ALTHOUGH women have led two major political parties and the positions of prime minister and leader of the opposition have been occupied by women since 1991, politics in Bangladesh is still highly male-dominated. Women are reluctant to enter politics because of unfriendly environment, lack of financial strength, burden of household and lack of equal opportunities and rights. Often, misinterpretations of conservative and religious values, and traditional mindset, support the status quo in favour of men.
Despite the Constitutional guarantees of equal rights for women in every sphere of life, various forms of discrimination against women have put them at a disadvantage. For bringing a meaningful change in women’s lives, ensuring their equal participation in local and national politics is an imperative.
Political parties in Bangladesh don’t practice gender equality, which is reflected in the indifference of government and other political institutions to ensure women’s equal participation in development. Though movements by women’s and human rights organisations have drawn partial attention of the government, without sincere and committed effort by the political parties the envisaged change will continue to remain elusive.
People believe that politics is not for women because of the predominance of fierce competition and conflicts, but if women get equal opportunity in politics this prejudice will just fall apart. Political parties should look into this.
A good party is one that helps to materialise women’s potentialities in active politics and decision-making. Without that, the human rights of 50% of our population can’t be achieved, and the society will continue to miss out on their contribution. Experience shows that women have attempted to enter politics from outside political institutions and faced hurdles. Now, time has come to change things. Given their commitment to democracy, justice, equality, political parties should take the lead in this.
The recent pro-active decision of the government, asking political parties to include at least 33% women in committees, is a very timely initiative. But that is not enough, and there should be a clear deadline for implementing it as early as possible. Such a commitment should be specifically stated in the party declarations as well as election manifesto.
Steps Towards Development (Steps) organised a seminar in which a number of recommendations were put forward to be considered by political leaders. Steps believes this initiative will be a milestone in moving toward a democratic and just society with good governance. The following recommendations were agreed upon through an interactive dialogue with leading politicians from the major parties:
-Political commitments to be included in party constitution and election manifesto:
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