Political Reforms and Women Political Participation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Women’s political participation strengthens their political as well as over-all empowerment. The discourse of women’s political participation is a matter of concern in the academic circles across the world. This study focuses on the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Pakistan. Furthermore, this study focuses on the effect of political reforms on women’s public and civic engagements which further contribute to their political participation. To unearth the mentioned effect, this study uses positivist research paradigm which guides quantitative methods and procedures. A sample of 400 hundred respondents was selected through random sampling technique and data was collected through structured questionnaire. Data for the study is collected from two tehsils of Swabi and Mardan. Liberal feminist theory is used as theoretical framework in this study to examine the question of the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation. Independent sample t-test was employed to analyze the effect of political reforms on women’s political participation. The study finds positive effects of the political reforms on women, like awareness about these reforms and civic engagements. The study recommends that women political participation could be enhanced by improving their level of education.