FEMALE CANDIDATES AND THE BANGLADESH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

Patriarchal Structure in Bangladesh

The structure of the society in Bangladesh is highly patriarchal and hierarchical which positions women in a subordinate status compared to men. This obviously creates obstacles to the entry of women in public and political functions. “Discrimination against women emerged as one of the most visible and articulated social issues in Bangladesh which generates women's subordination. Male domination and women's subordination are the basic tenets of Bangladeshi social structure” (Sultana 2011, 11). It should be noted right at the outset that discrimination against women is a human rights violation and a violation of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh—a point we return to toward the end of this article.

Writing in 1997, Lim (cited in Sultana 2011, 10) argued that patriarchy is not a mere social attribute, it is a process through which male domination and female subordination take place in the socioeconomic and political arena. The patriarchal nature of politics keeps women away from politics as “men are considered bearers of the culturally legitimated authority” (Rosaldo 1974, 21)—a view that continues in Bangladesh today. Information gathered from the interviews conducted for this study revealed that patriarchy in Bangladeshi politics is considered the biggest obstacle for women attempting to build a career in politics. In most cases, women's political careers emerged from mainstream political engagement. This is especially true for the prospective young women who started their political careers as students with the ambition to become career political leaders. This state of affairs also jeopardizes the ultimate result of introducing quotas or reserved seats for women. As one potential female candidate from the capital city of Bangladesh related when her party did not consider her nomination: “the biggest hurdle for women is that ‘she is a woman.’ The prime minister wants to bring women to power, but everyone around her is male. Politics in Bangladesh has not come out of the grip of this masculinity” (Khan 2018).

A clear reflection of the patriarchal model and gender-role ideology is seen in politics regarding the distribution of roles among the limited number of women who have managed to become a part of the political elites (Khelghat-Doost and Sibly 2020, 402). “political life is organized according to male norms and values and in some cases even male lifestyles” (Shvedova 2005, 35). During the interview, an honest confession of the male MPs’ views regarding the active involvement of women in politics in general, and the political careers of women in particular emerged. All of their views go against women's engagement in politics. They also confidently expressed that, except for very few exceptions, women MPs cannot perform by themselves and very often engage their friends and relatives in the dispensation of their functions as elected representatives (Prodip 2021). Women are still rarely considered as full political actors and are rather seen as pawns to be used in the political maneuvers of men—a position that Collier (1974, 89) drew attention to long ago.

Furthermore, in a deep-rooted patriarchal state like Bangladesh, “women are not only limited by society in terms of the opportunities they seek but also choose to limit themselves” (Inglehart and Norris 2003, 9). In a society with entrenched patriarchy, women impose self-restrictions on their political involvement which leads them to become reluctant regarding active political roles. Shvedova (2005, 44) rightly states that “traditional cultural values militate against the advancement, progress, and participation of women in any political process.”

Dynastic Politics

Dynastic politics is a notable norm of political culture in Asia, most particularly in South Asia. Almost all the female heads of state or heads of government in this region ultimately came from a family that has been in politics for generations. Examples include Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Thailand. The trend is so pervasive that these leaders often occupy several key positions at a time which makes them powerful actors. Bangladesh is no exception as the head of the government occupies the position of leader of the legislative house and head of the political party. The situations at the national and local levels reveal a similar trend. Choi (2019, 226) identifies that the issue of women in politics involves elite bias and the impact of such biases contributes to the fact that female political elites in Asia are byproducts of the dynastic political entity. The case of Bangladesh supports his perspective. A large portion of male and female MPs in Bangladesh have an established political family tree—and this pedigree has become a significant element ingrained in political party nomination irrespective of gender identity. A substantial number of interview participants expressed their despondency at lagging behind in the nomination race against a rival candidate who has a very strong political family, despite their claims to be better candidates for the nomination. The situation has a discouraging and demoralizing effect on prospective female political activists. As Richter (1990–1991, 528) observes, in South and Southeast Asia, “the most important political posts open to women have been so because of familial ties to prominent male politicians.”

Careful observation demonstrates that female leaders in elective offices in South Asia are the byproduct of dynastic political culture—they are rarely “ordinary” citizens. This confirms that family heredity most often outweighs gender equality when it comes to securing high political office. Women in important political positions are customarily viewed (and judged) according to their family connection to eminent male politicians; this happens in situations where a male replacement is not available in the event of the demise of a father or husband who previously occupied the position (The European Foundation for South Asian Studies 2020, 4–5). Male members of eminent political families are starkly discernible in higher political positions. Given this context, the elimination of male political dynasties is impossible if not very difficult in South Asia and the situation in Bangladesh is no exception. The interviews conducted for this study showed that, except a very few, almost all the women MPs came from a strong political family. Indeed, many have jumped into political positions from the status of housewives, having never held any political position previously.

