Participation of Women Representatives in Decision-Making Process of Bangladesh: A Study on Upazila Parishads of Barishal Division

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><em>Upazila Parishad is the midway of local government structure, but the roles of women representatives are not clear there under various acts and ordinances. In spite of a growing literacy rate and political awareness, women&rsquo;s participation in decision making rate remain quite low due to various factors like socio-cultural obstacle, structural deficiencies, attitudinal problems etc. So, a mere increase of the number of women representatives is of little value, unless it is accompanied by enhancement of the quality of their participation that reflects the composition of society, strengthen democracy and promote proper functioning. That&rsquo;s why this study has tried to find out the actual influence of political economy, rules and laws on decision of women representatives, how much impediments are dominant to ignore the capacity of them. The analyses of obtained data are mainly from primary sources - Barisal Sadar and Nalchity Upazila Parishad through qualitative approach majorly. In-depth interviews and observation methods have been employed to collect data and </em><em>have validated through </em><em>case studies. Three most relevant theories have been employed for testing hypothesis to give a research conclusion.</em></p>

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