Assignment on

Gender, Governance andPolitics

By

Ashif NawazBBA Program

Session: 2011-12Faculty of Business Administration and Management

Patuakhali Science and Technology University

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Table of Content

SerialNo.

Topic Page No.

1 Introduction 01

2 Definition 02-03

3 Good Governance 04-09

4 Gender and Governance Interrelationship 10-12

5 Constitution Regarding Women Politics 12

6 Factors of Women in Politics 13-14

7 Women in Politics 14-18

8 Conclusion 19

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Introduction:The relationship between gender and governance has too often

been neglected in both theoretical and empirical work. Until

very recently, most influential political thought has been

built around a conceptual distinction between the “public”

realm of politics, military affairs, and administration, and

the “private” realm of family and domestic life. Women’s role,

in a wide range of traditions and in theoretical work

influenced by them, has typically been associated with the

“private” realm, and men’s role with the “public” realm. The

public/private distinction has been thoroughly criticized as

being in many ways misleading and untenable. Nonetheless, it

continues to influence both theoretical and empirical work,

with the result that women’s efforts to gain a voice in

governance have often been ignored.

According to 1985 UN report, women who constitute half of the

world’s population, still perform nearly two-thirds of all

work hours but receive only one-tenth of the world income. In

most countries women face substantial salary discrimination,

are disadvantaged in access to educational opportunities, and

remain in sex-segregated occupations to a considerable extent.

For example in south Asia:

Women occupy only 7 percent of the parliamentary seats.

Only 9 percent of the cabinet members are women.

Only 6 percent of positions in the judiciary are held by

women.

Only 9 percent of civil servants are women and,Page | 3

Only 20 percent members of local government are women.

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Definition:

Defining Gender:Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and

differentiating between, masculinity and femininity. The word

gender has been used since the 14th century as a grammatical

term, referring to classes of noun designated as masculine,

feminine, or neuter in some languages.

According to WHO

According to FAO

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary

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"Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles,behaviors, activities, and attributes that a givensociety considers appropriate for men and women.”

“The relations between men and women, both perceptual

and material. Gender is not determined biologically,

as a result of sexual characteristics of either women

or men, but is constructed socially. It is a central

organizing principle of societies, and often governs

the processes of production and reproduction,

In language, a grammatical category contrasting

distinctions of sex or intimateness. Gender marking

may be natural, with linguistic markers of gender

corresponding to real-world gender, or purely

So, gender is socio-cultural and it refers to masculine andfeminine qualities, behavior patterns, roles andresponsibilities, etc.

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Defining Governance:Governance refers to "all processes of governing, whether

undertaken by a government, market or network, whether over a

family, tribe, formal or informal organization or territory

and whether through laws, norms, power or language."

According to UNDP

According to ADB

According to World Bank

According to BusinessDictionary.com

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"Governance can be seen as the exercise of economic,

political and administrative authority to manage a

country’s affairs at all levels. It comprises the

mechanisms, processes and institutions, through which

citizens and groups articulate their interests,

“Governance is the manner in which power is exercised

in the management of a country’s social and economic

resources for development. Governance means the way

GOVERNANCE is "… the traditions and institutions by

which authority in a country is exercised for the

common good. This includes (i) the process by which

those in authority are selected, monitored and

replaced, (ii) the capacity of the government to

effectively manage its resources and implement sound

Establishment of policies, and continuous monitoring

of their proper implementation, by the members of the

governing body of an organization. It includes the

mechanisms required to balance the powers of the

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Establishment of policies, and continuous monitoring

of their proper implementation, by the members of the

governing body of an organization. It includes the

mechanisms required to balance the powers of the

Good Governance

Definition of Good GovernanceGood governance is about the processes for making and

implementing decisions. It’s not about making ‘correct’

decisions, but about the best possible process for making

those decisions.

Good decision-making processes, and therefore good governance,

share several characteristics. All have a positive effect on

various aspects of local government including consultation

policies and practices, meeting procedures, service quality

protocols, councilor and officer conduct, role clarification

and good working relationships.