Finance

Financial ability plays a significant role in the recruitment of women to legislatures in both established and new democracies. As elsewhere, money determines the social status of an individual in Bangladeshi society and so the social and economic status of women has a direct influence on their participation in political organizations and elected bodies. Yet, while money is needed for political activities, secret, unbridled, and unanticipated campaign funding clearly has the potential to skew the democratic process and post-election governance. Campaign expenditures are on the rise globally and such a trend contributes to various kinds of political corruption that makes fundraising a difficult task (Bryan and Baer 2005, 7). Campaign fundraising is also more challenging for women in Bangladesh as they generally possess fewer financial assets and social and professional networks than men and mostly stay out of regular political activities (Shvedova 2005, 41).

In addition to this socio-economic context, the funding patterns and sources for political parties in Bangladesh remain highly ambiguous today. They often rely on individual, local, and foreign donations from supporters, admirers, and business/industrial financiers in return for an underhand mutually benefitting pact, which has resulted in the emergence of a new trend in Bangladesh since the mid-1980s: money politics. The major political parties regularly collect money by selling nominations to wealthy candidates in exchange for a hefty sum (Chowdhury 2013). As a result, one might argue that candidate selection has become a money-making process in Bangladesh's politics, enabling wealthy businesspeople to take center stage in politics and depriving active seasoned politicians in the process. Money has also provided opportunities for the rich to obtain key positions on party committees, especially within parliament. Relatedly, funds are spent in a variety of ways to buy votes and sway the minds of voters—some candidates even offer bribes to independent candidates (who tend to be serious competitors) to convince them to withdraw their candidature before elections (Ahmed 2019; Chowdhury 2013).

In the 1st parliamentary election of 1973 in independent Bangladesh, 13 percent of the total MPs were businessmen and industrialists. This figure reached 34 percent in the 2nd parliamentary election of 1979 under the martial law government led by General Ziaur Rahman and continued throughout the 2nd martial law government led by General Ershad, as the military authorities attempted to legitimize their illegitimate power by enticing businessmen and other influential people to their folds. Political domination by businessmen persisted even after democracy was restored in 1990. In the 7th parliament of 1990, 48 percent of MPs were businessmen and industrialists; this figure rose to 52.1 percent in the 8th parliament. In the 9th parliament, 63 percent of MPs were businessmen and about 69 percent in the 10th parliament (Ahmed 2019; Chowdhury 2013).

In the current parliament of Bangladesh, the share of businessmen and industrialists is 61 percent (182 of 300 MPs); only a few female MPs are business personalities (Bangladesh Election Commission 2021). Winning an election nomination requires considerable financing in Bangladesh, rendering women in a disadvantageous position as compared to men and underscoring that they tend to be given the lowest priority when it comes to gaining political nominations. The few visible women in Bangladesh's present political mainstream are from a higher socioeconomic stratum (Parvin 2016, 819). In short, politics in Bangladesh is currently dominated by money and muscles where women have little or no access.

All the participants who gave interviews for this study admitted that there is a minimum set price for obtaining a party nomination that most women cannot afford—indicating a likely positive correlation between financial ability and the chance of winning a nomination. One interviewee revealed that a female BNP participant who vied against a powerful BAL male candidate in the general constituency obtained the resources for election-related expenditures by borrowing from her brother living abroad. She failed to win the seat. Three female participants who were successfully elected to the general constituencies received the requisite funding from their renowned industrialist-cum-politician husbands. Another female BAL participant revealed that she received the required funding in the form of donations from big business on the order of the party leadership. Naturally, not all prospective women candidates have the same opportunities.

Violence

Political violence and unrest are on the rise in many parts of the globe. Violent clashes and murders of opponents between the major political parties are common which creates a sense of insecurity. Violence clearly impacts the participation of both men and women. However, it has a severe impact on the attainment of women's economic, social, civil, and political rights and discourages them from participating in politics more than men. Violence has long been a part of Bangladesh's political arena and is widely regarded as a major political and governance issue. While disagreements between parties are typical in democracies globally, they frequently elevate to the use of extreme forms of violence in Bangladesh, resulting in murder, injury, and loss of resources (Thomas 2002, 3–5; True et al. 2012, 2). In 2019, Bangladesh ranked 28th in the world for political violence risk (with five points on a scale of seven points, where 1 = low, 7 = high) according to country rankings (TheGlobalEconomy.com 2021). The country's current situation of highly confrontational politics, rampant corruption, enmity, and increasingly ferocious political attacks combined with a new breed of politicians backed by money and armed support, has developed a vicious cycle, undermining the establishment of a basic democratic system in Bangladesh (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development 2014, 43).

