Female MNAs currently hold 21.7% of National Assembly seats in the 16th Assembly (2024–present). In the 12th National Assembly (2002–2007), the figure was 20.8%. Across five consecutive parliamentary terms, the share has fluctuated within a two-percentage-point band. The number of women winning seats on general constituencies has not increased significantly since 2008. Pakistan ranked 136 out of 185 countries in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s ranking for women’s parliamentary representation as of January 2026.
How this is measured:
FAFEN tracks women’s representation across parliamentary terms using official records of the National Assembly. The historical trend table in the report compares the share of female MNAs and total seats held by women across the 12th through 16th National Assemblies. The Inter-Parliamentary Union ranking is based on the IPU’s Parline database, updated in January 2026. Pakistan’s South Asian neighbours’ rankings — Nepal (55), India (152), Sri Lanka (166), Bhutan (178) — are drawn from the same source.
Why this matters in parliamentary terms:
Two decades of near-static representation indicates that the reserved-seat quota has functioned as a ceiling as much as a floor. The mechanism guarantees a minimum level of female representation but has not generated the momentum toward direct-election gains that proponents predicted. The failure of general-seat representation to grow meaningfully since 2008 means that women’s presence in parliament is almost entirely dependent on a quota allocated at party discretion — not on electoral competition. This is a structural vulnerability: a parliament whose female membership rests overwhelmingly on appointment rather than election is a parliament in which women’s representation remains contingent on party decisions rather than voter choice.
Source: FAFEN Women Parliamentarians Performance Report 2025–2026, Section 01; Inter-Parliamentary Union, March 2025.
