Ms. Nighat Siddique

 Director General (Gender & Social Inclusion)

Nighat Siddique is a senior policy expert with 29 years of experience in the development, implementation, and research of gender and vulnerability issues across Pakistan’s public sector and international organizations. She currently heads the Gender and Social Inclusion Wing at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Secretariat, where she has been instrumental in promoting the inclusion of women and marginalized communities in electoral processes—both within ECP and at the national level.

A trailblazer in her field, Ms. Siddique made history as the first female officer to serve as an electoral official in the Senate Elections of Pakistan, setting a precedent for women’s leadership in electoral administration. She also serves as Chair of the Committee on the Harassment Act 2010 at the ECP, advocating for a safe and inclusive institutional environment.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Siddique served as Program Manager heading the Gender and Child Cell (GCC) at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). In this role, she played a pivotal part in mainstreaming gender into disaster management policies and practices. She ensured that a gender-responsive approach was integrated into Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Disaster Risk Management (DRM) operations, helping to safeguard vulnerable populations—especially women and children—during emergencies, recovery and rehabilitation phases.

Previously, at the former Ministry of Women Development, she led the team that prepared Pakistan’s 4th Periodic Report on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and contributed to the formulation of the National Action Plan (NAP) for the National Policy on Development and Empowerment of Women (NPDEW).

Ms. Siddique holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies and is a Law graduate from Melbourne Law School, Australia. She recently completed the National Security Course 24-25, at the National Defence University, Islamabad earning a Diploma in National Security and was conferred the symbol of “nsc”.