Violence and conflict surrounding political activities significantly hinder women's candidacy—and not merely due to the fear of becoming victims of political attacks and clashes themselves or to the fear of exposing their families to them. Women in Bangladesh generally lack the resources to engage in ‘muscle’ politics in a manner comparable to men. Because the ability to rally ‘muscle’ is often perceived as critical to advance in a political party and gain party backing for candidacy, this lack of access is seen to undermine women's propensity to enter politics, resulting in a loss of skilled and eligible female candidates (Paasilinna, Palmer-Wetherald and Ritchie 2017, 13–14).

A poignant example underlines the plethora of personal, political, and gender issues involved here. While campaigning for the 2018 parliamentary elections, a female candidate of the BNP was assaulted by ruling party BAL workers. The attackers chased her and damaged her car and flanking motorcade—culminating in serious injury to herself, her mother, maternal aunt, brother, and several party workers (Star Online Report, 2018). Such incidents are not uncommon in today's Bangladesh, a state of affairs that acts as a further deterrent to women seeking candidacy. The National Democratic Institute's (2018) gender audit and the delegation's meetings with female politicians revealed that several women candidates and MPs faced online violence in the form of disinformation, defamation, threats, harassment, and false accusations. Women reported experiencing character attacks, rumors, and outright discrimination from the media and members of their party, as well as disinformation in the form of often-sexualized false images, news on Facebook fabricated to discredit them, online newspapers with fake articles, and fake websites (National Democratic Institute 2018, 6).

The interviews on which this study is based clearly identified the violent political culture and weak implementation of attendant laws as deterrents to the participants’ entry into politics. Most expressed serious concerns over security issues. Some did not feel safe to campaign in remote places while others did not go out at night due to a lack of security. After being elected, two interviewees reported verbal and physical harassment by their male colleagues. Many aspirant women do not dare to fight against such experiences—which has exacerbated the shortage of eligible female candidates. As Paasilinna, Wetherald, and Ritchie (2017, 1) claim, “women in Bangladesh are uniquely impacted by pervasive violence in the country's electoral process, as voters, candidates, political party supporters, and activists.” The interview participants were in full agreement with this. Some opined that they are frequently subject to the “unknown” or “invisible” fear of being harassed or intimidated by their male counterparts and feel the need to put every single step with care to minimize the likelihood of different types of defamation. Others cited several examples of male candidates pressuring female candidates to withdraw their political nominations by carrying out conscious campaigns to slander women. Female candidates have also been identified as perpetrators (Prodip 2021), spreading defamatory messages against female opposition.

The interviews confirmed that women political activists face multiple obstacles falling within the broad category of violence. These include intimidation—both direct threats and psychological character defamation—hate speech against women leaders, and restriction in campaign activities. On the surface, the record does not look very alarming since the number of competing women candidates is very few. For example, in the last parliamentary election, only 69 of 1,848 were women: that is, one in 27 candidates were women. The severity of these variants of violence is nevertheless a great concern regarding the low representation of women in candidacy races as well as of even more concern for all the individuals involved.

Election Campaigns

Election campaigns are expensive and require solid financial backing for success. In fact, in Bangladesh, expenses start when a prospective candidate expresses her/his intention to participate in the election. The nomination itself, vote-buying, further campaigns, and donations to local clubs, associations, and religious institutions cost a significant amount. The vast majority of women political leaders and MPs in Bangladesh do not have independent professions or sources of income, remaining dependent on their husbands. Consequentially, the political hope of many women dies rather early. The interviewees reflected the widespread frustrations over the huge informal and unofficial expenditures that nomination and, eventually, successful election incurs.

Other than the dynastic route, and/or sympathy or support from local people after the death of a husband or father, the only way to enter a legislative position is through political parties and their wholehearted support. Parties are considered the main capital for securing a nomination, mounting a competitive election campaign, and financing success. It is generally understood in Bangladesh that people cast their vote for the ‘party symbol’ not for the ‘candidate.’ The party's role is thus extremely important to entering elected office. In response to the question, “are you ready to run the election as an independent candidate if you do not get party nomination?” every respondent's answer in our interviews was an emphatic “no!” The critical point to underline here is that political parties act as a gatekeeper to enter the political arena. They can facilitate women's candidacy—and they can also stop women from political engagement.

