Begum Khaleda Zia’s exit from mortal life not only brought an end to her colourful and graceful political career, but also marked the close of a four-decade era of female-led leadership in the country’s politics.
Ever since Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina were introduced to politics in the early 1980s, they were almost immediately compelled to lead their respective parties as supremos.
While Hasina had some early exposure to politics through her active participation in student movements, Khaleda’s entry was truly a foray -- a journey into uncharted territory.
Following the tragic assassinations of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Ziaur Rahman, the two women -- both in their 30s at the time -- had to assume the mantle of leadership, effectively reinforcing the subcontinental tradition of dynastic politics.
They began leading their parties by virtue of popular aspiration and the approval of party rank and file, with the primary consideration being their “unifying capacity” -- the ability to hold their respective camps together and safeguard them from possible disintegration.
It was a bet that, one could argue, largely paid off -- certainly for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which her late husband President Ziaur Rahman founded, and which Khaleda Zia managed to keep intact and thriving through thick and thin.
With Sheikh Hasina forced out and taking refuge in India amid the popular uprising of 2024, and with a death sentence now hanging over her head, her political future appears almost sealed under normal circumstances.
And with Begum Zia’s death after a prolonged illness, a profound void has been created in Bangladesh’s male-dominated political class.
Khaleda and Hasina’s entry into party politics in the 1980s was a welcome departure from a political landscape long marked by the overwhelming dominance of men, where women had little to no voice at all.
They led the country’s two major political parties since the Ershad era and played a crucial role in Bangladesh’s transition from autocracy to parliamentary democracy.
Political historians and pundits will analyze their legacies to assess how they shaped a new Bangladesh -- their bold steps as well as their lacunae, follies, and drawbacks. Many will rightly applaud their achievements in areas such as girls’ education and infrastructure development.
Unfortunately, there is one area for which neither of them can be credited: Despite their long tenures in leadership, there was no proactive effort to groom and facilitate new generations of women in politics, particularly in leadership roles.
Many young women might have sought to emulate them and follow in their footsteps -- learning from their political acumen and leadership traits -- had a more congenial environment existed within party politics where women could work, prove themselves, and thrive. But that was not to be.
This is not to suggest that, merely because they were women, they were automatically obligated to nurture new batches of women leaders.
Their close comrades within their respective parties -- overwhelmingly male -- should have provided the necessary support to create an ecosystem in which aspiring women politicians could realistically envision rising to leadership positions.
A cursory look at candidacy trends for the upcoming February elections bears testament to how, even after more than four decades of women-led leadership in the country’s two major parties, women in politics remain deeply marginalized. Female MP candidates are few and far between.
The BNP, which has just lost its female figurehead, did not even field five percent women candidates in the February 12 parliamentary elections. Begum Khaleda Zia was among the 13 women initially nominated, and with her passing, the number has fallen further.
Before the new party NCP decided to join the Jamaat-led alliance, the alliance comprised eight parties, including Jamaat -- and together they had not a single female candidate.
Jamaat is known for mobilizing a large brigade of women workers at the grassroots level, yet none of these women were ever considered for nomination, regardless of the leadership qualities they may have demonstrated.
After witnessing the participation of hundreds of thousands of young women in the Monsoon Revolution that toppled the authoritarian regime in July-August 2024, many in Bangladesh hoped that at least some of these promising women would enter politics and ascend to leadership roles. That hope, too, was dashed.
Post-revolution Bangladesh has largely failed to create an environment in which women can participate in and thrive within active party politics. Instead, under the watch of the Prof Yunus-led government, the political landscape has become increasingly vitiated -- one in which, barring a rare few, women scarcely dare to venture into politics.
Both in real life and in cyberspace, women showing interest in politics have been subjected to shaming and hate crimes.
It was particularly disheartening for young women leaders when NCP abandoned its much-touted policy of contesting elections as an independent political force and instead chose to become a minor partner in the Jamaat-led alliance.
In doing so, the party effectively shattered the hopes of many young women MP aspirants seeking leadership roles in the next parliament.
Only days before the nomination deadline, NCP had announced a list of 125 MP candidates that included 14 women. However, less than 48 hours before submission, it decided to forge an electoral alliance with Jamaat.
As a result, many of its female nominees were forced out of the race for practical reasons, while some even left the party in protest, expressing deep dissatisfaction with what they saw as a disastrous alliance choice.
Since the Fakhruddin-led quasi-military regime of 2007–08, there has been repeated talk of the Election Commission requiring registered parties to ensure greater participation of women.
Proposals included a time-bound target of 30% women’s participation. Yet little of this rhetoric has translated into reality.
Today, women constitute around 80% of Bangladesh’s informal workforce, well over half of the export-oriented readymade garments sector, and significant portions of the education, business, banking, financial services, and legal professions.
Yet they are steadily losing the battle to carve out space in politics -- particularly in political leadership.
It is deeply disheartening to see so little hope for women in Bangladesh ascending to leadership roles in the foreseeable future. There is little to cheer for women in Bangladesh’s overwhelmingly male political class.
Reaz Ahmad is Editor, Dhaka Tribune