Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Local Government Institutions [Union Parishad]

Women participation 2
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to the Almighty Allah that finally I have finished my assignment properly . Then
with due respect I am recognizing the efforts of Mrs. Momtaz Jahan, Associate Professor ,
Department of Public Administration ,University of Dhaka and course instructor ( Course Title :
Gender and Development ) , who advised me to conduct this assignment under the the academic
course .
I further like to give special thanks to the three women members of Gundhar Union Parishad
Mrs. Shavita Rani , Mrs. Ayesha Banu and Mrs. Sadika Johura for their time, efforts , materials
and supports in conducting this assignment .

Introduction
Women in Bangladesh live in such social system where socialization process plays an
influential role to push them in an inferior and a subordinate position in society. This
socialization process starts almost with the birth of a child. Through differential treatment in
their everyday lives which vary by sex, a sex identity is acquired. This socialization process
associates girls with the immediate environment inside home, and boys with wider environment.
And this results in future with an unfavorable attitude of women towards politics. Women’s
equal participation in political life plays a pivotal role in the general process of the advancement
of women. It is not only a demand for simple justice or democracy but can also be seen as a
necessary condition for women’s interests to be taken into account. Without the active
participation of women and the incorporation of women’s perspective at all levels of decision-
making, the goals of equality, development and peace cannot be achieved.
Political participation in Bangladesh also requires huge financial involvement. And because of
this ‘money politics’ women are discouraged to make them involve in politics. Many women
who decide to participate in elections are forced by prevailing political culture to spend huge
amount of money. Women in Bangladesh are mainly economically dependent on their male
family members.
However, women have always been an integral part of their communities and they take a very
active role in village life, community organizations, towns and cities. Local government is much
closer to this level of participation and is often a first step into a political decision making arena.
As a part of my academic activities , I am assigned to conduct a fieldwork on women
participation in Gundhar Union Parishad . In the first part of this assignment (Part-A) I
discussed the conceptual issues about union parishad including definition, evolution , functions
etc, . In Part –B , I discussed briefly about Gundhar union parishad , it’s composition and
women participation based on the opinions of women members in Gundhar union parishad and
in the final part (Part-C) the problems and recommendations were mentioned .

Part –A : Theoretical Context
1 . Definition of Local Government : As local government is a part of central
government it implements government policies efficiently and effectively at the grass root level.
Here local people can directly participate and it has accountability to the local people.
Local government is defined as a mechanism through which democratic processes and practices
can be established and participatory development ensured at the grass root level. to be more
precise, local government can be called an agency that consists of locally elected representatives
who deal with local tasks.
Local government is a government organization which , -
Works as a part of central government which provides authority to the local people.
Is a Sub-division to the National Government.
Is Elected by local people.
Is created by the law as per constitution.
Run by the levy/tax collectedfrom local people and Government Revenue Allocation.
A diagram of local government is given below :
Figure -1 : Local Government Structure
2 . Empowerment : Empowerment is a process, though the result of the process may also
be termed empowerment. But more specifically, the outcome of empowerment should manifest
itself as a redistribution of power between individuals, genders, groups, classes, castes, races,
ethnic groups or nations. Empowerment means the transformation of structures of
subordination, through radical changes in law, property rights, control over women’s labor and
bodies, and the institutions that reinforce and perpetuate male domination .
Local government
Rural local government Urban local
government(elected)
District
Upazila parishad
Union parishad
City corporation Municipalities

Empowerment of women is now a global issue. Although this term is usually used for
improving women’s condition, in real sense it may be applied to any disadvantaged group of
society for bringing them to the same level of advanced section.
Vanessa Griffin (1987:117-18) identifies, some components to illustrate what the term
empowerment indicates:
o Having control or gaining further control;
o Having a say and being listened to;
o Being able to define and create from women’s perspective;
o Being able to influence social choices and decision affecting the whole society;
o Being recognized and respectedas equal citizens in human beings with a
contribution to make.
3 . Women participation : participation means collective and continuous efforts by the
people themselves in setting goals, pooling resources together and taking actions which aims at
improving their living conditions”.
All forms of actions through which women take part in the operation of administration may be
termed as ‘Women participation’. Here, ‘taking part’ refers to any level from macro to micro
region or it may be of any type e.g. advisory or in decision-making or in implementation etc.
The strengthening of women’s participation in all spheres of life has become a major issue in
the development discourse. Socio-economic development cannot be fully achieved without the
active participation of women at the decision making level in society.
4 . Constitutional backup : The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
recognizes basic and fundamental rights of the citizens irrespective of gender, creed, cast,
religion and race. It also makes provision for promoting causes of the backward sections of the
population (Ahmed et al, 2003:14). Related articles of the constitution regarding women’s
participation may be seen in the following sentences.
Article 9 : The State shall encourage local government institutions composed of representatives
of the areas concerned and in such institutions special representation shall be given, as far as
possible, to peasants, workers and women.
Article 10 : Steps shall be taken to ensure participation of women in all spheres of national life.
Article 19 (1): The State shall endeavor to ensure equality of opportunity to all citizens.
Article 27 : All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.
Article 28 (1): The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, sex or place of birth.
(2) : Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of the State and of public
life.
(4) : Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making special provision in favor
of women or children or for the advancement of any backward section of citizens