Characteristics of Good Governance:

There are nine characteristics of good governance. These

are:

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Characteristics of Good Governance

Participation

Rule of Law

Transparency

Responsiveness

Consensus Orientati

onEquity

Effectiveness and efficienc

y

Accountability

Strategic Vision

1.Participation All men and women, inclusive of the

physically challenged, should have a voice in decision-

making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate

institutions that represent their interests. Such broad

participation is built on freedom of association and speech,

as well as capabilities to participate constructively.

Participation is a process whereby policy- making,

prioritizing issues, accessibility to public goods and

services and also allocating resources is influenced by key

stakeholders. It varies from one context to another and

subject to different projects and visions. Participatory

processes in a poverty reduction strategy promote information

exchange and transparency in decision-making processes. The

World Bank notes that this, in turn, will improve and, as a

result, increase the overall governance and economic

efficiency of development activities.

Generally, public involvement includes three elements or

‘pillars’:

Public access to information;

Public participation in decision-making processes;

Public access to judicial and administrative redress

often termed ‘access to justice’.

Access to information can be passive or active. Passive access

is where the public will get information upon request to

government institutions. Active access is whereby the

government is obliged to give and disseminate information.

Access to justice is whereby the procedural rights of the

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public to information are respected and guaranteed. This is

because for rights to be effective there should be a

corresponding remedy. The above pillars are also known in

environmental law parlance as third generation human rights or

environmental rights. They are also part of the basic tenets of

good governance. The rationale for public involvement can be

discussed from various dimensions. From a human rights

dimension, people have the right to know, to be informed and

participate in decisions that affect them as well as seeking

redress. From a legal, ethical and moral dimension, citizens

and government officials are obliged to ensure good

governance. It has been argued that government processes are

improved through public involvement.

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2.Rule of Law Laws, regulations and codes of conduct

should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly the laws

on human rights. One of the effective ways of tackling weak

governance is to look at the disconnection between

institutions within the broader governance environment

including the scope of operation of the society in general.

The availability of information is critical to good

governance. Access to information and the promotion of

procedural rights provide an enabling framework where

accountability and improved delivery could enhance

institutional changes. Information is critical for the leaders

and their constituents to be informed of their problems as

well as the solutions. Likewise, it is important to review

previous institutional constraints in order to map the future

with viable options because a poor governance system serves

private interests at the expense of the poor and they suffer

in a multiplicity of ways. A correct diagnosis of poor

governance is important in that it determines practical

strategies that are sustainable and effective in reducing

poverty.

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3.Transparency Transparency is built on the free flow

of information. Processes, institutions and information are

directly accessible to those concerned with them, and enough

information is provided to understand and monitor them. It

promotes openness of government action, decision-making

processes, and consultative processes among public sector and

all stakeholders. These processes are subject to scrutiny by

other government institutions, civil society and external

institutions. Lack of transparency, weak accountability, lack

of responsiveness and inefficiency also compromise good

governance. In a corrupt government, public resources are

diverted from meeting the needs of the poor and benefits do

not reach the intended beneficiaries. Human security is

compromised by corruption. This is because corruption is both

a cause and effect of bad governance. The poor are usually

disproportionately affected by poor governance because health,

education and police services are inaccessible. Their income

is usually eroded through payment of bribes. Corruption can be

classified into two broad categories, state capture and

administrative corruption. State capture takes place when a

framework of laws and rules has been distorted. This form of

corruption is characterized by enactment of laws, policies and

regulations that are influenced through illegal and non-

transparent ways, as well as serving private interests.

Administrative corruption is about distortion of the

implementation of these laws and policies. It refers to the

“intentional imposition of distortion in the prescribed

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implementation of existing laws, rules and regulations to

provide advantage to either state or nonstarter actors as a

result of illegal transfer or concentration of private gains

to public officials.”

4. Responsiveness

Institutions and processes try to serve

all stakeholders within a reasonable timeframe.

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5. Consensus Orientation

Good governance mediates differing

interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best

interest of the group and, where possible, on policies and

procedures. Underlying this characteristic is the theory of

consensus and consensus decision-making.

Consensus

Consensus has two common meanings. One is a general agreement

among the members of a given group or community. The other is

as a theory and practice of getting such agreements.

The process of achieving consensus involves serious

consideration of every group member’s or stakeholders’

considered opinion. Consensus usually involves collaboration,

rather than compromise. Instead of one opinion being adopted

by a plurality, stakeholders are brought together until a

convergent decision is developed.

