Women should be directly elected

Our constitution stipulates the equal rights of women with men in Article 28(2). Nevertheless, we could hardly find any conspicuous improvement in their social life. Political empowerment of women is a burning issue for a long time. We have observed that erstwhile governments in a bid to elevate their position provided reserved seats in parliament for women. Provision of 15 reserved seats for women members was in original constitution. Later on, through 5th and 10th amendments, the number of the seats was increased from 15 to 30 and the period was extended to 2001. But, they were selected by fellow members.

In my opinion, this process was an appalling one because people of the constituency didn't get any opportunity to elect their delegate. Sometimes, she wasn't well-known in her constituency. Bulk of people remained detached from her. Eventually, their woes were unheeded in most cases. In fact, they were in parliament but no prolific result had been found. Ironically, their seats were considered as ornamental for the parliament. They were nothing more than puppet of their fellow party members as they were accountable to them but not to the mass. In practice, they were selected for the purpose of consolidating position of the ruling party in parliament. It should be mentioned that there is no such reserved seats in present parliament. Recently, incumbent government is going to reinstate the same process once again allocating 45 reserved seats through 14th amendment. It is like "old wine in new bottle".

It is apparent that this process of 'selection' frustrates the real purpose of women's empowerment in all respects. Political empowerment can only be possible if provision of direct election is inserted in our constitution. Women should be given every opportunity to choose their representative for them in parliament. As a result, she has to be accountable them. As such, they will feel more confident under her leadership. So, we earnestly urge the government that they will introduce direct election system in place of selection system with a view to establishing better governance.