The Invisible Electorate: A Case Study of Women’s Low Voter Turnout in Khyber District Ex. FATA, Pakistan (2018-2024)

Abstract

This study examines the complex barriers to women's political participation in Khyber District, Pakistan, through an integrated framework of patriarchal bargaining theory, structural violence, and intersectional analysis. Based on 40 in-depth interviews with women across three tehsils (Jamrud, Bara, and Landi Kotal) and analysis of electoral data, the research reveals how formal constitutional rights collide with lived realities in this post-conflict, post-merger landscape. The findings demonstrate that women's political exclusion is not merely cultural but systematically produced through intersecting institutional contradictions, spatial barriers, economic dependencies, and security constraints. While women face formidable structural obstacles, they employ sophisticated strategies of resistance and accommodation, including collective transport solutions, religious reframing of political participation, and strategic use of educational spaces. The research concludes that meaningful political inclusion requires both dismantling physical and institutional barriers and creating spaces where women can renegotiate the terms of their political presence, suggesting pathways for sustainable democratic participation in similar post-conflict settings globally.

Keywords: Women's political participation, patriarchal bargaining, structural violence, intersectionality, post-conflict governance, Khyber District, Pakistan