Semester of Graduation
Summer 2026
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
International Conflict Management
Department
Department of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Dr. Maia Carter Hallward
Second Advisor
Professor Tavishi Bhasin
Third Advisor
Dr. Charity Butcher
Abstract
This dissertation examines whether Pakistan's 2002 expansion of reserved seats for women translated into substantive representation through legislative reforms addressing violence against women. Drawing on the Dynamics of Contention framework, the study investigates how the mechanisms of claim-making, brokerage, coalition-building, framing, and elite certification shaped legislative outcomes. Three landmark laws are analyzed: the Women's Protection Act (2006), the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act (2010), and the Anti Honor Killing Law (2016).
Using a theory-testing process-tracing design, the research combines parliamentary debates, committee reports, legislative records, media sources, and 34 semi-structured interviews with legislators, activists, constitutional experts, and journalists to trace the contentious mechanisms through which women legislators influenced legislative outcomes.
The findings provide partial support for the argument that gender quotas facilitate substantive representation. Reserved-seat women legislators played important roles in agenda-setting, committee deliberations, legislative framing, coalition-building, and cross-party collaboration through the Women's Parliamentary Caucus. However, legislative success depended not only on women's descriptive representation but also on sustained engagement with women's movements, activist networks, supportive political elites, and political opportunities created by heightened media attention. The dissertation argues that quotas are necessary but insufficient for substantive representation; their effectiveness depends on the interaction of institutional arrangements, political opportunities, and contentious mechanisms that enable women legislators to transform descriptive representation into legislative reform.