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Women's participation in parliament

16 March 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By M Mamunur Rahman, Dhaka
16 March 2004, 18:00 PM
Thanks for publishing an article on the most talked about issue of "Increasing women's participation in parliament: What is the best alternative?" (March 14, 2004). I was anxiously waiting for such a write up from my favourite daily, The Daily Star. Thanks also to Dr. Badiul Alam Mujumder for enlightening us once again with his thought provoking write up on participation of women in parliament. His 'alternative proposal' seems to be the best one for ensuring women's real participation in parliament. Definitely, the proposed system would create some women leaders at the grassroots level. In our earlier experience, we have seen no one knows who is her/his woman parliamentarian. Women parliamentarians need not go to her constituents for soliciting votes.

We have seen women winning a parliament seat just for her spousal support or as sycophants, or for having some close relatives of the ruling party's high command, thanks to the selection system.

The recent decision of the cabinet is not going to change anything. The old system has been retained. The ruling party has proposed indirect election for the women MPs. Women coming through this process would not be aware of their constituency's demand. They would be nothing but the ornaments of the parliament dominated by male MPs.

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Surprisingly, the opposition parties are not seriously objecting to the new plan. They are perhaps happy with the prospect of getting their share of seats under the proposed system. I would like to draw the attention of all concerned to raise their voices against the decision of increasing women's seats in parliament without bringing about the desired changes.