Women in Politics

It's disappointing that despite having two women at the country's helm for decades, the presence of women in our wider political landscape is barely noticeable. A recent report by the Election Commission shows that the political parties are nowhere near fulfilling their obligation to ensure that women hold at least one-third posts in all tiers by 2020.

Of the major political parties, the ruling party Awami League performed better than did its nationalist counterpart. The worst performance was that of the religion-based parties. They seem to be in consensus that the law should be relaxed. Not surprisingly, some of them are also promising us only one percent women in their committees. Left-leaning political parties are also indifferent in this regard. Of all the major parties, only BNP sounds most optimistic about reaching the target, despite the fact that it is lagging behind with no women in its standing committee except for its chairperson.

While all parties noted that women themselves don't want to join politics citing the prevalent conservative mindset in society, they should not forget that it's for them to create a healthy political environment where all people irrespective of their gender, religion, colour and race would feel welcome. Most importantly, women should not be tokens in our politics, and they shouldn't be included in the party for the sake of meeting the obligation; it should be done as part of society's efforts to achieve gender parity in the country. Instead of picking women to fulfil quotas, letting them develop spontaneously from the grassroots to the top levels will help our democracy become better represented.