5 . About Union Parishad :Union Parishad is the lowest tier of administrative unit in
Bangladesh. And Union Parishad is the second tier of rural local government from below. As
per the statutes at present Bangladesh contains a four-tier local government structure. But in
compliance to the constitutional provision an elected local government body exists only at the
union level. According to LG (UP) Ordinance, 1983, ‘union’ means ‘a rural area’ declared to be
a union under section 3 (Declaration of union and alteration of limits thereof) .
Generally, a union encompasses 10-15 villages and compromises about 10-12 square mile with
a population of about 15000 to 20000 people.
5.1 . Historical background : There is a long and traditional history of local government in
Bangladesh. Existence of local government may be found since very long time in this
subcontinent. During the ancient, medieval, British, Pakistan and Bangladesh periods, initiatives
were taken to enable local government to function properly.
During the ancient period, this village assembly or 'panchayet' implies an assembly of five or
more persons who were either nominated by the king or elected by the people of a village, was
left undisturbed in the overall management of the administration of the village. Kautilya's
Arthashastra mentioned the grama-vrddhas (village elders) who were the esteemed members of
the village assembly and whose duty was to assist the government officials in deciding petty
disputes in the villages.
Mughals gave considerable importance to towns. Each town included a number of wards or
Mohallas. A Mir Mahalla was appointed to act as a spokesman for each Mahalla. The Kotwal,
or Chief Executive Officer of the town, wielded wide-ranging powers including magisterial,
police, fiscal and municipal power. He was assisted in performing his duties by two officials: a
Kazi who was a judicial officer and a Mahatasib who was assigned to prevent illegal practices,
The present structure of local government in Bangladesh had its origin in British colonial
period. The first attempt at establishing local government institution was made during the latter
part of the nineteenth century. The structure, functions and financial management of local
government institutions have undergone many changes from the British colonial period to the
present day.
Bengal village Chowkidari Act was passed in 1870 with administrative, economic and political
objectives. This paved the way for setting up local government body under the law. Under this
Act several villages were organized into a Union and Chowkidari Panchayet ( Organization)
was set up in each Union . Local government institution was introduced by the colonial rulers at
village level in Bengal in 1870 to further their administrative control and on economic and
political considerations. In 1885 Union Committees were formed at the village level, Local
Boards at the Sub- Divisional level and District Boards at the District level under the Bengal
Local Self Government Act. The Bengal Village Self- Government Act of 1919 abolished
Chowkidari Panchayet and Union Committee and in their place set up Union Board and District
Board.

