PAKISTAN'S SHINING WOMEN VOTERS

THE GENERAL ELECTION have proven to be a victory for Pakistan's women. Women from Dir, Kohistan, North and South Waziristan made history when-

*They exercised their right to vote for the first time*.

This has been confirmed by Election Commission of Pakistan. These are places where women have been deprived of their Constitutional rights since the country was too differential to local traditions and customs.

The positive change can be credited to the Election Commission Act, which made it obligatory for winning candidates to secure at least 10 percent of the women's vote from the constituency.

This is also the first time in Pakistan that women's vote will be counted separately, making their votes more consequential than ever before.

However, increasing women's participation in the electoral process still remains an uphill battle.

Still, as the women's vote now carries  more weight than it did before, political parties and their candidates will no doubt, do more to court the women's vote in the future, prompting change in how women's participation in the electoral process is perceived.

This phenomenon was seen in Khyber PakhtunKhwa this year as religious parties actively encouraged women's participation in the election for the first time in the province's history.