Consensus decision-making

Consensus decision-making is a decision process that not only

seeks the agreement of most participants, but also to resolve

or mitigate the objections of the minority to achieve the most

agreeable decision. Consensus decision-making is intended to

deemphasize the role of factions or parties and promote the

expression of individual voices. This method also increases

the likelihood of unforeseen or creative solutions by

juxtaposing dissimilar ideas.

Consensus decision-making involves identifying and addressing

concerns, generating new alternatives, combining elements of

multiple alternatives and checking that people understand a

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proposal or an argument. This empowers minorities, those with

objections that are hard to state quickly, and those who are

less skilled in debate. Therefore, consensus decision-making

can be seen as a form of grassroots democracy.

6. Equity

All men and women have opportunities to

improve or maintain their well-being.

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7. Effectiveness and efficiency

Processes and institutions

produce results that meet needs while making the best use of

resources. This characteristic promotes efficient public

delivery systems and quality public outputs. It deals with the

amount of public respect the civil service has. One aspect of

poor service delivery is corruption. One of the ways of

fighting corruption is through competitive salaries and

motivating staff through incentives. There is also a need to

introduce legislation governing civil service and a code of

conduct. This legislation will define the appointments and

promotions of civil servants through merit based processes as

well as the organizational structure.

8. Accountability

Decision-makers in government, the

private sector and civil society organizations are accountable

to the public, as well as to institutional stakeholders. This

accountability differs depending on the organization and

whether the decision is internal or external to an

organization. Central to the principle of accountability is

information sharing and transparency which should be promoted

by governance structures. Hence, accountability is hard to

achieve especially in the absence of access to information.

Public accountability is founded on two pillars. The first

pillar is related to accountability by the executive and the

second pillar is based on institutional change. Accountability

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can be classified in four categories. These are public,

financial, horizontal and vertical. Horizontal accountability

is the relationship between the executive, legislature and the

judiciary. Vertical accountability is whereby one actor

reports to another subject to the interpretation of

constitutional provisions. Informal checks on these

relationships are reinforced by the civil society and the

donor community.

9. Strategic Vision

Leaders and the public have a long-

term perspective on good governance and human development,

along with a sense of what is needed for such development.

There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and

social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.

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Gender and Governance Interrelationship

The Practice of Good GovernanceConstructing voice:

Women’s voice and women’s organization as a political

constituency within civil society are crucial in order to

break through the barriers that restrict their participation

in politics, within governance institutions and their claims

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Taking office- Gaining access- Legitimate political actors- Changing

Claiming citizenship- Participation and agency- Substantive equality vs.formal equality- Rights of women as subject of social

The practice of good governance- Constructing voice

- Creating communities of struggle- Shaping the accountability

interface- Carving out political space

- Working on both sides/in and outof the state

- Shaping the contextEngendering governance institutions- Accountability to citizens- Changing cultures, rules, procedures and institutional priorities- Pressure from women’s voice and organization in civil society

to citizenship. The projects helped to articulate specific

women’s voices, those of the most marginalized by

foregrounding the real experiences of exclusion from

entitlements and rights that these women face.

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Creating communities of struggle:

The case studies highlighted the important role of a

political constituency of women in building awareness in civil

society and creating a public broadly sympathetic to the

principle of gender equality, and challenging prevailing

notions of women’s subordination. In order to give ‘voice’ to

women’s demands an immense amount of work has to take place to

organize and mobilize constituencies that grow into an

awareness of the right to have a right, and the right to

participate in decisions affecting their life.

Shaping the accountability interface:

Articulating ‘voice’ does not necessarily lead to better

outcomes for women. The case studies highlight the

significance of ensuring that this ‘voice’ reaches the

institutions that affect the lives of citizens, that changes

take place and that there is an accountability interface.

Carving out space:

The projects also demonstrated the importance of carving

out spaces for the articulation of interests and shaping the

accountability interface between these interests and

institutions. Sometimes these are spaces opened up by decision

making institutions and at other times political spaces have

to be created. The projects used constructed spaces, created

spaces, and opened up spaces that were by all accounts closed

to public participation.

