The number of women contestants for both general and reserved seats in the local government elections has declined over the years, thereby questioning women’s political empowerment in local government although the Constitution and the National Women Development Policy 2011 are in favor of women’s political participation, says research findings shared at a roundtable discussion titled `Strengthening Women’s Representation in Local Government’, organized by BIGD in cooperation with HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation (HSI) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) under the Local Governance Program SHARIQUE-III, on March 20, 2016 at the capital’s Lake Shore Hotel. The event was held to have informed discussions on how to increase women’s participation in local government elections.
Research findings and field observations also indicate women do not feel motivated to participate in the UP elections as they are often unable to keep the promises to their voters. Women are generally passive as political actors, as economic barriers, lack of proper resource allocation and confusion over their respective responsibilities have drawn back many of them from attempting in the election. Moreover, women prefer to participate in the reserve seats because they are less expensive and competitive. However, participation in reserve seats may also put women in the sidelines when it comes to contesting elections in the general seats. Ms Maheen Sultan, Visiting Fellow, BIGD presented the keynote paper at the event.
Addressing the issue of the small number of female political leaders at the grassroots level of the government, the speakers at the event said in the UP polls, the number of female candidates is relatively fewer than before. In fact, data from the Election Commission shows that female participation in different elections in the government has decreased over the years. From 2008 to 2011, the number of female participants in UP elections went down 1,000 around the country, according to the Election Commission statistics. To increase women’s representation in local government, the speakers stressed on increased democratic practices within the political parties, strict monitoring of EC, pro-active role of civil society organizations and media, and political goodwill.
Earlier Ms Melina Papageorgiou Trippolini, Programme Manager, SDC delivered the introductory remarks, and followed by the keynote presentation, Mr. Muhammad Jahangir, noted media personality, facilitated the discussion session where participants gave their views and shared experiences on the issue.
Among others, Dr. Tofail Ahmed, Local Government expert; Mr. Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former State Minister for foreign affairs; Brig. Gen. (Rtd.) Md. Sakhawat Hossain, former Election Commissioner; Mr. Zonayed Saki, Chief Coordinator of Gano Sanghati Andolon and past mayoral candidate of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC); Mr. Kafi Ratan of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and past mayoral candidate of DNCC; Ms Ayesha Khanam, President of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad; Mr. Hasan Majumder, Country Representative, Asia Foundation spoke at the discussion. Other representatives included Dr. Shanawez Hossain, Research Fellow and Team Leader of SHARIQUE, BIGD, and Mr. Rafiqul Islam Talukdar, Senior Programme Manager, BIGD.
Concluding the event on a positive note, Dr. Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Executive Director, BIGD said, though there appears to be lots of constraints with regard to women’s progress in Bangladesh’s politics, the situation is not frustrating if we look at the history of our democracy and feminist movement. Even industrialised countries have ensured women’s political rights after a long struggle only in recent decades. In this respect, Bangladesh has not taken that long. Certainly further mobilising this progress requires collective and aligned actions from all relevant stakeholders, civil society organizations and media.