FEMALE STUDENTS’ AUTONOMY IN VOTE CASTING OF PUNJAB, PAKISTAN SHAHID QAYYUM, MIAN MUHAMMAD AHMED IQBAL, ALI AKHTAR, TEHMINA IKRAM ULLAH & SHAZIA TABASSUM Research Scholar, Department of Sociology, G. C. University, Faisalabad, Pakistan ABSTRACT Women are an important element of a country’s population. Thus, their contribution and participation in every sector is equally important as of men. So, to make them active participant for development and prosperous of the country, there is necessary fully participation in vote casting. The purpose of the study was to find out female students’ awareness, autonomy and hindrances in vote casting in Punjab, Pakistan. The present study was conducted with duel methodology, quantitative and qualitative. In quantitative, the universe of the study was the five universities of the Punjab via randomly; total sample six hundred female students. A structured questionnaire written in English language was used. In qualitative, five focus group discussions, one focus group discussion in each university and total five universities, a structured check- list was made and convenient sampling technique was adopted for both the methods for the collection of the data. The results of the study indicate that educated females have awareness about their vote importance and worth. They are not fully satisfied of existing vote casting system. They mention also that they cannot go on polling station alone for casting their vote. They are so enthusiastic and encouraging to participate in election but they don’t have autonomy or independence to cast their vote as their own will. They have to face some cultural, traditional and family pressure hurdles to cast vote. KEYWORDS: Female Students, Autonomy, Vote Importance, Vote Casting INTRODUCTION Pakistan got independence from the United Kingdom on August 14 of 1947. Since its independence, Pakistan has a colorful but turbulent political history at times. There were thirty two yeas ruling of military and rest of troubling democracy. The people of Pakistan do not have a lot of and better experience in elections. Democracy is the backbone of any country and elections are an essential and necessary part of any democratic country. It is the requirement of the democracy to conduct the fair elections. The first general elections in Pakistan were held in 1970 after twenty three years of its independence. A country cannot be truly democratic until its citizens have the opportunity to choose their representatives through fair electoral process. Man is a social animal and in view of that he always participates in all social activities. But this participation and contribution is not constant yet dynamic in all aspects. In democratic countries, people elect their candidates for making the best policies towards the masses, producing and distribution of the resources to the public and institutions where all males and females participate for the nomination of the right candidates. Thomas, M. et al, (1993) explain politics is the process by which a community selects rulers and empowers them to make decisions, takes action to attain common goals, and reconciles conflicts within the community. An individual show his will through his vote. The concept of voting can be traced out in the world history during the era of ancient Greece about 508BC (Dunn, 1992). Schwartzman (1968) said that voting is considered to be a main ingredient of political participation and political socialization in the societies following the principles of liberal democracy. International Journal of Political Science, Law and International Relations (IJPSLIR) ISSN 2278–8832 Vol. 3, Issue 4, Oct 2013, 1-8 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.