During Pakistan period under the Basic Democracy Order of 1959 local government bodies
were set up at four tires viz. Union Council at Union level, Thana Council at Thana level,
District Council at District level and Divisional Council at Divisional level.
Immediately after Independence in 1971, the name of the Union Council was changed to Union
Panchayat and an administrator was appointed to manage the affairs of the Panchayat. The
name of Thana Council was changed to Thana Development Committee while the District
Council was named Zila Board or District Board. Again in 1973, Union Panchayat's name
reverted to Union Parishad. A more significant change in the local government system was
brought about in 1976 through the Local Government Ordinance. This ordinance provided for a
Union Parishad for a union, a Thana Parishad for a Thana and a Zila Parishad for a district.
The Union Parishad comprised one elected Chairman and 9 elected members, two nominated
women members and two peasant representative members. The Thana Parishad consisted of
the Sub-Divisional Officer being the ex-officio Chairman, the Circle Officer and a Union
Parishad Chairman. The Zila (District) Parishad was to consist of elected members, official
members and women members whose numbers were determined by the government. Its term of
office was five years. However, no elections were held and government officials ran the
Parishad.
In 1980, as a result of an amendment of the Local Government Ordinance, the Swanirvar Gram
Sarker (self-reliant village government) was introduced at the village level, but was abolished
by a Martial Law Order in July 1982. A major change was initiated in the local government
system through the introduction of the Local Government (Upazila Parishad and Upazila
Administration Reorganization) Ordinance in 1982. This Ordinance was followed by the Local
Government (Union Parishad) Ordinance in 1983, the Local Government (Zila Parishad) Act
in 1988 and the three Hill Districts Acts and Palli Act in 1989. The Upazila Parishad
Ordinance (1982) was particularly significant as this was supposed to help implementation of
the decentralization programme of the government. In the Upazila System (as it came to be
known), the (directly) elected Chairman would have the principal authority in running the
affairs of the Upazila, his tenure being five years. The Upazila Nirbahi Officer would be
subservient to the Chairman. After nine years of reasonably effective implementation, the
Government of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who came to power through a fair election,
abolished the Upazila system in 1991. During its five-year tenure, the government could not
provide an alternative democratic form of local government. When after another free and fair
election in 1996 the Bangladesh Awami League came to power, they constituted a Local
Government Commission and came up with a Report on Local Government Institutions
Strengthening in May 1997. The Commission has recommended a four-tier local government
structure including Gram/Palli (Village) Parishad, Union Parishad, Thana/Upazila Parishad
and Zila (District) Parishad.
All these tiers are concerned with rural/regional administration, while urban local governments
remain outside the Commission's purview. The two major tiers of urban local government's,
Pourashava (for smaller Municipalities) and City Corporation (for four of the largest cities) are
in order.

5.2 . Structure and composition : According to the latest amendments of the Local
Government (Union Parishads) Ordinance, 1983 a union is divided into nine wards. Each UP
consists of a Chairman and nine members in the general seats—one for each ward. In addition,
three seats have been exclusively reserved for women members, who are elected by the voters
of the concerned three wards. The voters of the entire union directly elect the UP Chairman, and
the voters of the concerned ward on the basis of adult franchise elect the nine members in the
general seats. The chairman is considered a member of the Parishad and both Chairman and
members are paid an honorarium by the government.
Figure -2 : Union Parishad Structure
Chairman
Secretary (1)
Elected
Members (9)
Elected Women
Member (3)
Principal Officer (1) Tax Collector (1
from each ward )
Choukidars (5 to 9)
Dafadars (1 to 2)

Standing Committees :The names of the committees are as follows:
� Finance and establishment;
� Education;
� Health, family planning, epidemic control and sanitation;
� Audit and account;
� Agriculture and other development works;
� Social welfare and community centers;
� Cottage industries and co-operatives;
� Women and child welfare;
� Fisheries and livestock;
� Tree plantation;
� Works programs of the Union Parishad and
� Mass Literacy (Mass Education).
The Union Parishad may constitute additional standing committees and members can elect their
chairman, with the previous approval of the deputy commissioner.
5.3 . Functions and responsibilities : The Union Parishad functions are as follows:
 Conducting socio-economic surveys of households, every five years to be used for
development plan preparation;
 Maintain vital statistics like registration of births-deaths, marriage etc.;
 Make plans for natural resource management and development;
 Supervise management of primary educational institutes; motivate parents to send their
children to school and create better awareness for adult and female literacy;
 Create awareness for better primary health care;
 Maintain law and order and control terrorism, violence against women etc.;
 Ensure participation in local and central government development planning;
 Encourage co-operatives and NGOs;
 Initiate participatory development of local roads, bridges, culverts etc.;
 Support various development activities related to agriculture;
 Encourage and initiate tree plantation programmes;
 Assist various organizations in their development efforts.
In addition, Union Parishads have been assigned with the adoption and implementation of
poverty alleviation programmes directly by themselves and through NGOs and co-operatives.
5.4 . Election system : All elections of chairmen and members if the union parishad are
organizes, held and conducted by the election commission every five years. The election
commission declares the date of submission of the nomination paper, the date of election and
appoints the returning officer. The candidates submit their nomination paper along with a
prescribed deposit to the returning officer of the election commission.
The election commission fixes the date, time and place for the poll and other matters relates to
the conducting of elections and the manner in which votes are to be given. The results of the
elections are informally declared as early as possible on the same day and are publishes in the
official gazette by the election commission.

