Mst. Rezwana Karim
Department of Law, Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology, Cumilla, Bangladesh.
Email: rezwanalaw@gmail.com
Abstract: Women’s representation and meaningful participation in decision-making are prerequisites for women’s empowerment, which ultimately contributes to the overall socio-economic development of any country. Upon realizing this fact, Bangladesh
Government enacted several laws to ensure women’s representation in different local government (LG) tiers. This paper intends to evaluate the legal provisions concerning women’s representation in Bangladesh’s urban local governments (ULGs) and draw the
practical scenario with associated challenges regarding their participation. Based on primary and secondary data, this study found sufficient provisions related to women’s representation in the Constitution of Bangladesh and local government laws. However,
the state of meaningful women’s participation was found unsatisfactory. Maledominated society, sharing wards with male colleagues, lack of educational qualification, negative attitudes towards reserved seats, unawareness about duties, lack of cooperation from male colleagues, and lesspriority to women than male colleagues are the key impediments to women’s participation in local government institutions (LGIs). This study emphasizes the specification of the power and functions of women representatives in ULGs and building awareness of the rights of women representatives by themselves. Moreover, this study suggests a healthy relationship between male and female colleagues to enable women representatives to hold responsible positions.
Keywords: Urban local government, women representation, meaningful participation, local government laws, reserved seats
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