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Working on both sides / in and out of the state:

All the case studies highlight the importance of citizen voice

and constituting women as a political force, in order to shift

and reshape institutional agendas, rules and practices. The

task is twofold: on the one hand getting women more aware of

their rights and more aware of how to hold institutions to

account, and on the other intervening in organizational

processes to reshape how organizations function. Most of the

projects worked in tandem with state institutions sometimes

aligning with the state and other times agitating for changes.

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Establishing authority:

In all cases the NGOs concerned were able to engage with civil

society and state actors in the ways they did because of the

legitimacy and authority they had established as a result of

the contributions through their work.

Demystifying institutions:

The case studies highlight the importance of demystifying

institutions in order to enhance responsiveness. Looking at

institutions from the perspective of poor, marginalized women

raised issues of broader institutional accountability, that

institutions are not accountable to poor men also, and that

there is often a lack of transparency. Hence redressing these

imbalances from the point of poor women will result in better

institutional accountability to all.

Constitution Regarding Women Politics

Constitutional Guarantees:

The constitution of the People’s Republic Bangladesh drafted

in 1972 guarantees certain rights and privileges to women as

fundamental rights.

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Article 27 of the constitution states that “All citizens

are equal before the law and are entitled to equal

protection of the law”

Article 28 (1) of the constitution states: The state

shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds

only religion, race, cast, sex or place of birth.

According to article 28 (2) “Women shall have equal

rights with men in all spheres of the state and of public

life.”

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Factors of Women in PoliticsAs human resource, stock reserve labor forces if women

remain away’ from total development and political process,

desired development is never possible. So, women are half of

the total population they should be involved in all state

affairs to enhance the socio-economic development of the

country. Women are the victims of disparity by any means

relating education, health, employment opportunity, lawful

right, humanistic treatment, citizenship right and so on.

Poverty is one of the most important reasons for the women

oppression. Recently United Nations Organization in a study

women participation, in democratic process and empowerment,

equality has been encouraged for fundamental issues.

Women’s rights to political participation in Bangladesh need

to be addressed in the context of country’s poverty, culture

of the female subordination, and weak political institutions.

There are two broad sets of factors which ought to be

considered in trying to account for women’s representation or

lack of political representation in political office in any

country. The first set of factors looks to the social-economic

and cultural conditions as the basis for explaining the level

of women’s political involvement. The second set of factors

identifies the political institutions themselves, the nature

of party structure, as supporting or opposing the recruitment

of women to positions of political leadership.

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Social Factors:

Among social and cultural factors deep rooted as:

Patriarchal traditions.

Norms.

Attitudes.

Poverty.

Lack of access to resources.

Low salaries.

Discrimination in the work place.

Lack of access to political party.

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Political Factors:

With regard to political factors any discussion must

include both the formal and informal political process. The

formal political system must cover the electoral, legislative

and party process, whereas the informal political process

includes a review of women’s organizations whose aim is to

raise women’s status, create awareness of women’s issues, and

build platforms from which women’s demands can be made.

Women in PoliticsThe legislature (National)

National Parliament (JATIYA SANGSHAD)

a) General Seats:

Jatiya Sangshad or the National Parliament of Bangladesh

consists of 300 general seats filled by direct election from

single member territorial constituencies. In the last

Parliamentary election held in 2002, women candidates won from

13 electoral constituencies and captured 2.0% of the 300

directly elected or “general” seats. In 1996, women won 1.36%;

in 1988, 1.3%; in 1986, 1.7%; and in 1979, 0.8% of general

seats. Thus it is clear that from 1979 to 1996 less than 2% of

the candidates standing for parliamentary elections were

women. (Table-1)

Table 1

Participation of women candidate in general seats of National

Parliament throughout direct election (1973-2008)

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Year of Election % of Women Candidates1973 0.31979 0.91986 1.31988 0.71991 1.51996 1.362002 2.02008 6.33

Source:

1. Nazma Chowdhury: Bangladesh Gender Issues and Politics in

a Patriarchy” B. Nelson and Nazma Chowdhury.

2. D. Chowdhury and Hasanuzzaman: Women’s Participation in

Bangladesh Politics.