5.5 . Women participation in Union Parishads : In the election of 1997, 102 women
contested directly for the post of chairperson and 23 of them elected. In general seats for
members 456 women also contested against male, of them 110 were elected. Moreover, 44134
women contested for reserved seats, of them 592 were elected unopposed and some 13,437
women were elected for reserved seats. Later on another three women also elected as
chairperson through bye-election. In that election women voters participated in an
overwhelming number, 80 percent women voters cast their valuable votes (Islam, 2000:113).
Union Parishad Election 2003 was 7th and the largest local government election in this
country’s history. The election was held consecutively in 4234 unions out of 4492 unions. In
this election 232 women candidates contested for the post of chairperson and 617 women
contested for the general seats. 22 women were elected as chairperson and 85 won in the
general seats. For 12,684 reserved seats for women, a number of 39,419 women candidates
contested. Total number of female voters was 3,01,71,698 .
Source: Election Commission
5.6 . Role and Responsibilities of Women Members : Women members preside over
those functions as men. In addition, they are expected to take care of women’s issues in their
respective area. Women members normally perform the following tasks:
� Look after the violation of women and children’s rights.
� Participate in the monthly meeting of the Union Parishad and raise issues related to the
women and children and recommend for action.
� Take various development initiatives for women and children in her area.
� Encourage village women for cottage industries, health care, sanitation, family planning
and other related developmental issues.

In Union Parishad, representation of women members has been made in different standing
committees. Now the number of standing committees in UP has been raised from 7 to 12 so that
all three women members can be the chairman of at least one standing committee.
The women members get one-third of the total Annual Development Programme (ADP) project
in a financial year. Women members are playing role as chairman in some committees i.e.
Committee on Selection of Women for Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme,
Committee for Distribution of Old Age Allowances, Primary Education Committee, Committee
for Selection of Women in Rural Maintenance Programme (RMP), and Social Development
Committee.
Apart from this, women members will be made chairman of one third of the Project Committees
for undertaking various development projects by the Ministry of Relief and Disaster
Management. In five standing committees such as
i) Women and Children Welfare;
ii) Fisheries and Livestock;
iii) Tree Plantation;
iv) Union Works Activities; and
v) Mass education, at least one woman member will have to be included.
Again at least one woman member is ensured in the committees like
i) Food for Works Program;
ii) VGF Program;
iii) Test Relief Program;
iv) Old Age Allowance Program;
v) Committee for selectionof place for setting up tube well at the Union Level;
vi) Union Family Welfare Center Management Committee;
vii) Union Population Control Committee;
viii) Union Disaster Management Committee;
ix) Union Committee for Checking of Oppression on Women;
x) Union Tender Committee;
xi) Union Hut-Bazar Management;
xii) Upazila Development and Coordination Committee. A woman member is
nominated by the Upazila Nirbahi Officer as member of that committee.

Part-B : Women Participation in Gundhar Union Parishad
1 . About Gundhar Union Parishad : Gundhr Union Parishad lies on the Haur basin of
Karimganj upazila in Kishoregonj district. It is 8 number union parishad of Karimganj upazila .
Bor Hur’s fertile land enriched her agricultural resources .
Area : It is covering a total area of 10.32 sq kilometers
Villages : There are 18 villages in this union parishad are
Population : approximately 40 thousand .Majority of them are Muslims and rest are Hindu.
Institutions : There have 2 high schools , 2 madrashas ( One for male and other for female
students ) , 5 primary schools among which 2 private kindergarten schools .
Religious institutions : There are about 10 mosques and 2 temples.
Communication : Both land road and water are the sources of communication here .
Agriculture : This union harvest surplus than it’s demand . Rice , jute and vegetables are
mainly grown here .
Composition : Like other union parishads in Bangladesh this union parishad is composed of 9
ward members , 3 women members headed by a chairman .
2 . Women members of Gundhar Union Parishad : In the latest Union Parishad
election , no womem participated either for the post of Chairman or for the post of ward members
. 11 women participated for 3 reserved seats for women . Elected 3 members are :
-Mrs. Shavita Rani
-Mrs. Ayesha Banu and
-Mrs. Sadika Johura
2.1 . Socio-economic Background : Socio-economic and political background of the
women leaders of Union Parishad is an important factor, which helps them performing their
leadership role. Many women who decide to participate in elections are forced by prevailing
political culture to spend huge amount of money. Women in that area are mainly economically
dependent on their male family members.
2.2 . Academic qualification : None of the three women members had completed
graduation either. One of the women member entered for bachelor degree but couldn’t complete
for family maintenance chores. Another women member completed higher secondary level and
the rest one didn’t entered college yet.

