A Comparative Study of Women in Local Government in India and Pakistan

Women's participation and representation in politics at the local level is considered important for gender equity and women’s empowerment. The recent wave of decentralisation in the late 1990s in India and Pakistan promised to solve women-related community problems at the grass-root level and more importantly, to empower them socially, economically and politically. This article demonstrates the extent to which such aspirations could be realized.

Keyword: women’s political representation, local government, India, Pakistan.