Women’s direct participation in different polls to the local government bodies in Bangladesh is declining day by day in both general and reserved seats.
Although women’s participation is increasing in other arenas, their participation has decreased by over 50 per cent in the local level elections since the inception of direct elections in different tiers of local bodies at different times.
“Although we have conservation system in our parliament and local government institutions, it is not able to play an effective role in women's political empowerment,” said Rounaq Jahan, a political scientist and a former professor of Dhaka University.
The local government elections take place in Union Parishad (UP), Upazila Parishad, Zila Parishad, municipality and city corporation in the country. Seats are reserved for women in all the tiers of the local government bodies.
At the UP level, three seats among 12 are reserved for women and these are to be filled in by open competition. Five UP elections have already taken place in the last 24 years.
The number of women candidates in the UP elections has been decreasing since the system of direct elections in the reserved seats was introduced in 1997.
According to an UP Election Observation Report of Democracywatch, about 90,000 women took part in the UP elections in 1997. Although some of the women joined polls in general seats in the lowest tier of the local government bodies, the women mainly took part in the direct elections at about 12,000 reserved seats.
The number of female contestants for both general and reserved seats drastically decreased in the next elections held in 2003 and the number was 50,676. A total of 46,200 women took part in the voting in 2011.
A total of 39,530 women contested in the last UP elections held in 2016 and the number of women candidates in 19 years decreased by 56 per cent.
Many speculate that the number of women candidates could be further decreased in this year’s UP elections. “Women members in local government bodies, especially in the rural council, can’t do anything meaningful for the locality due to the structural constraints. So, the decreasing trend may continue,” said Dr Sadeka Halim, a professor of Sociology of Dhaka University and Acting Dean of Social Sciences faculty.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, Farida Parveen, a reserved-seat member of Dhalua Union Parishad of Barguna Sadar upazila, said that she is losing interest to contest in the upcoming UP elections. She narrated the reason, saying that although she is elected from three seats, she can’t play the same role as a male-member elected from one seat.
Women’s participation in the chairman post and member post of general seats is very thin compared to the male contestants. Only 27 women as well as 0.6 per cent women are currently performing duties as UP chairmen out of 4534 union councils across the country, while only 45 women were elected members in general seats out of 40,806 seats in the unions.
According to the information provided by the Steps Towards Development, a total of 102 women joined the elections of the UP chairman post in 1997 and 23 of them won the polls, while only 22 women became chairmen from 232 candidates in 2003 and 23 women won the 2011 polls from 226 candidates.
Like the UPs, the women’s participation in Upazila Parishad elections has also been declining day by day. Their participation has already decreased by about 50 per cent since the inception of the reserved vice chairman post for women.
The provision for the vice chairman to be directly elected in the Upazila Parishad has been made since 2009 elections. About 2900 women contested in that elections in the post and two other posts. Their participation declined by 48 percent in five years as the number came down to almost half in the 2014 elections. A total of 1507 women took part in that elections.
Only three women were elected chairmen and only one woman to the general seat of vice chairman post out of 483 upazilas in the 2014 elections. The last upazila elections were held in 2019 and many women were elected unopposed in that elections due to the thin number of women candidates.
Of the current 492 upazilas in the country, over 50 women were elected unopposed in the 2019 elections as many women lost their interest to join the polls due to the masculine society and their inability to play role as elected representatives.
Five women took part in the polls of female vice chairman post in the Kanaighat (Sylhet) Upazila Parishad polls in 2014. But none of the female vice chairman candidates joined the polls in 2019 and as a result a fresh candidate was elected uncontested.
Maryam Begum, winner of 2014 upazila polls, told Bangladesh Post that the representation of women in the Upazila Parishad is basically symbolic, so she did not take part in the 2019 upazila elections.
Voting in the maiden elections to 59 Zila Parishads (district councils) was held in 2016. A total of 68 reserved seats for women had gone uncontested in that elections, which reflects that women’s interest in joining the district council election is also less like other local government bodies. Shirina Akhtar, Woman Member in reserved seat of Habiganj Zila Parishad, said that women’s representation in the district council is nothing but ornamental.
Women’s representation is also ensured in the municipality, an urban local body. Like the union council, one seat for every three general seats, or 25 percent of the total number of seats on each council, is reserved for women.
In the 2015 municipal elections, only 20 women contested for mayoral post in the 234 municipalities. Awami League nominated seven women in the post, while BNP nominated a woman. Only three women won the polls, which is only 1.3% of mayoral posts, while seven women became councilors out of 2202 seats of municipalities, which is only 0.3%.
The Awami League supported 14 women as mayor candidates in the municipal polls held in 2010 and 2011, while BNP supported 12 women in that elections.
So it is needless to say that women’s participation in municipal elections is declining and those women are elected as mayors, they are elected on paternal basis or after the death of their husbands.
Like UP, upazila and municipal elections, the number of women contestants is also decreasing in city corporation elections. Only a woman was elected mayor among 12 city corporations in the country, while women’s percentage in general councilor posts is more less than the mayor post.
Only 18 women contested for the post of general councilor in the 2020 elections to two city corporations of Dhaka, having 129 posts of ward councillors, although the number was 23 in the 2015 elections when the number of wards was 93. Of the 18 candidates in 2020 elections, the ruling Awami League extended support to only two female ward councillor candidates while BNP supported four females to contest in the polls.
However, no woman contested in the mayoral posts of the two city corporations while a total of 13 partisan mayoral candidates contested in the polls.
There are 16 reserved seats for women in DNCC and 25 reserved seats in DSCC. A total of 187 women took part in the reserved seats of two city corporations in 2020 as a total of 87 women contested in the reserved seats of DNCC, while 100 women in DSCC.
A total of 12 reserved seats of women increased in 2020 in two city corporations, but the number of women candidates has not increased as 187 women candidates took part in the 2015 elections and the number was unchanged in 2020 elections.
Aleya Sarowar Daizy and Ferdousi Ahmed, two women who contested in the general councilor post in Dhaka city polls in 2020 and did not win, said that that they did not take part in elections in reserved seats as the reserved ward councillor posts are nothing but ornamental councilors.
Aleya Sarowar Daizy, Awami League-backed candidate for Ward No. 31 in DNCC polls, said that she won as female councilor in 2015 elections but she did not win in 2020 polls as general councilor candidate. The number of female contestants for the posts of ward councillors in the city corporations’ elections of Dhaka decreased than the previous elections as the male candidates are not tolerating female contestants for ward councilors, while most active females are showing their interest for the seat to avoid hassles in general ward, she added.
Ferdousi Ahmed, the BNP candidate for Ward No. 8 in DNCC polls, said that women are not given enough opportunities to work in the country as a result of patriarchal mindset of society.
Women leaders said that the women’s participation in the local level elections is declining day by day due to the defective electoral system and mind-set about women as the political parties practically consider financial ability and muscle power for nominating or supporting a candidate.
Dr Fauzia Moslem, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said that the women generally don’t have huge money and muscle power. Being a male-dominated society, women councilors and members of local level bodies cannot ensure their due role in development activities as they are deprived of adequate government funds and proper working environment. She stressed equal participation of men and women in running a state and decision-making process.
Rokeya Kabir, executive director of Nari Progoti Shongho, said that women candidates face some challenges. Most of the religious values in the country wanted to restrict women’s rights and equality and intentionally deny women's political participation.
Family level responsibilities and pressures were also reasons behind disinterest in women’s participation in elections.