2.3 . Political attachment : None of them had direct political involvement in the past .
Though Shavita Rani argued that she was involved in student politics when she was a college
student .
2.4 . Participation : The avenues of people’s participation at union level are:
 Political participation : Through legal and constitutional back up , women can
participate in election for all posts though there is no history in Gundhar union of having
a female chair , women only participated here for preserved seats . Besides , women can
determine their representatives (i.e. the chairman, members and women members)
through voting practice in the elections.
Participation of women in the local bodies include:
 Women as voters
 Women as members of political parties
 Women as candidates
 Women as elected members of local government bodies taking part in
decision-making, planning, implementation and evaluation
 Women as members of women’s organizations, their association with
voluntary organizations
 Sub-committees and standing committees : There have about 10 standing committees
and literally women members are the head of many of the committees but hardly their
opinions treated as important one. But in this union parishad , women participation is
ensured during meetings of different sub-committees formed by the union parishad for
various purposes.
 Project committee : Sometimes women members have access to special project
committees specially those for facing emergency calamities .
 Budgeting : Women member are the silent spectator of budget preparation process of
Gundhar union parishad . They are asked for their demand for women development but
the budget was calculated by union secretary .
 Village court : There have limited access of women members at union level judiciary
process . In very rare cases , women members are selected as a member of village court .
3 . Problems : In our society, the involvement of women in public activities is an
emerging issue and they have to face many internal as well as external problems both from their
families vis-a-vis from the outsides. The details of the problems as recorded from the interviews
of the women respondents are depicted as under:
 Legal provision : After being elected in 1997 for the first time women members faced
legal problems, which ranked first in the hierarchy of the total problem. Job description,

duties and responsibilities of women members were not very clear in the legal
framework. They were utterly frustrated to get any remedy for their constant complains
and grievances from any corner. Besides , there is inequality in the mode of
representation between male and female members. Male members are being elected from
one ward but women members are being elected from three words. But both are getting
same amount of allowance, which is not justified from the viewpoint of rationality.
 Sex Discrimination : Women members in Union Parishad suffer much from massive sex
discrimination which is found in the behaviour, attitudes and treatment of the UP
functionaries i.e. Chairmen, male members, secretaries and government officials.
Chairmen and male members do not want to involve the women members in
implementation of projects, judicial activities, distribution of VGD cards and VGF
programmes, old age pensions schemes, formation of various committees. Chairmen and
male members always try to avoid women members. The Chairman and male members
do not want to involve women members in any project arguing that these are difficult
tasks and they will have to face a lot of problems during project implementation.
 Knowledge and experience : Women members suffer from lack of sufficient knowledge
of rules, regulations, circular and legal provisions of local government. Even they are not
aware of their own legal rights in Union Parishad. Owing to their lesser involvement in
the overall activities of the Union Parishad women members are deprived of acquiring
required skill and experience as compared to their male counterpart.
 Urban biasness : There are other limitations behind the underdevelopment of women
leadership at the grassroots. Most of the efforts or movements for women development in
the sphere of political, economic, social undertakings are basically urban biased and
encircled in the urban areas. Urban-based women activists are not much aware about the
problems of the women members of the Union Parishad. Such elitist and urban-based
movement for the cause of women development har failed to contribute much for
development has of women leadership at the grassroots.
 Unity among women members : There is lack of unity among the women members in
UP. They could enjoy their rights better if women members were united for their
common cause. They could prevent many unusual activities of the Chairmen and Male
members if women members could fight against them unitedly.
 Enough official arrangement : In some Union Parishads, a complete Union Parshad
Complex has been built. But in most of the Union Parishads, the female members do not
have any separate sitting arrangements to work in the office. They do not have any place
to say their prayer in the UP. There should be sufficient physical facilities so that women
members do not have to face any problem in the Parishad.
 Socio- cultural Problem : women have to face some basic socio-cultural problems,
which emerge from lack of education, consciousness and cultural backwardness. These
are causing problem for natural growth of women leadership at the grassroots level.
Patriarchy and male domination are rampant in rural society. The women members
disclosed that the Chairman and Male members tried to exert domination on women in
every affair of the UP. Actually in a patriarchal society it is not so easy to accept women
leadership by the male partners. They are but to accept male domination. As a matter of
fact, in such a situation, effective women leadership is not possible. The total control is
still in the hands of male leadership. In the macro-level where patriarchy prevails in the
society, natural, real and automatic women leadership cannot grow easily.
 Proxy problem : There is problem of proxy leadership in the sphere of Union Parishad
too. Due to lack of education and experience, the women members play a titular role in
Union Parishad. It is observed that sometimes women members send their husband or

