This comparative case study explores the cultural obstructions that women members in reserved seats confront with regards to their political empowerment at the local council level – in the Gram Panchayat in India and the Union Parishad in Bangladesh. Primary data was collected from West Bengal in India and Rajshahi in Bangladesh between July 2018 and February 2019. The results are mixed, and varied significantly from country to country. Patriarchal behaviours are less dominant in the workplace for Indian women, whereas major challenges for Bangladeshi women come from their male colleagues. Proxy representation is still a significant form of male domination in India, while this is not a serious issue in Bangladesh. However, the interference of politicians is another form of male domination which restricts women from effective participation in local councils in India and Bangladesh. Harassment is extensively used to control women in politics in Bangladesh, whereas this is less exercised in India. Religion is no longer a dominant barrier to women’s political participation in either countries. Women members in both countries should fight against patriarchal behaviour and male domination in order to create an environment where they can talk about women’s interests in the decision-making process.
AhmedKU (2008) Women and politics in Bangladesh. In: IwanagaK (ed.) Women’s Political Participation and Representation in Asia. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, pp. 276–296.
2.
AminuzzamanSM (2011) Local governance innovations: An assessment of the challenges for mainstreaming local governance support program. In: JamilIAminuzzamanSMAskvikS, et al. (eds) Understanding governance and public policy in Bangladesh. Master’s thesis in Public Policy and Governance Program, North South University, Bangladesh.
3.
AraF (2017) Women’s political participation in the context of modernisation: A comparative study of Australia and Bangladesh. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, Australia.
4.
AraFNorthcoteJ (2020) Women’s participation in Bangladesh politics, the gender wall and quotas. South Asia Research40(2): 266–281. DOI: 10.1177/0262728020915562.
5.
AustinZSuttonJ (2014) Qualitative research: Getting started. The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy67(6): 436–440. DOI: 10.4212/cjhp.v67i6.1406.
6.
BanRRaoV (2008) Tokenism or agency? The impact of women’s reservations on village democracies in South India. Economic Development and Cultural Change56(3): 501–530.
7.
BegumA (2012) Women’s participation in Union Parishads: A quest for a compassionate legal approach in Bangladesh from an international perspective. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies35(3): 570–595. DOI: 10.1080/00856401.2012.699885.
8.
BloorMWoodF (2006) Conversation analysis. In: BloorMWoodF (eds) Keywords in Qualitative Methods. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, pp. 39–43. DOI: 10.4135/9781849209403.
9.
BryldE (2001) Increasing participation in democratic institutions through decentralization: Empowering women and scheduled castes and tribes through Panchayat Raj in rural India. Democratization8(3): 149–172. DOI: 10.1080/714000213.
10.
BuchN (2010) From Oppression to Assertion: Women and Panchayats in India. London: Routledge.
11.
CaldwellJC (1982) Theory of Fertility Fecline. New York: Academic Press.
12.
ChathukulamJJohnMS (2001) Empowerment of women panchayat members: Learning from Kerala (India). Asian Journal of Women’s Studies6(4): 66–101. DOI: 10.1080/12259276.2000.11665894.
13.
ChattopadhyayRDufloE (2004) Impact of reservation in panchayati raj: Evidence from a nationwide randomised experiment. Economic and Political Weekly39(9): 979–986.
14.
ChowdhuryFD (2009) Problems of women’s participation in Bangladesh politics. The Round Table98(404): 555–567. DOI: 10.1080/00358530903151748.
15.
ChowdhuryFD (2013) Women’s participation in local governments in Bangladesh and India. In: 4change Limited (ed) The Impact of Women’s Political Leadership on Democracy and Development: Case Studies from the Commonwealth. London: Commonwealth Secretariat, pp. 64–85.
16.
DahlerupD (2006) Women, Quotas and Politics. New York: Routledge.
Democracy Watch (2015) Constraints of Women’s Political Participation in the Local Government and Political Parties at Grassroots of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.
19.
DuttaS (2012) Power, patronage and politics: A study of two panchayat elections in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies35(2): 329–352.
20.
FranceschetSKrookMLPiscopoJM (2012) The Impact of Gender Quotas. New York: Oxford University Press.
21.
HossainMA (2012) Influence of social norms and values of rural Bangladesh on women’s participation in the Union Parishad. Indian Journal of Gender Studies19(3): 393–412. DOI: 10.1177/097152151201900303.
22.
HughesMMPaxtonPClaytonAB, et al. (2019) Global gender quota adoption, implementation, and reform. Comparative Politics51(2): 219–238.
IslamSTIslamE (2012) Barriers and scope of political participation of women in local government of Bangladesh: Union Parishad perspective. Journal of International Social Issues1(1): 71–85.
25.
IwanagaK (2008) Introduction: Women and politics in Asia: A comparative perspective. In: IwanagaK (ed.) Women’s Political Participation and Representation in Asia: Obstacles and Challenges. Copenhagen: NIAS − Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, pp. 1–22.
26.
JayalNG (2006) Engendering local democracy: The impact of quotas for women in India’s panchayats. Democratization13(1): 15–35. DOI: 10.1080/13510340500378225.
27.
KabeerN (1999) Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women’s empowerment. Development and Change30(3): 435–464.
28.
KalaramadamS (2018) Presence into participation and representation: Gender quotas in local governance in India. Journal of South Asian Development13(1): 1–23. DOI: 10.1177/0973174118757630.
29.