3. Election Results, 2002;

4. Election Results 2008.

b) Reserved Seats in National Parliament in Bangladesh:

Article 65, Clause 3 of the constitution (1972)

states “There shall be reserved fifteen seats exclusively for

women members, who shall be elected according to law by the

members aforesaid”. The term for the constitutionally

guaranteed reserved seats for women expired in December 1987,

and in 1988, the parliament had no reserved seats for women.

In 1990 the 10th amendment to the constitution re-inserted

Clause (3) to Article 65 providing for 30 reserved women seats

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for a further period of 10 years from the 1st sitting of the

next Parliament.

Table 2

Number of reserved seats for which women are nominated by the

majority party (1973-2008)

Election Year Reserved Seats

for Women

Overall % of

women seats

Political

Parties1973 15 4.8 AL1979 30 9.7 BNP1986 30 10.6 JP1988 ….. ….. …..1991 30 10.6 BNP 28 +

Jamayat 21996 30 11.2 AL 27 + JP32002 45 10.9 BNP 29 + AL 92008 45(+5) 18.55 AL 36 (+5) +

BNP 5 + JP 4

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Legislature (LOCAL)

The constitution of the people’s republic of Bangladesh,

as modified up to December 31, 1986 highlights the

establishment of the local government institutions in

Bangladesh for empowerment and participation of the people in

the development processes at the local level.

Women in Urban Local Bodies

The Constitution further advances and incorporates the

principle of special representation of women in local self-

governing bodies. In urban areas, in each Pourashava there is

a provision of a quota for at least 3 women members who would

be elected by the commissioners of the Pourshava.

The preparations are now going on for elections to newly

upgraded Sylhet and Barisal city corporations. (The positions

of the elected ward commissioners of the four city

corporations is presented in Table 4)

Table 4

Elected women commissioners of the Four City Corporation

(Reserved Seats for Women) in 2002.

City Corporations No. of Ward

Commissioners who

were elected (Men)

Number of Women

Ward Commissioners

ElectedDhaka 90 30

Chittagong 41 13Rajshahi 30 10Khulna 31 10

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Women in Rural Local Governance

The government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

established a local government commission in 1997. The

commission recommended a four-tier local government system:

Gram Parishad, Union Parishad, Thana Parishad and Zila

Parishad.

In most cases the women members are not included in the

committees that deal with development projects. Thus many

women members are still sidelined by their male counterparts

who control the Parishads.

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Table 5

Women’s participation in election of Union Parishad

Elections

of Union

Parishad

Numbers

of Union

Women

Candidate

s

Number of

Women

Chairpers

on

Women

Candidate

s as

Members

Women

Members

Elected

1973 4352 N/A 11977 4352 19 2 19 71984 4400 N/A 6 863 Inf. NA1988 4401 79 1 Inf. NA1992 4450 115 19 11351997 4472 110 20 43969/4;

56*

110*/128;

822003 4472 232 22 43764/6;

17*

85*/1268;

4

Women contested and elected to the general seats.

Source:

1. Election commission office 1992.

2. UNDP-Report of Human Development on Bangladesh.

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Women in the Party Arena

The role and involvement of women in political parties

may be viewed as members, as party workers and as political

leaders. Although there are few women in leadership positions

there is limited involvement in party hierarchical structures,

with only 5.1% of women in the decision-making bodies of all

political parties.

Women in Cabinet (Leadership Positions)

Table 7

Number of women ministers in Bangladesh during different

political regimes.

Government Total

Number of

Ministers

Total

Numbers of

Men

Ministers

Total

Numbers of

Women

Ministers

Percentage

of Women

Ministers

Sheikh

Mujibur

Rahman

(1972-1975)

50 47 2 4

Ziaur

Rahman

(1979-1982)

101 95 6 6

Hossain M.

Ershad

(1982-

1990)

133 127 4 3

Begum 39 36 3 5Page | 34

Khaleda

Zia(1991-

1996)Sheikh

Hasina

(1996-2001)

46 42 4 8.69

Begum

Khaleda Zia

(2001-2006)

60 58 2 3.5

Sheikh

Hasina

(2009-

Present)

46 39 6 3.5

Source:

Dr. Nazma Chowdhury: Women in Development: A Guide Book for

Planners Draft Report, 1994.

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ConclusionIn Bangladesh women perform within strict rules of patriarchal

structure, norms, values and attitudes that restrict women’s

participations in development or political activities.

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