As a predominantly Muslim country, religious institutions in Bangladesh—especially mosques, where people gather for prayers—are a good place to engage in election campaigning. People want to see their prospective leader in person and to gauge whether they will be likely to develop religious institutions or offer grants and donations to their place of worship. However, in mosques that place is restricted for women candidates. Door-to-door campaigning strategies and rallies also contribute to electoral success, but in Bangladesh, these strategies are not regulated by a stipulated timeframe and so sometimes take place at night. Informal voter mobilization also takes place mostly at night. For the reasons connected to direct and indirect violence and harassment noted earlier, such circumstances are neither favorable nor comfortable for women candidates in a way that clearly undermines gender equality in campaigning.

In short, the supply-side factors discussed in this section point strongly to many reasons why there is a shortage of women candidates in Bangladesh's elections and even fewer successful female candidates. In interview with the authors of this article, the majority of the aspirant female candidates expressed that they cannot afford the typical election campaign which invariably involves a huge amount of money, organizing against violence and terrorists, and day-to-night campaigns for voter mobilization. Lawless and Fox's (2008) study revealed that the pattern was similar 15 years ago. They found that women, in general, express strong apathy toward campaign activities—especially entreaties and invocations to voters, managing party officials, reaching the doorsteps of voters, and handling the press, while maintaining their family activities/duties and privacy (Lawless and Fox 2008, 7). Then, as now, all these factors act as deterrents to female prospective candidates from running in general elections in Bangladesh.

Political Parties and Nomination

Working for a political party helps one to improve organizational skills, decision-making strategies, lobbying skills, and learn and perfect political etiquette. Parties also offer power by providing access to electoral offices and in the party organization as well as assistance in developing links between public officials and voters. They are likewise the ultimate gatekeepers as they nominate candidates for elections. Thus, women need to be members of a political party to circumvent discrimination (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance [International IDEA] and Inter- American Development Bank [IDB] 2011, 15).

One can, of course, run as an ‘independent’ candidate. However, in most countries it is difficult to get elected without the support of a political party in parliamentary elections. Therefore, aspirant women usually join a party. Besides, political parties may differ considerably across nations regarding the strategies encouraging women to get involved in politics as well as the pre-selection of women as party candidates. For example, party laws or regulations might incorporate provisions specifically designed to increase the political participation of women: for instance, a gender equality agenda in the party constitution; gender-balanced party management and policy committees; and a gender-balanced candidate list in the election using quotas. Indeed, party quotas assure that a particular percentage of the party's list are women in the Nordic countries and quotas play a significant role in the higher representation of women among elected representatives (International IDEA 2021; Matland 2005, 95–6).

While there may be procedural variations, party candidates in Bangladesh are chosen by a central selection board comprised of top-brass party members. The board invites applicants for an interview after evaluating their applications, reviews their applications during the interview, and ranks them based on their qualities, previous legislative experience, financial ability, service and loyalty to the party, popularity, and prospect of winning the election. Even though the party constitution designates the parliamentary board as the supreme decision-making body, in practice party chiefs make the final decision after consulting with other board members. However, the nomination process within Bangladesh's parties is neither transparent nor internally democratic. The major political parties normally nominate candidates who can donate large sums of money to the party fund, spend money to win votes, and are well-connected. This underscores the earlier point concerning why so many businessmen and industrialists are nominated and elected to the parliament via the ‘nomination trade.’ The practice evidently creates significant barriers for women to become nominated as candidates. More broadly, it has hampered the emergence of promising new candidates from the grassroots level (Mahiuddin n.d., 2; National Democratic Institute 2018, 5). As we have seen, the male-dominated political parties favor and patronize those female members who come from highly influential political families as proxy candidates to contest in family seats either in place of their husbands, fathers, or other family members (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development 2014, 84) thus depriving many dedicated and eligible female candidates.

We can see a fair number of women in major political parties in Bangladesh, but, as the proverbial “glass ceiling” persists in a variety of contextual ways, the dynamics of being engaged in politics and winning the election are not the same as for men. Women, in general, lack the qualities and contexts to win elections in Bangladesh which ultimately pushes many of them to abandon seeking the nomination. The political party's role is crucial to setting women candidates on the political road to elected office. But their inclination toward male-dominated institutions is prominent (Dahlerup and Leyenaar 2013, 2). The central advisory committees of the BAL, BNP, and JP are dominated by male politicians (see Table 2). They do involve female workers and supporters in election movements, anti-government marches, strikes, and rallies. Yet women are marginal in the top policy-making bodies of the major political parties which significantly affects women's successful political involvement (Ahmed 2008, 290).

