Abstract
This chapter offers a discussion of the issues formation, the importance of the research, and the research methodology and data collection. The chapter argues that the issue of women’s political participation is a matter of great concern not only in Bangladesh but also in other countries of the world. Reform has an intrinsic relationship with the issue of women’s political participation since reform brings changes in the institutional design. Such institutional change is considered as one of the most important mechanisms to enhance women’s political participation in a society which is dominated by patriarchy. Basic principles of “path dependency” and “lesson drawing” suggest that, in order to facilitate successful future research, the history of previous researches must be considered first. From this perspective, the book has immense importance to those who are studying and working on the issue of women’s political participation. Accordingly, objectives of the research have been determined, research questions have been raised, and research methodology has been defined. This Chapter also outlines the expected contributions of the book and why it deserves consideration from all concerned about these issues.
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Notes
- 1.
Beginning from its inception in 1945, the UN has concentrated its efforts in securing, promoting, and protecting women’s rights. Apart from setting up the Commission on Status of Women (CSW) in 1946, it declared 1975 as “International Women’s Year” in order to facilitate women’s social, political, and economic development. Moreover, the UN has organized a good number of conferences and declared conventions to advocate women’s rights and to convince countries attending to implement the decisions reached in their respective countries. For further discussions on this issue, please refer to Chap. 2.
- 2.
The Union Parishad is the lowest tier of the existing local government structure in Bangladesh.
- 3.
- 4.
Roa and Kelleher defined institutional change as ‘changing the rules of the game’. Informal and formal laws, policies and cultural norms, and decision-making processes have been included in their definition in order to refer the rules. They have further clustered the areas requiring change into four groups that include: (i) women’s and men’s individual conscious (knowledge, skills, political conscious and commitment), (ii) women’s objective conditions (rights and resources, access to health services and safety, opportunities for a voice), (iii) informal norms such as inequitable ideologies, and cultural and religious practices, and (iv) formal institutions such as laws and policies (Rao and Kelleher 2005, p. 59).
- 5.
Article 29(3) of Bangladesh constitution allows the government to set quota in the service of the republic for any disadvantage section of citizens. Although there has not been any constitutional differentiation between classes of government employees, however, two types of quotas have been framed by the government—one for Class I and II officers and the other for Class III and IV employees (Khan and Ahmed 2008).
- 6.
The term fatwa in Islamic legal parlance refers to the clarification of an ambiguous judicial point or an opinion by a jurist trained in Islamic law (Shehabuddin 1999).
- 7.
Bogra is one of Bangladesh’s 64 districts.
- 8.
Arnstein (1969) proposed eight levels of participation in a ladder parent, which includes (1) manipulation, (2) therapy, (3) informing, (4) consultation, (5) placation, (6) partnership, (7) delegated power, and (8) citizen control. She divided eights levels of the ladder into three rungs. The bottom rungs of the ladder (1 and 2) described nonparticipation levels which serve as the substitute for genuine participation. This rung does not intend to enable people to participate in planning, or conducting programs, but instead enables power holders to “educate” the participants. The middle rungs (3, 4, and 5) subsequently develop into levels of “tokenism” which permit the have-nots to hear and to have a voice. However, these do not assure that the powerful will take a note of their views. It is important to note that the position of 5 (placation) is the higher level of tokenism from which the have-nots can offer advice. However, the power holders still reserve the right to decide. Finally, the upper rungs (6, 7, and 8) allow citizens to exercise power with increasing degrees of influence on the decision-making process. In the last rung (8), majority of the decision-making seats are occupied by the have-not citizens (Arnstein 1969).
- 9.
Rajshahi, one of the 64 districts, is located in the northwest of Bangladesh bordering India on the south. It covers an area of 2,407 sq. km, of which 62 sq. km is river. Rajshahi district comprises 9 upazilas (see n. 11 in this chapter), 70 unions, 1858 villages, and 7 pourashavas (municipalities) including Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) (BBS 1993, 2005).
- 10.
The Barendra Project was implemented by the Local Government Division of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD&C) of the Government of Bangladesh. It is intended to ensure adequate water supply, which is necessary for irrigation through deep tube wells. The project is carried out all over Rajshahi district. The agricultural productivity of Rajshahi district has since increased substantially due to this project.
- 11.
Upazila is the lowest administrative level in Bangladesh in which the civil bureaucracy and line ministries operate. Generally, the upazila represents the police and all ministerial offices, including tax, magistrates courts, and officers dealing with all aspects of economic and social development. In addition, upazilas serve as the link between district offices and the UPs or the local people. There are a total of 482 upazila parishads in Bangladesh.
- 12.
Purposive sampling techniques are primarily used in qualitative studies. These may be defined as selecting units (e.g., individuals, groups of individuals, institutions) based on specific purposes associated with answering research study questions. Maxwell (1997, p. 87) further defined purposive sampling as a type of sampling in which “particular settings, persons, or events are deliberately selected for the important information they can provide that cannot be gotten as well from other choices”.
- 13.
The upazilas of Rajshahi district are Bagha, Bagmara, Charghat, Durgapur, Godagari, Mohanpur, Paba, Puthia, and Tanor.
- 14.
Among the 210 elected women members from 70 UPs, 108 were selected for interview which means that more than half of the total samples of Rajshahi District were selected for interview.
- 15.
Among 33 leaders, 12 belonged to Bangladesh Awami League (AL), 09 belonged to Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP); 05 belonged to Jatiya Pary (JP), and 07 belonged to Bangladesh Jammat-E-Islam (BJI).
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Panday, P.K. (2013). Setting the Scene. In: Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1272-0_1
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