There is a need to reserve the 33 % seats for women in all categories of seats including union council chairperson and vice chairpersons in the Local Government. Modality of election on reserved seats for women should be direct, constituency based and filled through joint electorate. 33% representation of women should be extended through legislation in all monitoring committees and community-based structures in the Local Government Changes in the law to ensure the presence of women members in a quorum established for any council meeting. Gender budgeting and gender auditing of local government should be made mandatory through legal framework. Minimum of 33% budget should be allocated for women specific development projects and programs.

Ms. Fauzia Shaheen, Chairperson of Balochistan Commission on the Status of Women, said that effective implementation of electoral law. The election result of those constituencies where women are stopped to participate in LG election as voters and candidates should be declared null and void. She was addressing in Women’s Leaders Assembly organized by Aurat Foundation under JAZBA project at Balochistan Boys Scouts, Quetta on 27 October 2022.

Listing of discriminatory practices and social attitudes of LG functionaries against women such as non-availability of office space, separate toilets, not informing women councilors about meetings, not including women in budget making and development planning process, not allowing women to speak in sessions and not allocating development fund or giving them development grants less than their male colleagues and sanctions should be prescribed in the LGO for such gender discriminatory practices and behavior. Sanction should be imposed on district governments for the non-compliance of LGO.

Ms. Farkhanda Aurangzeb Member National Commission for Human Rights from Balochistan, Equitable representation of women in the political structure is not only important because it is simply a human rights issue. She further added that lack of capacity of women councilors was another key challenge. They were unable to aggregate and articulate women’s interests in an effective manner and did not succeed to make a radical shift in policy and development priorities in the local government. There is a need to build of gender capacity of members of councils at two levels; political and technical & institution and personals.

Ms. Shazia Riaz, Director Women 27thDevelopment Department Government of Balochistan hoped that the NCSW recommendations will help to pave the way for removing social, cultural and political constraints experienced by the women, particularly on the basis of their gender and to facilitate the relevant agency by making opportunity available to do the advocacy for developing an enabling environment for women’s empowerment and participatory democracy in Pakistan. She said that government adopted gender mainstreaming officially as a strategy to address the issue of gender disparities at the institutional level and ensure the integration of a gender perspective in government policy planning and practice.

Allauddin Kilii, Resident Director Aurat Foundation Quetta said that legislative change in Political Party Act 2017 is needed to make it mandatory to give 33% representation to women on the strategic leadership positions in the Central Committees, and decision-making position and also give 33% party ticket to women candidates. Legal cover to the Gender mainstreaming as an official strategy in the Local governance. Intersectional approach to gender. setting up a criterion for women to contest reserved for women.  It should be made mandatory for district governments to give honorarium to all councilors.

In the event, women leaders, political workers, representatives from bars association, civil society organizations, media, transgenders, women with disabilities, religious groups and others were participated in the event.