Abstract
Women’s socio-political interests are largely related to their political representation. But the debate goes around their descriptive and substantive representation. The later representation is deemed to be more effective in addressing women issue. The present study was an attempt to analyse women’s substantive role in local government Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with a focus upon challenges confronting their role and potential opportunities for being part of political system in local government in (KP).The study was conducted in district Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with women councillors elected on reserved seats in village/neighbourhood council of district Mardan by using purposive sampling technique. Women’s participation in local business, women’s influence on political party, women’s access to local government financial resources and women’s role in civil society’s mobilization were covered under women’s substantive role. Respondents’ views were analysed against the backdrop of underscored themes.