Bangladesh: Budget discrimination, patriarchy hinders indigenous women’s political participation

Dhaka, Aug 7 (IANS) While the participation of plainland indigenous women in Bangladesh’s local governance – particularly in union parishads – has increased, structural budgetary discrimination, political marginalisation, and deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes continue to hinder their ability to exercise meaningful leadership, local media reported citing experts.

The remarks were made at a roundtable conference titled ‘Meaningful Participation and Political Leadership of Plainland Indigenous Women in Local Governance’ which was jointly organised by International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Bangladesh and People’s Union of the Marginalised Development Organisation (PUMDO) with support from the Embassy of Sweden at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka.

During the discussion, the speakers urged the government to provide women elected to reserved seats with equitable funding and allowances for the three wards they represent, ensure their effective participation in standing committees and Gram Adalats, and reinforce safeguards for their land rights, Bangladesh’s leading newspaper ‘The Daily Star’ reported.

The speakers also stressed the need for structured administrative capacity-building of women leaders at grassroots level, while urging indigenous communities to tackle internal divisions, social stigma and substance abuse as well as demand accountability from the authorities.

Delivering the welcome address, Rumana Amin Archi, Deputy Country Director of IFES Bangladesh, said an inclusive democracy can be achieved by addressing the distinct socio-political and structural challenges faced by marginalised communities.

She underscored the importance of bringing the struggles and leadership potential of plainland indigenous women into mainstream governance discussions.

In his keynote presentation, researcher and activist Pavel Partha drew attention to the absence of disaggregated data on plainland indigenous communities in national statistics.

He said that the national voter registration form does not include a field for ethnic identity, making it impossible to determine the exact number of indigenous voters and elected women representatives

Partha further said that despite Gram Adalats dealing with land disputes, domestic conflicts and violence against women at the union parishad level in Bangladesh, the participation of indigenous women in village courts and the 13 standing committees remains largely symbolic, excluding them from meaningful decision-making roles.

According to Haimanti Sarkar, Chief Executive Officer of PUMDO, indigenous women “who seek economic independence, enter politics or take on leadership roles routinely face patriarchal resistance, with character assassination often used to silence them,” The Daily Star reported.

She said that women in leadership positions are often subjected to social stigma, defamation, baseless allegations and hostility merely for exercising their rights and working for their communities.

Addressing the gathering as Chief Guest, Bangladeshi lawmaker Anna Minj lauded grassroots women representatives for overcoming systemic challenges while serving their communities.

Emphasising that patriarchal social structures remain central to women’s marginalisation, Rights activist Shanjida Khan Ripa said that “women elected to reserved seats represent three wards but receive significantly smaller budget allocations than male members representing a single ward.”

–IANS

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