Women’s Participation in Decision Making Structures and Processes: A Case Study on the Local Government Institution in Bangladesh

Abstract

Since 1976, women’s participation has been empowered as part of the development discourse for achieving sustainable development in Bangladesh. Women’s empowerment in the local government structures and processes has a substantial influence on the National Gender Policy of Bangladesh. This study has critically assessed the extent of the women’s participation in the decisionmaking processes of the Local Government Institutions (LGIs) through participants’ observation, qualitative and quantitative methods. The study evolves the success and failure attempts of the women’s participation in the LGI’s structures and decision-making processes as per Local Government (Union Parishad) Act-2009. The study also finds the UPs are too politicized to make them socially inclusive, pro-poor friendly and distribute equally the benefits of aids and social safety net services. The centralized power of UP chairs, manipulation and tokenism practices in the UP’s governance and decision-making processes had diminished the gender sensitivity, transparency, and accountability of the institution. The study also suggests increasing the number of women representatives in UP’s structures, making functional the roles of woman’s vice-chair, activating the Ward level meetings, standing committees and project implementation committees, as well as regularizing the effective monitoring with transparent and accountable manner for making the UP gender responsive and people oriented. Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 267-286