SOCIAL FORCES INFLUENCING FEMALE VOTING BEHAVIOUR IN ALIABAD HUNZA

Abstract

Women‟s participation in social circles has remained focus of studies for many feminist researches. It is also a crucial aspect for political scientist while analysing democracy and its features and for sociologists while analysing women‟s involvement in public spheres and especially political arena. Pakistan with one of largest youth body lacks provision of civil right to its citizens. Among these, right to vote and the freewill of women to choose a political representative is a crucial one. The study focuses „social forces influencing female voting behaviour in Aliabad Hunza‟. The aim of the research is to analyse and identify different social forces which determine females voting choices while documenting the perception of women about right to vote and subsequently identifying barriers that restrict female participation in politics. The study uses a qualitative research design to unearth local narratives through the implication of research techniques like in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs). The sample is extracted from census data through purposive sampling technique, which is inclusive of socioeconomic factors, like, age, education, profession, marital status, income, family background and family structure. The sample size used for the study is 28 in-depth interviews and 2 FDGs to triangulate the collected data. The data provided that female‟s perception of right to vote is expressed in terms of expectations towards the political candidate, and the possible major social factors which determine a female‟s voting choice is based on family preferences and the attributes of the candidate which are identified to be the features of their social groups to which women belong. The study deeply analyses effects of patriarchy on voting behaviour besides the influence of other barriers that restrict substantive participation of women in political arena. Key Words: Social Forces, Right to Vote, Vote, Female Voting Behaviour