Negotiating Patriarchy: Men Support To Women Political Participation In Pashtun Society

Abstract

Women’s political participation remains strained in the sociopolitical and cultural landscape of the Pashtun community, where gender roles are influenced by patriarchal traditions. Despite longstanding cultural and structural barriers, emerging evidence suggests that men’s attitudes play a critical role in shaping women’s access to political spaces. Girded in Social Role Theory, this research inquires how patriarchal norms and social structures shape men’s support for women’s political participation in Pashtun society and its impact on women’s political agency. The study is qualitative in nature, developing rich narratives using unstructured in-depth interviews from thirty purposive male and female key informants from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. Data analysis employed thematic coding and interpretive strategies to identify patterns and divergences in responses. Findings reveal a nuanced landscape of patriarchal support: factors such as empowered women’s personal experiences, religious reinterpretations, culture and generational shifts, education, media, and men as gatekeepers reveal a complex spectrum of male support ranging from tacit consent to active support. Women participants highlighted the dual impact of enabling participation in local bodies and party politics, while traditional norms continued to restrict women’s political agency. Overall, the study shows that men’s support is complex rather than uniform, simultaneously enabling and limiting women’s political role in the region.