Problems of women's political participation in Bangladesh : an empirical study

Abstract

This thesis finds that women's participation in politics is extremely limited in Bangladesh despite the unique experience of having a woman prime minister and a woman opposition leader. How did Bangladesh get these two women political leaders? Despite having these two leaders, why is women's political participation extremely low? What are the problems of women politicians of Bangladesh? My thesis identifies the problems that women themselves face when participating as active politicians. In order to identify the problems I interviewed twenty-three women members of the 7 th parliament in Bangladesh. I find that Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia--two women leaders emerged in Bangladesh politics due to the low level of political institutionalization and patriarchy. Paradoxically, these are the main reasons, which keep women in general down.

My study suggests that women of Bangladesh must fight against patriarchy so that women are considered as human beings. At the same time women must also fight for political institutionalization, which will prevent violence and corrupt practices. Then rational debate about the vital issues of the people, not money or muscle power will be the dominant factor of electoral politics in Bangladesh. If reason becomes a dominant factor, then women can participate equally in the decision-making process of Bangladesh.