Women in Bangladesh Local Government

The Governments of Bangladesh have announced various policies and programs to empower women. The Local Government (Union Parishad) Second Amendment Act 1997 of Bangladesh is such an initiative which creates the provision of one third reserve seats for women in the local government bodies to be elected directly by the voters. This law creates new opportunities and enable women to step-in into the elective positions of grass-roots level local government and to raise their voices and influence the decisions taken in the Union Parishad. The study finds that the elected women members seriously lack material, human, and social resources required to be able or empowered enough to influence decisions at the Union Parishad.