Women Empowerment by Local Representation: A Case Study of Lahore

Abstract

Pakistan is a country where women have rear opportunities to be part of political activities though they are almost half of the population. They remain under male domination and confront various social, cultural, and economic disparities. A limited number of women take part in political affairs, and mostly they belong to families having political influence and background. Generally they take part in politics on behest of their male family members to enhance their power and are labeled ‘mask representatives’. This study will see status of women at local bodies’ level, and their role in local representation. In order to empower the women, local representation is considered one of the useful mechanisms. In this research, elements of participation and representation and bottom up approach is used, which stresses on participatory democracy and involvement of the locals in decision making about the area. In a country like Pakistan, women representation is there but they are not empowered in real terms. Women at grassroots level are generally suppressed and deprived and they seem least concerned about their rights and role in political affairs. For real women empowerment, local representation should be strengthened by meaningful participation and ratio of women. This platform can be used as a nursery to train them for national level politics and to have their due rights