Exclusion Through Inclusion: Institutional Constraints on Women's Political Empowerment in India and Bangladesh

Prodip, Mahbub Alam

doi:10.1177/00438200211013017

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(94 reference statements)

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“…All of their views go against women's engagement in politics. They also confidently expressed that, except for very few exceptions, women MPs cannot perform by themselves and very often engage their friends and relatives in the dispensation of their functions as elected representatives (Prodip 2021). Women are still rarely considered as full political actors and are rather seen as pawns to be used in the political maneuvers of men—a position that Collier (1974, 89) drew attention to long ago.…”

Section: Supply‐side Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Candidates and the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections

Khan

Ara

2023

World Affairs

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The number of female MPs elected by direct vote in Bangladesh's Parliament is abysmally low due to the low level of female candidates in the parliamentary elections. This study addresses the underrepresentation of female candidates in the election following the supply- and demand-side model of Norris and Lovenduski. We focus on the continuing patriarchal social and political culture, dynastic politics, campaign funding, and violence as supply-side factors and political parties and nominations, quotas/reserved seats, and rule compliance as demand-side factors that affect the candidate nomination process in Bangladesh. The article is based on semi-structured interviews with female and male MPs of the Bangladesh Parliament and aspirant female politicians who hold different party positions. The study argues that the patriarchal nature of politics and culture controls the supply and demand-side factors of candidate selection and discriminates against female candidates to vie in the general constituencies.

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Section: Supply‐side Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female Candidates and the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections

Khan

Ara

2023

World Affairs

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“…The other two studies (Chowdhury 2001;Panday 2008) were based on secondary resources only. Recently, Prodip (2021aProdip ( , 2021b found that quota-elected women in India and Bangladesh have failed to exercise their voice in the decision-making process in a more egalitarian manner due to clear institutional and cultural challenges. Hence the present study contributes to filling the gap in our understanding of women's political participation in the two countries by identifying the socio-economic barriers that the women in reserved seats face with regards to their political empowerment.…”

Section: Socio-economic Barriers To Women's Political Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because some factors-especially underexplored dimensions of quota design-actually restrict quota-elected women in their ability to introduce, influence, or change policy (Clayton 2021). Prodip (2021aProdip ( , 2021b, for instance, found that variations in the institutional design of gender quotas and patriarchy often limit the ability of quota women to introduce durable women-friendly policies in political legislatures. This is particularly so in some parts of the developing world.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Less effort has been devoted to exploring the relationship between gender quotas and policy influence in local councils in Asia, especially in India and Bangladesh, from a comparative perspective. In earlier work I have argued that women members in reserved seats in local councils in India and Bangladesh have failed to affect political decisions due to institutional and cultural constraints (Prodip 2021a(Prodip , 2021b. Yet the relationship between gender quotas and affecting policies understood via a socio-economic lens has been somewhat neglected in the literature.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Women’s Political Empowerment in India and Bangladesh: Gender Quotas and Socio-economic Obstructions

Prodip¹

2022

psy

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India and Bangladesh have introduced gender quotas to increase women's presence in politics and bring the desired substantive inclusionary effects at the level of emergent policy outcomes. This qualitative study analyzes the socio-economic barriers that quota-elected women representatives encounter in affecting policies regarding their political empowerment at the local council level-in the Gram Panchayat in India and the Union Parishad in Bangladesh. I contribute to the comparative literature on gender quotas and policy outcomes. Results reveal that women members in both countries face serious social and economic impediments to political participation at this local level. Social barriers such as household responsibilities, lack of family support, and lack of social safety and physical mobility, are no longer a major hindrance for women members in offering services to their constituents. However, in Bangladesh, a majority of women members fail to function effectively because of lack of education-more so than the women members in India. Women members in both countries lack sufficient political training, which makes it challenging to claim their rights when offering goods and services to voters, particularly to women. I also find that women members in both countries have failed to perform their political activities due to financial incapability, although in different ways. Indian women members receive a small amount of money per month, whereas Bangladeshi women members cannot meet the demands of three times higher constituents with irregular honoraria. Lack of financial incapability further leads to corruption in the cases of some women members in both countries. To ensure women's political empowerment through reserved seats in both countries, it is vital to make certain that enough government resources are provided for local councils, together with enough training for elected women members.

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“…The focus remains on Asia in the next two articles. Khan and Ara (2023) examine the key reasons why so few women are running in Bangladesh's parliamentary elections, making a useful addition to prior articles in this journal focusing on gender and politics in Asia (see, e.g., Prodip 2021). Rubiolo and Aguirre (2023) address South Korea's foreign policy toward ASEAN from a middle-power perspective.…”

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confidence: 99%

Note From the Editor

Norman

2023

World Affairs

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Exclusion Through Inclusion: Institutional Constraints on Women's Political Empowerment in India and Bangladesh

Cited by 9 publications

References 53 publications

Female Candidates and the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections

Female Candidates and the Bangladesh Parliamentary Elections

Women’s Political Empowerment in India and Bangladesh: Gender Quotas and Socio-economic Obstructions

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