KaushikAShaktawatG (2010) Women in panchayati raj institutions: A case study of Chittorgarh district council. Journal of Developing Societies26(4): 473–483.
30.
KenworthyLMalamiM (1999) Gender inequality in political representation: A worldwide comparative analysis. Social Forces78(1): 235–268. DOI: 10.1093/sf/78.1.235.
31.
KhanMAraF (2006) Women, participation and empowerment in local government: Bangladesh Union Parishad perspective. Asian Affairs1(29): 73–74.
32.
KhanSZ (2018) The Politics and Law of Democratic Transition: Caretaker Government in Bangladesh. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
33.
KondoN (2008) Institutionalization of ‘public sphere’ under dependent rural development at grass-roots level: Panchayati Raj in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. International Journal of South Asian Studies1: 100–131.
34.
KrookML (2009) Beyond supply and demand: A feminist-institutionalist theory of candidate selection. Political Research Quarterly63(4): 707–720. DOI: 10.1177/1065912909336275.
35.
MalhotraASchulerSR (2005) Women’s empowerment as a variable in international development. In: NaraynD (ed.) Measuring Empowerment: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives. Washington, DC: The World Bank, pp. 71–88.
36.
MasonKOSmithHL (2003) Women’s Empowerment and Social Context: Results from Five Asian Countries. Washington, DC: Gender and Development Group, World Bank.
37.
MayaramS (2002) New modes of violence: The backlash against women in the Panchayat system. In: KapadiaK (ed.) The Violence of Development: The Politics of Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India. New Delhi: Kali for Women, pp. 393–424.
38.
MillsAJDureposGWiebeE (2010) Encyclopedia of Case Study Research. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. DOI: 10.4135/9781412957397.
39.
MohantyB (2003) Women’s presence in Panchayats (village councils) in India: A new challenge to patriarchy. Paper presented at the conference on Women and Politics in Asia, Halmstad, Sweden, 6–7 June 2003.
40.
MuellerU (2016) Lost in representation? Feminist identity economics and women’s agency in India’s local governments. Feminist Economics22(1): 158–182. DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2015.1086810.
41.
NorrisPInglehartR (2001) Women and democracy: Cultural obstacles to equal representation. Journal of Democracy12(3): 126–140.
42.
PandayPK (2008) Representation without participation: Quotas for women in Bangladesh. International Political Science Review29(4): 489–512. DOI: 10.1177/0192512108095724.
43.
PandayPK (2010) Can local government reform empower women socially? Experience from Bangladesh. Journal of Critical Studies in Business & Society1(1–2): 94–119.
44.
PandayPK (2013) Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh: Institutional Reforms, Actors and Outcomes. New Delhi: Springer.
45.
ParveenS (2008) Access of rural women to productive resources in Bangladesh: A pillar for promoting their empowerment. International Journal of Rural Studies15(1): 1–8.
46.
PaxtonP (1997) Women in national legislatures: A cross-national analysis. Social Science Research26(4): 442–464.
47.
PhillipsA (1995) The Politics of Presence. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
ProdipMA (2015) Women’s participation and decision making power after the Local Government Act of 2009: A study of local government (Union Parishad) in Bangladesh. Master’s dissertation, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand.
49.
RahmanMKhanAR (2018) Challenges and coping strategies of women leaders at the local level in Bangladesh. Italian Sociological Review8(1): 43–63. DOI: 10.13136/isr.v8i1.155.
50.
RaiSM (2005) Reserved seats in South Asia: A regional perspective. In: BallingtonJKaramA (eds) Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers. Stockholm: IDEA, pp. 174–184.
51.
RaiSMBariFMahtabN, et al. (2006) South Asia: Gender quotas and the politics of empowerment – a comparative study. In: DrudeD (ed.) Women, Quotas and Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 222–246.
52.
ReynoldsA (1999) Women in the legislatures and executives of the world: Knocking at the highest glass ceiling. World Politics51(4): 547–572. DOI: 10.1017/S0043887100009254.
SenG (1997) Empowerment as an approach to poverty. Background paper to the Human Development Report, 1997. Bangalore, unpublished paper.
55.
ShrivastavaN (2009) The progress of Indian women from 1900s to present. Honors thesis 76, University of Connecticut, USA.
56.
ShvedovaN (2005) Obstacles to women’s participation in parliament. In: BallingtonJKaramA (eds) Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers. Stockholm: IDEA, pp. 33–50.
57.
SultanMHasanBMKhondakerIS, et al. (2016) Women’s representation in Union Parishad. Local Governance Programme Sharique-III, BIGD, BRAC University.
58.
SundströmAPaxtonPWangY, et al. (2015) Women’s Political Empowerment: A New Global Index, 1900–2012. Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
59.
TekchandaniBKiranJSharmaP (1997) They Call Me Member Saab: Women in Haryana Panchayati Raj. New Delhi: Multiple Action Research Group.
60.
United Nations (UN) (2015) The World’s Women 2015: Trends and Statistics. New York: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division.
61.
VissandjéeBAbdoolSApaleA, et al. (2006) Women’s political participation in rural India: Discerning discrepancies through a gender lens. Indian Journal of Gender Studies13(3): 425–450. DOI: 10.1177/097152150601300305.
62.
World Bank (2001) Engendering development: Through gender equality in rights, resources and voice. A World Bank Policy Research Report. Washington, DC and New York: World Bank and Oxford University Press.
63.
ZamfiracheI (2010) Women and politics: The glass ceiling. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology1(1): 175–185.