father or father-in-law to meet the need of the Union Parishad. Due to lack of enough
knowledge, skill and experience, women are to play a proxy role in Union Parishad,
which are harmful for the development of women leadership.
 Lack of cooperation from the administration : In case any confusion or dispute arises
with any legal implications, women members try to get remedy from the Upazila
administration with a view to getting remedy for that. But it is noticed that they do not
get enough cooperation and support from the local administration.
 Avoidance of women members : Generally Chairmen and male members do not want
to involve women members in any activity of the Parishad. It is observed that meeting of
the Parishad is convened all on a sudden so that they can avoid women members.
Sometimes meeting is called in a time, which is not convenient for women members to
participate in it. Despite women members’ keen interest to take part in every activity and
meeting, Chairmen and Male members thus bypass the women members, which is
unethical and undesirable for democratic governance.
Concluding remarks
Though women are the half of total population , they are neglected in every sphere of life .
Despite of constitutional recognition , women are deprived from their basic rights, right to
prarticipate in politics , in administration and other societal prestigious and power dominating
posts . In this section, an effort has been made to suggest some measures to overcome the
problems faced by the women members of the Uninon Parishad.
 Stop discrimination: The Constitution of Bangladesh grants women equal rights that the
state shall not discriminate against citizen on grounds only of religion, race, sex etc. and
some special laws exist to protect women from discrimination and violence but
jurisdictional infringement of such legal provisions are rampant in our society. To
overcome the problems of women leaders in Union Parishad, all types of sex
discrimination should be eliminated. In order to ensure women’s rights in the Union
Parishad affirmative actions and strategies should be taken from the government so that
there should be no legal barrier between male and female members in any activities of
Union Parishad.
 Training for awareness building: After entering into the public life and being elected
as women members in the Union Parishad, they should be well groomed and equipped
about their jurisdictional rights and privileges in Union Parishad along with all relevant
Rules, Regulations, Office Order, Gazette Notifications, Circulars, Ordinances and other
legal provisions of Union Parishad. The training programme should be designed in a way
so that women could clearly understand their rights, duties and responsibilities. Well
planned capacity building and development programme through regular and frequent
training program could help immensely to strengthen the roles and position of women
members in Union Parishad. Proper training and exposure can also help women members
to be empowered to work with various women’s issues and represent women’s needs and
concerns in the most effective way.
 Reform in socio-cultural system: It is emphasized that greater participation of women
in politics is a pre–requisite for establishing women’s rights and development in the
society. But participation of women in politics has remained by and large confined to a
small group of women who come from well-to-do urban and educated background. In