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Table 2.

Women Members in the Committees of Major Political Parties in Bangladesh.

Political parties	Committee	Total members	Female members	% of female members
1Bangladesh	Presidium	18	3	16.6
Awami League	Secretaries	33	7	21.2
	Members	28	8	28.5
	Advisory Council	48	2	4.1
2Bangladesh	National Standing Committee	19	1	5.2
Nationalist Party	Advisory Council	73	6	8.2
	Central Executive Committee	502	68	13.5
3Jatiya Party	Central Presidium	41	4	9.7
	Advisory Council	14	2	14.2
	Central Executive Committee	271	46	16.9

Sources: ¹ Bangladesh Awami League. (n.d.). https://www.albd.org/pages/organization (accessed April 5, 2021).

²

Bangladesh Nationalist Party. (n.d.). https://www.bnpbd.org (accessed April 5, 2021).

³

Jatiya Party. (n.d.). http://www.jatiyo-party.org/ (accessed April 5, 2021).

Table 2 shows that all the major political parties in Bangladesh are predominantly led by men. It has long been argued that such disparity enhances a disproportionate advantage for, and power of, men and leads to favoritism and unjust candidate recruitment and selection (Childs 2013, 93). Recently, a move was instituted to ensure that political parties registered with the Bangladesh Election Commission were legally required to ensure at least 33 percent female representation in all committees, including the party's central committee. However, at the time of this writing the key decision-making committees of the BAL, BNP, and JP have only around 10–15 percent female members, indicating that—as yet—the parties lack clear, effective plans to increment women's representation (Jahan 2014, 45).

The data in Table 1 show that women comprised 3.6 percent, 5.3 percent, and 3.7 percent of the total candidates in the 11th, 10th, and 9th parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, respectively. The political domain is intimately associated with men and masculinity. Political institutions as such are popularly known as male-oriented in that they display the tendency to behave and realize things in favor of men. Kenny (2013, 38) rightly argues that, “while constructions of femininity and masculinity are both present in political institutions, the masculine ideal underpins institutional structures, practices, and norms.” Indeed, a built-in pervasive male-oriented cultural norm of the institutions leads to reproducing male dominance (Lovenduski 1998, 339)—a point that still applies globally. One female MP from a reserved seat in Bangladesh expressed her opinion on this issue to a media spokesman: “our male colleagues talked a lot in the meeting and the parliament in favor of women's leadership but the moment they realize the fact that they have been challenged by any women candidates in their constituencies they take a strong stand against female candidature” (Khan 2018).

This is the stern political reality in Bangladesh. Another sitting MP currently occupies a top leadership position in a left-wing political party and started her political career in a student organization closely engaged with the garment workers’ associations reported that: “we decided that women leadership would be brought to the fore in the party. But when I went to the council, I saw that everyone was saying the exact opposite. They were not saying what they had said the day before. How can a woman run such an organization?” (Khan 2018). She is not the only strong voice in the debate. A female presidium member and former minister of the BAL stated that women are living in a patriarchal environment and fail to get support and assistance from their male counterparts to advance in politics (Khan 2018). Male leaders possess the idea that female leaders are not capable of performing like them and nominate only a few female candidates for the elections. In the 2018 parliamentary election around 100 female aspirants from the BAL collected and submitted their application forms to run for a direct election; only 19 got the tickets. According to a BAL presidium member and MP, it is the party policy to nominate so few female candidates. BNP male leaders possess similar attitudes toward female candidates (Antara and Raju 2018).

All the interviewees noted that parties have been responsible for several demand-side deterrents to female candidacies and political success. They listed as most prominent among these deterrents: the party candidate nomination process; the lack of party support; the prevalent gender biases that have existed within the parties for years; and considering male candidates as a trustworthy source of funding. Several interviewees cited that male politicians have negative opinions regarding women in political leadership positions. To be sure, a majority of male politicians do not always express their negative attitudes toward female leadership in public. However, they are reluctant to allow women to have their own space. In reality, the lack of democracy inside the parties greatly hinders women's access.

