Mateela: For decades, not a single woman in this dusty Pakistani village surrounded by wheat fields and orange trees has voted. And they aren't likely to in next week's parliamentary election either. The village's men have spoken.
"It's the will of my husband," said one woman, Fatma Shamshed. "This is the decision of all the families." Mateela is one of 564 out of the 64,000 polling districts across Pakistan where not a single woman voted in the country's 2008 election. The men from this village of roughly 9,000 people got together with other nearby communities to decide that their women would not vote on May 11 either.
Next week's election will bring a major first for democracy in Pakistan, the first time a civilian government has fulfilled its term and handed over power to another. But women still face an uphill battle to make their voices heard in the political process, as voters, candidates and in parliament, where they hold 22 per cent of the seats in the lower house.
Women represent only about 43 per cent of the roughly 86 million registered voters, according to election commission data. In more conservative areas like Khyber Paktunkhwa province and Baluchistan, the percentage drops even further....
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03:38 PM, May 06, 2013
Sorry, fellas, but President Barack Obama's re-election makes it official: Women can overrule men at the ballot box. For the first time in research dating to 1952, a presidential candidate whom men chose decisively - Republican Mitt Romney - lost. More women voted for the other guy. ...
11:04 AM, Nov 25, 2012
State with shameful sex ratio gets another blot on its record. ... 
Abu Dhabi: Captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal hit half-centuries after teammate Sohail Tanvir took four wickets on Wednesday to steer Pakistan to a three-wicket victory over Sri Lanka and a 4-1 win in the one-day series. Misbah compiled a patient 66 while Akmal struck eight fours in an unbeaten 61 off 60 deliveries as Pakistan reached their victory target of 219-7 with 16 balls to spare at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.... 
