches to enter politics during her university days.
Joining the PTI youth wing (Insaf Student Federation) at university, Bano worked hard as a youth wing member, ultimately earning a position in the mainstream PTI party. Bano felt that Imran Khan had a vision for the young people who had previously been ignored by other political parties. Initially, she was not interested in politics, but Imran Khan’s motivational oratory drew her towards politics. Bano commented:
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I was never interested in politics and joined ISF [Insaf Student Federation] with my friends as time pass. But soon after joining ISF, I started listening and understanding Imran Khan’s vision. In most of his speeches, he called ‘meray nojawanion’ [My young peers], which motivated and energized me to work for the party with more dedication. Later, from the youth wing, I moved to the mainstream PTI party (Bano, personal interview, September 2018).
Saliha, a woman MPA, was also inspired by Imran Khan and regularly participated in PTI rallies and protests. She was highly inspired by Imran Khan’s speeches. She noted that initially, she decided to attend the PTI Freedom March in 2014 after observing multiple security arrangements for women. However, she continued to participate in all other PTI protests with her family. She felt that PTI protests were secure enough for women to join in due to appropriate security arrangements.
Women rarely attend political gatherings in Pakistan, as such rallies are not considered safe for women. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, women attended political rallies only on television. Even today, instances of sexual and physical harassment are common at public gatherings in Pakistan. Public meetings can be a heaven for eve-teasers and hell for women who find themselves at risk of being mugged or groped. Although other parties also have women’s wings and women participate in their rallies, political participation by women of the kind observed in PTI is unparalleled. Saliha marked the PTI protests safe for participating women and recalled:
If you listen to him [Imran Khan] live, that is a different experience. From day one, my whole family participated in the PTI protest in 2014. We stayed there in the rain and faced everything. Imran Khan appreciated it a lot. After 2014, I never looked back and participated in every PTI protest as Imran Khan always ensured that these protests should be secure for women participants. I listened to every speech by him live in front of me, which inspired me (Saliha, personal interview, December 2018).
Another woman MPA, Aliya, was also inspired to join the PTI party due to the motivational speeches of Imran Khan. He often uses a natural communication style, and his speeches turn into a dialogue between him and his audience. As noted by Aliya, he often uses metaphors
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like ‘Medina’ to reference the idealized welfare state established by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 1,400 years ago, which people find very relatable. Sometimes he refers to his mother, who died of cancer. His death motivated him to build a free cancer hospital in Pakistan. Using this inspirational story from his own life, he can gain the sympathy and support of his supporters, especially women. Aliya admitted to being motivated by Imran Khan and stated:
I have Pakistan everywhere in my heart, and no doubt Khan provoked these feelings. Through his speeches, he provoked feelings in me to participate in politics.
Now I feel that men and women in our society are ready to bring change in Pakistan.
Imran Khan’s mother gave him a mission, and we are with him to accomplish it.
He has a pain in his heart for the welfare of people as he experienced the tragic death of his mother (Aliya, personal interview, January 2019).
The visibility of women in PTI’s political gatherings is much higher than the other political parties in Pakistan. The reason could be that PTI always has excellent visibility in mass media, thus projecting a strong image of its political campaigns compared to those led by other parties.
In its Freedom March in 2014, PTI helped to transform the country’s political culture through active support of women’s participation. The massive involvement of women in politics has been discernible in Imran Khan’s era.
5.2.4 Motivation by catchy slogans
Slogans are an inextricable part of the political campaigning process across the world. A woman MPA, Meena, commented that she joined politics on Imran Khan’s motivation. She talked about the PTI slogans that made her morale high. Imran Khan motivated women to enter politics by deploying catchy slogans during their political gatherings and media campaigns. Although he started his career as a sportsman, his welfare work contributed a lot to transform his image from a celebrity to a politician. Considering his charismatic personality, Meena noted that people felt positively charged whenever he raised political slogans. She noted PTI’s slogans as catchy for its followers and stated:
During PTI’s political gatherings, when he [Imran Khan] raises his slogans, I feel energetic to work for ‘Naya Pakistan’ [New Pakistan]. I am positive that I can do something with Imran Khan to build it. Indeed, these slogans worked for me to put
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all my efforts into the PTI party. But, let me tell you, it’s not me, you will hear PTI slogans everywhere (Meena, personal Interview, November 2018).
Sheena, another woman career politician, joined the PTI party after being inspired by Imran Khan’s leadership skills. She started her political journey in the PTI party at the Transitional level as a volunteer. She recalled that before being attracted by Imran Khan’s message, she was not interested in politics. Sheena gave credit to Imran Khan for furnishing her with political awareness, also mentioning a few other women who were homemakers as joining politics due to Imran Khan’s motivation. Sheena narrated:
He was very much interested in bringing forward the women’s lot who have no political background. He was a cricketer turned politician. Among us, he introduced the concept that politics is for everyone. So, I witnessed that women became highly passionate with my own eyes when he raised his voice for slogans. I saw even those women in the PTI party who are housewives and have never been a part of politics.
