New Delhi: Despite challenges across social and economic fronts, Bangladesh’s political landscape for years revolved around the enduring dominance of two influential women leaders who shaped the nation’s governance and policy direction.
As the South Asian nation heads towards elections, the first after the bloody and violent uprising of 2024, a strange vacuum occupies its political sphere as both the women stalwarts, or rather former prime ministers, are missing from action — Khaleda Zia is no more, and Sheikh Hasina is living in exile.
The nation, once seen as a flagbearer of women’s empowerment in the subcontinent, is seen to be falling deep into the abyss of growing extremism and radicalism.
Today, the political arena remains ‘completely’ devoid of women contestants owing to open threats and intimidation from radical elements.
According to a report, women make up less than four per cent of the candidates — out of 1,981 contestants vying for 300 parliamentary seats, only 76 are women candidates.
Political watchers are alarmed and worried over the shrinking participation of women contestants in the political race, seen as very crucial for retaining the ‘liberal’ character of the nation, as various new reports affirm fundamentalists are running the show under the current Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
It further informs that today, women’s participation has drastically reduced, and most political parties are relying on men to give tickets.
Though women’s representation in the nation’s politics remains limited, the period between 1991 and 2024 saw the era of two women — Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
Zia died in December 2025 after leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for four decades and serving three terms as the premier, while Sheikh Hasina was overthrown after the July 2024 uprising (having served as prime minister for five terms).
Many poll watchers claim that women are being censured and vilified, and the political atmosphere is vitiated by Islamist elements as their clout and influence have deepened in the post-Hasina era.
Many see Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party, as the key reason behind this oppressive shift, as it hasn’t nominated a single woman.
For more than three decades, Bangladesh was one of the few countries in the world to be led by women, yet there are almost none on the February 12 ballots.
Therefore, regardless of who wins next week, the outcome will see the country governed almost exclusively by men.
“I used to be proud that we had two women figureheads at the top, but that seems to have changed; women leaders have been pushed to the margins and are now being edged out,” Barron’s report said, citing a first-time voter in the poll-bound Bangladesh.
Notably, the South Asian nation with a population of about 17 crore elects 300 lawmakers to its Parliament, while another 50 seats are reportedly reserved for women and some other categories.
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Photo: IANS
–IANS
