Despite having female leaders in the country’s top political positions, female participants in the upcoming city corporation polls are surprisingly small in number.
Only 22 female candidates are contesting for the post of councillors in 134 general wards of Dhaka North, Dhaka South and Chittagong city corporations, against hundreds of male candidates, in the polls scheduled for April 28.
Several experts and activists have expressed concern over this shocking imbalance in the ratio of male and female candidates.
“Reserved seats notwithstanding, the number of female candidates in the general wards should have been higher,” said Rokeya Kabir, executive director of Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha. “But unfortunately, we have yet to accept women as active participants in state politics.”
There are a number of factors that restrict women’s participation, Rokeya believes.
“Social restrictions and religion have significant roles in confining women behind close doors. People seek evidence of character from the female politicians. Another major factor is financial solvency: the male candidates are generally much more powerful in terms of finance. These issues cannot be resolved over night,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.
But equal participation of women in state politicals is a must, she said.
“The issues of safe travelling on public transports, safe movement around the city without fearing sexual harassment, etc will be addressed with more priority if we have more female representatives in the public offices.”
Rokeya’s sentiments echoed in what Minura Khan, president of Fair Election Monitoring Alliance, had to say about women in politics.
“Internal politics is at play here. Even in megacities like Dhaka and Chittagong, in a small ward, everyone knows everyone else. Then why are women still far behind men in this elections? There are a few reasons. After 13 years, the city corporation polls are taking place in a non-partisan manner. Had it been party-based, the number of female participants would be much higher,” she told the Dhaka Tribune.
“There still is an insecurity about participating in a political election without the support of a political party. Then there is the matter of being financially solvent. Women are still far from gaining economic independence.”
Sharmeen Murshid, chief executive officer of Brotee, a non-government civil society organisation, found a silver lining in this situation, however.
“This scenario is not unusual. We see very small number of women participating in upazila-level elections too. I am not concerned about the number. What I want to know is about who these women are. If they have political backgrounds, are standing independently and hope to win, I would say it is a step towards progress. These women are setting an example to encourage other women to participate in elections. In the local government elections, less money is invested, yet women are still far behind men. It is my observation that women participating in politics independently is a mark of progress.”
