Ever persistent gender gap

There is good news and there is bad news on the electoral front. On the positive side of things, the various districts of Pakistan that once collectively reported a wide gap between male and female voters have significantly narrowed that gulf. Even then, however, a huge gap — of 12.41 million voters to be precise — continues to exist.

Interestingly, nine districts in the country account for as much as a quarter of the total difference between male and female voters. While the mind instantly thinks of districts that have lagged behind in development, it is quite shocking that Lahore, the provincial capital of the Punjab province, accounts for the highest difference in voters. Male voters in both Lahore and Faisalabad districts outnumbered their female counterparts by as much as one million. Overall, 16 districts, including major ones in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces, still report a difference of 200,000 between male and female voters.

Be it voters, employment or education, the gender gap persists in Pakistan for a variety of deeply entrenched reasons. While structural and administrative hurdles exist, and would be easier to remove if the will is there, many of the main culprits behind the gender gap in Pakistan are cultural ones.

As evidenced by the insensitive remarks many influential personalities have time and again made in response to injustices against women, fixing this issue and others that continue to hold Pakistani women back requires that we as a nation re-evaluate and redefine our cultural values and outlook. To do so, all of us — as individuals — need to set aside our sentimental fixations and see our values and beliefs as they are. While there is much to cherish and hold dear about our culture, it is high time that we start our journey towards removing those aspects that are highly problematic.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2020.

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