Women Leadership in Bangladesh Politics: Symbolic or Tangible?

Abstract

<p><em>Bangladesh is a unique case in terms of women leadership in politics. The country is ruled by women leaders for twenty five years. There is no doubt that the rise of female leaders is linked to their being members of prominent political families. They are all the daughters, wives of former government heads or leading oppositionists. Their strong political family background and their predecessor&rsquo;s charismatic image made them sole leader within the party politics. The choice of &ldquo;women&rdquo; as a party leader was also advantageous as she acquired what the German sociologist Max Weber called &ldquo;inherited charisma&rdquo;. This paper focuses on the nature of women leadership in national level politics and party politics with special focus on Bangladesh Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and will particularly attempt to examine the journey of women leadership in Bangladesh from the symbolic to the tangible. Politics in Bangladesh remains male-dominated with respect to number, status, power in party politics, presence and performance in the parliament, and other administrative and political structure. This paper argues that women leadership did not challenge their internalized patriarchal beliefs. Their presence in political arena failed to create any dynamic change of country&rsquo;s existing political culture. Women succeed to a vacated public office as a symbol in the absence of a suitable male heir. This is a qualitative study and mainly secondary sources are used for preparing the paper. This paper also identifies the barriers of women political participation to understand the status of women in politics.</em><strong></strong></p>

Full Text: PDF