Women's space in parliament

As if to bare the lack of conviction and the opacity in regard to the female berth in parliament, the proposal approved by the cabinet came in a package: women's reserved seats, mandatory display of portraits of the president and prime minister and deadline for swearing in MPs-elect by an out-going Speaker. The very wholesale amendment-related approach sounded tactical in that it appeared to create a distraction.

Just to centre on the women's representational issue, the government has decided to raise the reserve quota for female MPs in parliament to 45 from the previous 30-seat accommodation. The process of entry will be selective rather than elective with no constituency to such reserved seats. Barring an increase in the number of seats by 15 and distribution of the total 45 seats to all parliamentary parties, subject to the caveat that a party has at least eight seats in the JS, it is old wine in a new bottle, as the expression goes.

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What the government is bent upon doing comes as a rude shock to the women activist groups or the civil society at large who have put forward well-argued cases for enhancing women's participation in parliament by an increased presence through direct election. Since the original provision for reserved quota was not renewed in time, the question of amendment came about. Thus a golden opportunity presented itself for bringing the necessary changes in the representational character of the women MPs. But this is now being lost.

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed regards direct election as 'impractical' based on an argument we believe to be assailable that the size of the electorate for women's constituency would be 13-15 lakhs. The main point is, does it not renege on the electoral pledge of the BNP? It's for all to see, it does.