Abstract
Union Parishad (UP) is the lowest tier of the Local Government of Bangladesh which bridges between people and government to ensure people’s participation in governance system. Therefore, from the last two decades government has been emphasizing on enhancing political emancipation of women in local government. To promote female leadership in grass-root level, Ministry of Local Government established a provision in the Local Government Act of reserving 3 (three) seats for women in UPs. This reformation enabled the female leaders to be elected in the UPs by a direct vote of the people. This research intends to explore the roles played by these elected female members of the studied UPs. It was conducted following a qualitative method and interview technique. Face to face interview has been taken from 45 female members of 15 UPs in Dhamrai Upazila, Dhaka with semi structured questionnaire. The study found that most of the respondents are contributing to development related project, social safety net program, controlling early marriage and dowry, family planning and female health-related program, awareness building of hygiene and sanitation, adult literacy etc. At the same time, it is found that significant numbers of the elected female members are not conscious about their responsibilities and even though they do not have any idea about UP manual. Finally, it revealed the obstacles in their workplaces, the challenges in their families, local societies, and recommended probable measures to overcome such situations. Besides, securing female leadership and active representations in the UPs can include the backward women in the mainstream of development and decision-making process which will undoubtedly contribute enormously to women empowerment.
Highlights
Women represent half of the country’s population and half of its potentiality
Union Parishad (UP) is the frontline local government institution close to rural people regarded as a great development hub of service circulation
More than the hundred year’s history of local government, it has been functioning for the rural development of the country
Summary
Women represent half of the country’s population and half of its potentiality. It is recognized that development such as economic growth, poverty alleviation, employment generation, political stability, and good governance cannot be achieved without the contribution and equal participation of women. Being the oldest self-autonomous body of rural governance, UPs are considered the oldest democratic institution in Bangladesh It is comprised of the elected representatives of the local people which conducts rural administration and socio-economic development . The Ministry of Local Government introduced the Local Government Ordinance (LGO) in 1976, where the nomination of two female representatives was integrating with the concerned UP These new forms of decentralized structure in the local governance system may include women members for the first time but hardly they could play their role effectively. Rather than that the union Parishad consisted of nine elected members and headed by one chairman In this regard, to made women, participation more rational at the root level the ordinance of both 1993 and 1997 added the provision of direct election for women members reserved seats in UP.
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