Women’s participation in politics should be increased

Although women have come out of backwardness, there is still a long way to go. Although progress has been made in the position of women in education, employment, and politics, there is still a lot of backwardness. To establish equality between men and women, women must be present at all levels of decision-making. That is why women should have an active role in politics. The Prime Minister is a woman, the head of the opposition and another major party is a woman, and the Speaker of the National Parliament is a woman. Still, it is not enough to promote women’s leadership as expected.

The quota to ensure 33 percent women’s participation in all committees of political parties by 2020 has not yet been met. Although the participation of women in politics has increased, the participation of women in leadership is low. Apart from the two major parties (Bangladesh Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party), the left political parties also failed to meet the target. Again, there is no visible action to include one-third of women in all committees of political parties by 2030. Experts say that without intention and effective action, women’s leadership will not increase in politics.

In 2018, the Election Commission of Bangladesh asked about the measures taken by the political parties regarding one-third representation of women. But out of 40 parties, only 10 provide this information. It shows that only the Gana Front reported having 33 percent female representatives in their leadership. Among the 81 members of the Awami League’s central executive council, 15 are women, a percentage of 18 percent. There are 16 women who have won direct party seats in Parliament. BNP has 15 percent women members in all levels of committees. And there are 20 percent women in all levels of committees of the Jatiya Party. BNP’s highest policy-making forum, the National Standing Committee, currently has only two female members out of 19 posts. There are only six women in the 73-member advisory council of the BNP chairperson. There are 35 vice chairman positions in the National Executive Committee of the BNP. Only two of them were women. One of the 15 people at the top of the Bangladesh Workers Party is a woman. Eight out of 75 members of the Central Committee are women.

Since the 1990s, the number of women in the two major political parties has increased more than in the left-leaning political parties. But they cannot come to the leadership. According to experts, it is more difficult for women to do politics than men. Still, those who come to politics have to fight two types of obstacles. One with their family and community, and another with their own group of people. In many cases, women do not get support from the work of their political colleagues. Even after getting positions in the field of politics, women are subjected to various kinds of bad comments.

Women are leading five of the standing committees of the 45 ministries of the National Parliament. At present, there are 73 women MPs in Parliament, of whom 23 are directly elected. Experts say that women leaders should maintain good relations with the party and voters, not only during voting. At this time, many polls are conducted, and women have to work in such a way that their popularity comes up in the central committee through polls. If they are nominated, the party will get a seat. They should walk in that way.

In order to establish a society and state based on the equality of men and women, women must have a position at the decision-making level. And for this, the participation of women in politics should be increased so that they can play an important role in decision-making as public representatives. If the participation of women in politics is not increased, the overall development of the country will never be possible.