Impact of Facebook Usage on the Political Participation among Women in Pakistan

Impact of Facebook Usage on the Political Participation among Women in Pakistan

Munham Shehzad¹, Muhammad Yousaf²,
Nasir Mahmood³, & Emenyeonu, C. Ogadimma⁴
^1,2University of Gujrat, Pakistan
³Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan
⁴University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Social Media has become one of the effective forms of political communication in the contemporary age. Given this truism, this study intends to investigate the impact of Facebook usage on political participation among women in Pakistan. This study employed a cross-sectional research design vis-à-vis survey method to find the relationship between Facebook usage and women’s political participation, using Pakistan as our focus. A sample of 563 females aged 18 to 60 was selected. The findings of the study indicated that online political participation influenced offline political involvement among Pakistani women. It was further found that the purpose of Facebook usage also correlated with online political participation. In addition, this study is of the view that online political participation influenced offline political participation. The study’s findings can encourage the female population to actively participate in the electoral process of the country – to improve voters’ turnout and make the electoral process more diverse and representative.

Keywords: Facebook, women, political participation, Pakistan, social media

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Munham Shehzad (Ph.D., University of Gujrat, Pakistan, 2020) is an FM Manager in FM 106.6, Centre for Media and Communication Studies, University of Gujrat, Pakistan. He is interested in the study of elite culture, TV drama, entertainment shows, advertisements, and social media effects.

Muhammad Yousaf (Ph.D., Communication University of China, 2018) is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Media and Communication Studies at University of Gujrat, Pakistan. His research interests lie in media effects, public opinion, environmental communication, health communication, and development communication.

Nasir Mahmood (Ph.D., Tokyo Gakugei University, 2004) is a Professor and Dean at Faculty of Education, Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan. His research focuses on e-assessment, higher-order learning, and the development of scientific attitudes.

Ogadimma C. Emenyeonu (Ph.D., Universiti Utara Malaysia, 2018) is a Lecturer at Faculty of Communication, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. His areas of research interest are environmental journalism, health journalism, new media, sociology of news production, and media ethics.

Correspondence to: Muhammad Yousaf, Centre for Media and Communication Studies, University of Gujrat, Gujrat-50700, Pakistan.