By Admin 
Women’s participation is continuously disappearing from politics in Bangladesh. There are two names recorded on the pages of political history of Bangladesh, who have given a new direction to the country. The history of Bangladesh politics is incomplete without the names of Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. Despite this, today women’s participation is falling here. The number of women candidates in the elections to be held on February 12 in Bangladesh is negligible.
The figures that have come out are very worrying.
Promises to increase women’s participation and empowerment have been made for decades, yet a completely different picture of their role is visible in the upcoming elections. Bangladeshi media UNB reported that more than 30 registered political parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, have not fielded any female candidate. In the 13th parliamentary elections, the number of women among all the candidates remained less than 4.5%. This figure is very worrying.
Out of two and a half thousand nominations, only 109 women filled election forms.
Out of 2,568 nominations submitted for the elections, only 109 women have filed their nominations. According to data reviewed by Bangladeshi media, the number of women is only 4.24 percent of the 2,568 nominations. Recently, International Human Rights Organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that out of 51 political parties participating in the upcoming general elections, 30 have not nominated even a single woman candidate.
Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami did not give ticket to even a single woman
It has been reported that Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a major party of Bangladesh, has not fielded any women candidates on the seats on which it has decided to contest the elections. During scrutiny, many women candidates lost their candidature. Out of 37 independent women candidates, nominations of only six were declared valid. The seats on which nominations of women candidates have been declared valid include Sabina Yasmin (Natore-2), Dr. Tasneem Jara (Dhaka-9), Meherjan Ara Talukdar (Jamalpur-4), Akhtar Sultana (Mymensingh-6), Tehmina Zaman (Netrakona-4), and Rumin Farhana (Brahmanbaria-2).
There are 276 candidates from Jamaat-e-Islami, 268 from Islami Andolan Bangladesh, 224 from Jatiya Party, 104 from Gana Adhikar Parishad, 94 from Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis, and other smaller parties, each with less than 40 candidates, but there is no woman candidate. Forum leader Samina Yasmin said in this regard, ‘If women are 51 percent voters, then our next important task is to increase awareness about women’s rights, organize them and ensure their active political participation. Is it right to come to power by excluding 51 percent of the population and relying on the remaining 49 percent? This is an important question.
Organizations related to women, human rights and development expressed surprise
Social Resistance Committee, a platform of 71 organizations working on women, human rights and development issues, expressed concern over the low number of women candidates in the upcoming elections, saying that given the misogynistic culture present in the society, women are hesitant to contest elections as independent candidates. The reason for low participation of women in politics is the reflection of male-dominated political culture there and the policy of maintaining the ideology of male-dominated politics and male-dominated society.