Whatever the criticism may be of granting only token power to women in politics at the federal, provincial and local levels, the forthcoming local government elections have a different story to tell. At a grassroots level, women contesting the polls seem to be more aware of the present political milieu than their counterparts in the assemblies.

After four years of political training at the local level, the majority of women councillors who have filed their nomination papers for the two-phased polls beginning from Aug 18, are now more politically confident than they were in 2001.

The number of women contesting on Muslim seats in Punjab’s 17 districts in the first phase of the election is 8,988 and that for the peasant/workers seats are 6,693. In the second phase, polls for 18 districts will see 9,338 women contesting for Muslim seats and 7,420 running for the peasant/workers seats.

In the 2000-01 local polls, 36,000 seats were set aside for women throughout the country against which 32,222 candidates returned successfully.

One of the successful candidates of the previous elections, Shamim Akhtar, a labour councillor from Nishtar Town, UC-135, Lahore, is all set to compete again. “Working for the people is not new for me. I have been working as a trade unionist before contesting the previous local polls. So, joining politics was not unusual,” she says.

Shamim Akhtar, a mother of three children, had been working with kiln labourers, and was encouraged by her husband to contest the 2000-01 elections. “Had it not been for my family’s support, I would not have been able to work,” she explains.

Governed by the incentive to bring about a change in the area where she lives, after becoming a councillor, Shamim Akhtar went straight to improve the working environment of factory workers at Dullam, Glaxo, in Green Town, and Kana Gajjoo Matta. “As a trade unionist, I knew exactly what workers went through. Many workers didn’t have identity cards and as a labour councillor I helped them get their cards made.”

Once the local polls are over, Shamim Akhtar intends to sit for her graduation exams to get into the provincial political setup. “That is what many of us are aiming for, and the best way to get trained for national politics is to start working at the community level,” she asserts.

Many women councillors have worked diligently to carve out a political career for themselves, though in the case of Hajan Khairrunisa there have been a few glitches created by the nazim of her council. As a member of the district council in Ravi Town, Khairrunisa had to face opposition from her area nazim, Shahid Bilal, and others.

“We, the councillors, were given a tough time, not by the people, but also by the nazims who refused to release development funds to us. When I went to the nazim of UC-30, Chaudhry Aslam, to ask him to help me construct roads which were broken, he replied by saying that an old woman like me should not bother with such work and sit at home,” says Khairrunisa.

Unlike Shamim Akhtar, councillor Khairrunisa was constantly discouraged by the nazim. But the past four years have given her enough confidence to ignore men’s patronizing attitude, she says.

“Time and again I sent an application to the deputy director of education for the construction of a school in UC-28. But every time my application was turned down, till I took up the matter with Mian Amer. When the school’s construction was completed, everybody from the deputy director education to the nazims came forward to claim credit.

“But everybody in the area knew who was behind the project. I’m not going to give up that easily and stay at home. My aim is to remain in politics, whether men like it or not!” asserts Khairrunisa.

The elections for the reserved seats for women at the UC level are held directly. Though this year women’s seats have been reduced from 21 to 13 per UC, the overall percentage of representation has remained the same. The programme officer, advocacy and action programme at the Aurat Foundation, Ume-Laila Azhar, explains the reason for this reduction.

“We launched a campaign to protest against this. On a general seat, open to both men and women, we managed to bring the number to an acceptable level. At the UC level now, there are two seats reserved for women, four for both men and women, four for labourers/peasants, within which two are reserved for women,” explains Ume-Laila.

The reason given for this reduction is the difficulty in collecting funds for the distribution of honorarium to councillors.

Union councillors in each tehsil elect women candidates to the 33 per cent seats reserved for them in the tehsil/town councils, while all councillors in a district elect women candidates for the 33 per cent reserved seats in the district council.

The lowest tier of the local government is the union council, comprising 5,000 to 30,000 people per UC, depending on the dispersal of population. Each member of the UC is directly elected by a majority vote of the constituency.

Active participation of women at such a huge scale is a confirmation of their determination to be part of a system despite the odds stacked against them.

“We’ve been training them through workshops, helping them in overcoming their fears. But the problems they faced were immense. It was a new experience for them and the first time in the history of the country that a huge number of women were participating in polls.

“The majority had no political background and faced resistance from family. And then there was the problem of budget making, project proposals and monitoring the flow of funds. One of the biggest hurdles thrown in their way was from the nazims who did not accept the political importance of women,” says Ume-Laila.

Fakhra Jafri is perhaps one of the few candidates from UC-51, Wagah Town, who has had a problem-free four years.

“I am contesting unopposed on a general councillor’s seat. I managed to establish Baitul Maal where there was none before. When my husband died five months ago, I became even more determined to continue with community work. I’ve had no problem as a woman; neither has my nazim been unfair to me.

“I do think that the women contesting the local polls are politically maturer than those sitting in the assemblies. I think this is the best training anyone can have to improve the political structure of this country,” concludes Ms Jafri.