PTI changed the political culture in Pakistan, and I am a witness to this political journey (Sheena, personal interview, January 2019).
Slogans in political campaigns are not a novel phenomenon and have been used in different countries by different political leaders. For instance, Donald Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ or ‘MAGA’ in his victorious 2016 presidential campaign in American politics proved to be a great rallying cry for his followers. Even though almost the same slogan,
‘Let’s Make America Great Again’, had been used by Ronald Reagan in 1980. PTI slogans such as ‘Tabdeeli a rahi hai’ (change is coming) and ‘Naya Pakistan’ (remaking Pakistan) proved very popular among PTI followers, motivating the people, particularly women, to join the PTI party and its rallies. The women’s power show was notably the case in PTI’s Azadi March (Freedom March) in 2014, as discussed earlier (see chapter 2, section 2.9). Imran Khan has constantly iterated that he wants women to be politically active, and he has managed to catalyse his aim quite successfully. Several months after the PTI Freedom March in 2014 the event remained in the spotlight due to the massive presence of women.
5.2.5 Imran Khan’s motivation for professional women
In the current research, four of the women participants had experience in different professions
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prior to entry into politics and nominated Imran Khan as a motivation to join the PTI party.
Nayla, a woman entrepreneur, joined the PTI party in 2007 and gave up her hefty monthly business income for the sake of politics. She was inspired by the vision of Imran Khan and joined PTI as a volunteer and set aside her business. She worked day and night for the PTI party and expressed the following views:
I just saw that we need to make a Pakistan, and Imran Khan has a vision. For his vision, I gave everything. I was such a big entrepreneurial woman that I used to earn 2, 3 lac a month, but I put it on the stake. So, money’s not a problem for me. I fought a lot for the Imran Khan’s mission. I arranged rallies, political meetings and activated women in my area. So, this was my passion for joining the PTI party (Nayla, personal interview, December 2018).
One of the women MPAs, Sobia, who had professional work experience of more than 20 years in the PTI party, shared her story of joining PTI. She stated that after the formation of the party in 1996, she decided to join PTI in 1998, gaining insights into Imran Khan’s vision very closely.
She recalled that initially, people made fun of her because she prioritized joining PTI over other political parties. People mocked her decision as Imran Khan had no political background or political experience, enjoying fame as a cricketer rather than a politician. Despite this, Sobia decided to join the PTI party because she was inspired by Imran Khan’s vision. She had been working alongside Imran Khan since 1998 and observing his personality and mindset closely.
Sobia became convinced that Imran Khan’s focus was on the welfare of the people. Given this, she never regretted her decision to join the PTI party and noted:
My profession revolves around the judiciary, and I got offers from many political parties to join. But I joined Imran Khan in 1998, and throughout I’ve been with him.
We have seen ups and downs in the PTI party together. People used to make fun of me about what insane party have you joined; you should have some sense. But I never left and fully participated as a PTI member and did everything for Imran Khan. I realized that this person had a vision of people’s welfare. There was a time when we only had 3–4 women sitting and talking to Imran Khan and all that. He has sympathy for people. He doesn’t want people to suffer, so I chose PTI in 1998.
Till today, I've become more convinced that I did the right thing. I have never
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regretted not for one second because I got a chance to know him [Imran Khan]
closely, and I know his vision (Sobia, personal interview, January 2019).
5.2.6 Imran Khan’s motivation for social workers
Imran Khan established his credibility via social work before joining politics. He participated actively in social work and community development work before launching his political career in 1991. In addition to establishing the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust and building a cancer hospital offering free treatment to poor patients, Imran Khan and his charitable organization have been contributing to cancer research. The premature death of his mother due to cancer inspired him to set up the Cancer Trust hospital.
In the current research, two women career politicians joined politics conveniently as they were already involved in community work. One of the women MPAs, Sheena, was involved in social work at her village and was motivated to join the PTI party when encouraged by her community.
Before coming to politics, she was already contributing her time and money towards her community. Sheena was motivated by Imran Khan’s vision and joined the PTI party to kick start her political career. Sheena stated:
I used to go to the village for social work, met people, went to their gatherings, shared their sadness and problems, help them financially, and participated in their events. That was my nature. So, I think God gave me the capability to serve people.
One day village people came in the form of delegation and asked me to contest elections. They requested me to represent them from the PTI platform. I also believed this could be done at its best in the PTI party with Imran Khan’s vision as he himself is involved in people’s welfare (Sheena, personal interview, January 2019).
Another woman who followed a career in politics, Rabia, from the Transitional level, was also involved in social work before joining the PTI party. She had established a small network of friends to carry out social work activities. However, the thought of entering politics never occurred to her. She always felt that there would be no space for her in politics as she belonged to a middle-class family. However, once during her social work in a government hospital, she found herself unable to get a patient admitted. Realizing that this could have been done quickly