During the era of Hussain Muhammad Ershad, 30 women reserved seats in Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament) were regarded as “30 sets of ornaments”. Now, this number has been increased to 50. However, have their roles changed that much?

The answer is unequivocally no! The Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh consists of 350 MPs (Members of the Parliament), where 300 MPs are directly elected by the popular voting system and 50 women by the elected MPs. The reserved seats for women are distributed proportionally in favour of different political parties or coalitions.

It was partially appropriate to have these seats after 1971, a newly independent country where women were lagging behind socially, economically and politically. However, reserving seats for women is not justified in this era. It is sort of disrespectful to women. “Women! the source of inspiration; women! the mother; women! the homemaker’’— these thoughts were like ages ago. Now, women are not only the source of inspiration but they also inspire others by their deeds. They are getting rid of social, economic and biological discrimination. They are playing a vital role in the development areas of a nation. Many prominent countries have women as the cornerstone of the executive branch and Bangladesh has also been in this group dominantly. So, why are we distinguishing them?

The political parties are behind this anomaly. The business of the ruling party is quite apparent regarding the nomination for the reserved seats. That is why they do not want to change the system. Furthermore, the 300 MPs elect the candidates who can fulfil the goals and interests of the party. Nepotism, corruption and lack of proper and open procedure to elect a member are very common scenarios in this regard. Though the 50 women MPs enjoy the same privileges and power as the directly elected 300 MPs, they function as the dummy MPs of the ruling party and there are no specific constituencies allocated for them.

They are dependent on the directly elected 300 MPs. They are bound to say yes to every decision of the ruling party’s leader. In addition, there is a deadlock of the Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh where they cannot do or say anything against their party, though there are several anomalies in front of their eyes. They are kept in parliament only to make the party heavier and to gain certain objectives easily.
Despite having equal powers, women in reserved seats often face a perception issue since they are not directly elected by the public. This can sometimes lead to questions about their legitimacy and political influence compared to their directly elected counterparts. Their appointment process is based on party affiliation, familial background and other requirements that suit the interests of the ruling party which often questions the term “Meritocracy”. Their dependency on party leaders limits their ability to act independently or to oppose party policies, affecting their ability to advocate for women’s rights or other critical issues effectively.

Consequently, reserved seats can be seen as a token gesture rather than a genuine effort to empower women. The perception (these seats exist to fulfil a quota rather than promote capable leaders) undoubtedly undermines the legitimacy of women’s role in politics.
On the other hand, relying on reserved seats prevents efforts to increase the number of women elected through general seats. It creates complacency among political parties, reducing their motivation to nominate women for competitive elections.

So, the proposal is to abolish this reserved representation system of women in the Jatiya Sangsad and to create situations and opportunities where women can compete for a seat equally alongside the other candidates. Reserved seats can be kept after a deep observation and consideration but their constituencies will have to be marked and the members will be elected by direct election based on an adult franchise to exterminate the practice of tokenism. The education of democracy and other principles that will help each and every citizen of Bangladesh to be politically aware must be spread properly from the grassroots levels. In Bangladesh, men and women are equal as per our constitution (Article: 28). So, the application of this equality must be demonstrated. Bangladesh will be a proper Bangladesh only when there is nothing to reserve for women, which makes them marginalised in parliament or a small room of a remote village.