Women in Bangladesh Parliament: Power, Politics and Substantive Representation

Bangladesh has its critical importance as a developing country with a Muslim majority and a traditional patriarchal society that has made significant gains in advancing women by introducing the quota. The paper argues that the presence of women in parliament does not automatically translate into substantive representation. Rather women’s ability to act for women may depend on their socio-economic backgrounds, institutional factors (electoral system, patterns of quota, gendered environment of parliament), organizational factors (position in standing committee and within the party), individual factors (dynasty connection, network, length of experiences) within which women MPs are operating. In this paper, more attention is given to the micro-level factors that are providing both constraints and opportunities for women MPs to represent more actively. It also takes into account various mechanisms in which the substantive representation for women parliamentarians is manifested.