fact most of the problems faced by women for getting involved in politics are embedded
in the socio-economic, religious and cultural system, which have given women a
subordinate status in the family, the society and State. Reform in the socio-cultural
system could help women to be active in politics, for which education and employment
opportunities should be broadened to a great extent.
 Reservation of seats: Nomination of women for the reserved seats cannot ensure
empowerment of women. In the elementary stage out of twelve male members the
provision of nomination of three women member could help recognize their rights in the
local government but it could not give them their equal rights. Gradually provision of
reservation of one-third position in the general seats through direct election of women
members was introduced to facilitate women’s effective participation at local levels. Still
women members cannot ensure their due rights and share in the Union Parishad. To
strengthen their role, it needs to enlarge the participation of women in the leadership
position such as the Chairman. Therefore, efforts should be made to reserve one-third
seats for women in the Chairmenship position too.
 Consensus of all political parties on reservation of seats: All political parties must
introduce affirmative action measures to enhance participation of women in politics and
thus empower them. In addition to the reserved seats for women in the parliament, all
political parties should give nomination of a certain percentage preferably at least 10%-
15% seats to women candidates to run for the general seats in the parliament through
direct adult franchise. In course of time, provision of direct election should be introduced
for the reserved seats for women in the Parliaments.
 Role of women’s organization: Women activists and women organizations should come
forward to help the cause of women members at the grassroots level local government
system. Urban based women activists and organizations should be aware of the problems
of women members at the local level. On the basis of proper diagnosis of these problems,
sustained efforts should be made to overcome these problems and lobby or create
pressure on government for required policy changes. Local level women leaders should
be integrated with the national network of women movement or development, which will
facilitate local level women leaders to play their effective role in the Union Parishad.
 Curtail proxy role:In the beginning some women members may play a proxy role but
with understanding of their rights, roles and duties, achieving knowledge skill and
experience of the same, women can play an effective role and do no more remain proxy
leader. To get rid of the proxy problems, it is essential to change patriarchal social values
and encourage women toward leadership roles and activities. In order to overcome this, it
needs to build suitable as well as favorable values and cultural norms in the society,
through spread of education via an effective role of media.
 Administrative Cooperation: To strengthen the role of women in the Union Parishad,
the Administration should extend their all out support and cooperation to them. The
office bearers of the Union Parishad shoul also come forward to work hand in hand with
women members for the development of the locality .
- - 0 - -

Bibliography
1. Muhith, A.M.A. (2000) ‘Issues of Governance in Bangladesh’ Mowla Brothers
2. Abdullah , Dr. Mohammad Mohiuddin , Rural development in Bangladesh – Problems and
prospects , Dhaka
3. Siddique , Kamal , Local government in Bangladesh-Revised third edition , The University
Press Limited, Dhaka
4. Ahmed, S.G. (1997) ‘Local Government System in Bangladesh: Empowerment,
Participation and Development, Round Table on Local Government Reform’ TSC,
Parliamentary System Council, Dhaka University
5. Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Published by the Ministry of Law, Justice
and Parliamentary Affairs
6. Rahman , M. Mizanur , & Siddika , Aisha , Women’s Participation in Local Level
Government (Union Parishad)
7. Chowdhury, A. I., Nazrul Islam and M.M. Khan Resource Mobilization and Urban
Governance in Bangladesh, Dhaka: Centre for Urban Studies, 1997
8. Jahan, Momtaz (1997). “The Changing Structure of Local Government in Bangladesh: An
Overview” in Administration, Communication and Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, January- June, Dhaka:
Shiskha O Shanskriti Charcha Kendra.pp.91-105.
9. Khan, M. M. R. (2006) ‘Women, Participation and Empowerment in Local Government:
Bangladesh Union Parishad Perspective’ CDRB Publication
10. Banglapedia (2006) ‘Banglapedia - the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh’,Published by the
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
11. Qadir S. Rowshan (1993), “Participation of Women in Politics and Administration” -- The
Journal of National Institute of Local Government, Vol.22, No.2, July-December 1993, Dhaka,
12. Ali, Shaikh Maqsood et al., (1983) Decentralization and People’s Participation in
Bangladesh, National Institute of Public Administration, Dhaka, Bangladesh
13. Alam, Bilquis (1981), Women Members of Union Parishad, AFew Statistics, NILG, Dhaka.
14. Rahman , Mizanur & Roy , Mihir Kumar , Participation of Women in Rural Local
Government - ASocio-Economic Analysis
15. Quadir, Sayeda Rowshan and Islam, Mahamuda. 1987. Women Representative at the Union
Level As Change Agent of Development, (Dhaka:Women for Women).
16. Quddus, Md. Abdul et. al. 2001. “Participation of Women in Local Government Institution”,
BARD: Comilla.
17. Griffin, Vanessa (ed.) (1987), Women, Development and Empowermrnt: A Pacific Feminist
Perspective, Kualalampur, Asia and Pacific Development
18. Official website of the Local Government Division, Ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives,
http://www.lgd.gov.bd/htmal/about.htmal

Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Local Government Institutions [Union Parishad]

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Local Government Institutions [Union Parishad]

Similar to Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Local Government Institutions [Union Parishad] (20)

More from Ahasan Uddin Bhuiyan

More from Ahasan Uddin Bhuiyan (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Women’s Empowerment and Participation in Local Government Institutions [Union Parishad]