Gender and local governance in Pakistan: Representation vs. participation

Abstract

Women’s participation in governance is extremely important for an even human resource development, poverty
alleviation and good governance. In, Pakistan, a concerted and collaborated effort has been made in this regard by
providing women 33% representation in local governance through the current local government ordinance, 2000.
However, the traditional cultural values and societal norms that ascribe women domestic roles and accord them a
lower status as compared to men are not compatible with their professional roles in politics. These cultural norms are
reflected in the systemic, organizational and personal practices and constrain their participation in governance. The
paper applying a holistic gender, organization system (GOS) perspective analyzes the diverse societal, institutional
and individual factors that account for low participation of women in governance in Pakistan. Since women’s passive
representation in governance has critical implications for gender sensitive legislation, resource allocation, utilization
of human resources and poverty reduction the paper recommends measure such as review of LG policies; gender
awareness and mainstreaming, capacity building, networking and mentoring etc. to facilitate their effective
participation.