Women in politics and governance
A century and a half ago, John Stuart Mill asserted that the participation of both the majority and the minority must be ensured for a government to be competent and efficient. He included women in his definition of the enormously disfranchised "minority" of that time. Politicians across national boundaries were slow to heed to this basic tenet of governance of state affairs -- Bangladesh is no exception. However, Bangladesh is catching up faster than most developing countries governed by democratically elected governments.
Prior to the introduction of the local government act 1997, the number of women contesting in local government elections was too small to be viewed as exemplary. For instance, the total number of women contesting for open seat general membership was merely 863 out of 114,699 (0.7%) and 1135 out of 169,643 (0.7%) in the local government elections of 1988 and 1992 respectively. After the direct election allowed "reserved seats" for women, the number of women competing in the 1997 and 2003 elections saw a big surge.
In the 1997 election, 44,134 women contested the reserved seats with 14,029 winning the seats (of which 592 were elected unopposed). In the 2003 election, 39,419 women candidates joined the race for 12,669 reserved seats. Such a big surge of women candidates drew the attention and interest of the women community in the country's political process.
A pertinent question: Did the surge in women's representations in local government ensure their voice in the decision making process of the Union Parishads (UP)? In my quest for that answer, I conducted a research on 107 elected women members of nine upazilas of Rajshahi district in mid 2007. Not surprisingly, my findings revealed that women UP members work in an inhospitable environment of non-cooperation from their male colleagues, who view the women members as inefficient and unable to carry out their responsibilities properly.
I quickly discovered that the laws and procedures governing UP activities are vague, problematic and outdated, if you will -- they lack specificities of responsibilities of the women members in the UP. As a consequence, women members are routinely discriminated against in the distribution of UP responsibilities and projects. Sometimes, the projects are distributed to the general members in the absence of women members. They often tolerate degrading behaviour for fear of being harassed.
My studies also found that membership in different committees aren't distributed equally and fairly among the women members. Government instructions to set up new committees to be chaired by women members went unheeded. These and many other impediments frustrated and discouraged women from being active and influential in the UP decision making process.
At present, a UP is composed of 13 members -- a chairman, nine members elected from the general seats (in most cases they all are men), and 3 women members from the reserved seats. Obviously, being outvoted in decision making, women members in UP and their presence in committees often turn out to be mere ornamental.
Discrimination against minorities and women in all spheres of human activities is common more than an exception in all societies. Progress is being made but much needs to be done. Modern day women are increasingly taking leadership positions in politics, business, academics and what not.
In Bangladesh politics, the reservation of seats for women at local government levels has increased the number of women in politics, but has not ensured their full representation in the decision-making process yet. However, there is reason to be optimistic as the imposition of quotas in elected positions is transforming the political culture gradually.
The election of the ninth parliament, in which several women were directly elected from general seats, ushered in fresh enthusiasm among women politicians. Women's participation in the last upazila election was encouraging. Unfortunately, the duties of the women vice-chairmen are yet to be decided.
Most importantly, in the current AL government, four important ministries (prime minister, home, foreign, and agricultural) and the deputy leadership of the parliament have gone to women -- a milestone that could hardly be imagined a decade ago. Hopefully, their success will encourage many talented women lawyers and other professionals to join politics and win elections to participate in the decision making process at all levels of national affairs.
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