KARACHI, Jan 31: Women councillors have demanded that 33 per cent seats in the Senate and National and Provincial assemblies be reserved for women as had been done in the case of local government.

Speaking at a workshop for women councillors, entitled “major problems in decision-making”, organized by the Aurat Foundation on Thursday, they welcomed the recent increase in the number of women’s seats in the parliament, but said even after this increase, they would still be just around 17 per cent of the total number.

The women also demanded representation in the National Reconstruction Bureau which was preparing a blueprint of a future political system. It was necessary to safeguard the rights of the women, they added.

One of the major demands of the women councillors was that they be paid salaries like Nazims and Naib Nazims and provided other perks, like offices and vehicles so that they could serve their electorate in a better way.

They demanded jobs quota in government and semi-government institutions as a majority of the women were unemployed. They further demanded that a certain percentage of budget be allocated for development schemes to be carried out, in consultation with women councillors.

The speakers, however, remained divided on the issue of minimum qualification for women candidates for parliamentary seats. Some of them were of the view that the educated women could serve their electorate in a better way while others believed that due to low literacy level it was not possible for women to contest those seats.

On the question of Zakat and Usher distribution, they said that they were not taken into confidence while distributing Zakat and Ushr funds.

They pointed out that they were neglected while electing the sub-committees, particularly while electing chairpersons for these committees.

Some councillors said maternity homes be set up in their areas and girls schools and rural health centres be made operational as in some centres in the remote areas the staff fails to turn up to their duties and was getting salaries with the connivance of higher-ups.

They demanded that they be given powers to visit and raid schools, hospitals and government offices in their respected areas and take actions against those who were not performing their duties in a better way.

Director-general of Sindh Kutchi Abadis Tasneem Ahmad Siddiqui, Perveen Rehman of Orangi Pilot Project, Anis Haroon, Nuzhat Shirin, Zehratul Fatima, Aslam Brohi of Aurat Foundation and women councillors Nighat Sultana, Ghazala Anjum, Tahira Kaukub, Rabia Soomro, Sangeen Baloch, Mangla Sharma, Fauzia Raza, Nagina Raza, Najma Zafar, Tahira Khatoon, Najma Lashari, Qamar Dhamra, and others also spoke.

The Aurat Foundation is organizing such consultative workshops in all the provincial capitals to get an input from the newly-elected women councillors regarding the difficulties that they faced.