FEMALE REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT: A CASE STUDY FROM BANGLADESH

Nomita Halder

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Gender Politics and Representation Gender Diversity and Inequality Gender, Education, and Development Issues

Abstract

The under-representation of women in almost every policymaking aspect of life is a global issue. Nowhere in the world are women represented in government in proportion to their population. Today, women’s participation is deemed necessary in modern democracy because adequate representation is regarded as essential for proper government. One element of representative democracy is that all citizens, regardless of gender, have equal opportunities to participate in politics. Also, increased representation of women in elective positions of power is a matter of justice and equity. However, women’s representation in many legislatures, the most powerful institutions of democratic nations, is often limited. Critics have seen women’s absence from national legislatures as an indication of the absence of full democracy because, lacking women, they cannot easily enact laws that are crucially needed for women and children (Lijphart, 1991; Burrell, 1997; Lovenduski, 1997). The rate of women’s advance into decision-making positions has been very slow. The UN has estimated that, based on the current rate of change, women would have to wait until the year 2490 to reach equal representation with men in the higher echelons of power (Seager, 1997: 70). For instance, from 1945 to 2002 women’s legislative representation increased from 3 percent to only 14.7 percent (IPU, 2003). Even now none of the democracies around the globe have been able to reach the numerically equal stage in terms of women’s parliamentary representation. Critics argue this is a consequence of a number of factors, including women’s responsibilities for family and children, the negative attitudes and discrimination of political parties, conservative religious and cultural doctrines, discriminatory socio-economic conditions, electoral systems, the nature of a regime and financial barriers (Rule, 1994a, 1994b; Liswood, 1999; Harris, 2001).

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References

2001Human Development Report 1972Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition.1949The Second Sex 1995Political recruitment: gender, race and class in the British parliament 2000Patterns of Democracy: Government Forms and Performance in Thirty-Six Countries 2003Gender and party politics 1996The Contagion of Women Candidates in Single-Member District and Proportional Representation Electoral Systems: Canada and Norway 1999Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World: Knocking at the Highest Glass Ceiling

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