Competitive domains, in general, also have a clear gender bias. The competitive nature of running for a political position has a distinctly negative impact on the motivation of potential female candidates to compete as a candidate in the election (Preecea and Stoddard 2015, 307). In this study, female political aspirants were found to be more discouraged from considering themselves as a candidate when they see an acutely uneven competition to get a ticket. It imposes a self-restriction on the political ambition of eligible female political activists and the party members.

Quotas/Reserved Seats

Quotas and reserved seats are a type of affirmative action mechanism used to address the underrepresentation of women and other minorities which has become an integral part of the electoral landscape in many countries. Gender quotas take a wide range of forms across countries. Voluntary/political party quotas, reserved seats, and legal candidate quotas are the three most popular forms of gender quotas (International IDEA 2021) used by many countries in legislatures and political parties. Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, and Norway are leading the way in getting more women into parliament by implementing voluntary party quotas that guarantee 40–50 percent female representation on party lists during selection and nomination processes. In other developed Western countries such as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, voluntary party quotas are now widely used (Dahlerup and Freidenvall 2005, 38–39; Hoodfar and Tajali 2011, 72).

The legislated candidate quota allows for the preservation of a certain percentage of total candidates on electoral lists for women. This is the most recent form of quota system launched in developing countries during the 1990s, mainly in Latin America, post-conflict Africa, and the Middle East. This type of quota guarantees 25–50 percent of total seats for aspirant female candidates. Alternatively, reserved seats ensure that a certain number of seats in a parliament or local body are reserved for women, as specified in the constitution or by statute (Hoodfar and Tajali 2011, 47–48). Bangladesh has a quota of 50 reserved seats in the parliament as a top-up on 300 directly elected MPs from 300 distinct electoral constituencies. At the outset it was only 15, later it was increased to 50 by several Constitutional amendments. These 50 seats do not have any specific constituencies (Jahan and Amundsen 2012, 17) and are distributed among the political parties against their ratio in the parliament. It is the party that nominates and makes the final list of women MPs under reserved seats. The Election Commission formally announces and publishes the names through Gazette notification (Firoj 2007, 17–18).

The practice of quotas in Bangladesh is nevertheless controversial. Rather than encouraging political freedom, Chowdhury (2002) claimed two decades ago that quotas increase female dependency on politics and perpetuate their marginalization. Political parties prefer to see women represented by reserved seats thus limiting their entry as direct-seat contestants. Earlier, Chowdhury (1994) had argued that the reserved seat provision not only fails to raise the number of women in parliament but also weakens women's representative status. In a male-dominated society, women's non-electability is seen as a sign of political vulnerability, and as a result, they rarely speak up for themselves. The interviews conducted for this study suggest that little significant substantive headway has been made since these observations.

The interviewees mentioned that, while many of the female reserved seat MPs were interested to run for the general constituencies, only a few of them secured nominations. Furthermore, they were usually selected for those seats where it is difficult to win. Even though the interviewees supported the provision of reserved seats, it became clear that rather than facilitating women's entry, they believed the reserved seats obstruct women's advancement in politics. Likewise—and very revealingly—a female MP and ex-minister of the BNP said that women are not given nominations for direct election by the parties but rather kept aside to fill the reserved seats (Antara and Raju 2018). This, again, shows how procedures that were ostensibly designed to promote greater gender equality can actually be used to obstruct it. As we have seen, a female candidate needs a strong network with the parties and sufficient financial means to secure a nomination for either a general or reserved seat. These are resources that the majority of women do not have. In consequence, the male-dominated political parties discriminate against women on the grounds of quotas as they have the excuse that, since men do not have a quota, they are to be given preference when selecting candidates for direct election.

Rules Compliance

Equal gender access to power, decision-making, and leadership at all levels is a necessary precondition for the proper functioning of democracy. Formally speaking, a multi-party democratic system prevails in Bangladesh. Irrespective of caste, religion, ethnicity, and gender all citizens become voters at the age of 18 years. Bangladesh is a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Article 2 of CEDAW instructs states to adopt appropriate legislative and other measures, including sanctions, for prohibiting all discrimination against women. Article 7 of CEDAW provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life, including the right to vote and to stand for election, as well as to hold public office at all levels of government (UN Women n.d.). Substantively speaking, Bangladesh patently has reservations about Article 2 and has implemented its provisions at the surface or formal level in a way that has not embodied their deeper egalitarian spirit. More than 80 percent of the interview participants stated they were confident to lead in political positions. Yet less than 20 percent aspire to do so and an even smaller percentage has fought with success against the cultural and institutionalized deterrents discussed in this article in order to secure a nomination.