Women’s voices must be taken into account regarding reserved women’s seats in the National Parliament. The decisions made in the discussions of political parties with the National Consensus Commission regarding reserved women’s seats and nominations for 300 seats must be changed. This must be highlighted in the proposed July Charter. If women are not listened to, women will make their own decisions during the vote. The speakers said this at a press conference organized by the ‘Women’s Political Forum’ today, Sunday.
The press conference was organized on the ‘Outline for Realizing Women’s Rights in National Elections’ at the Sagar-Runi Auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in Segunbagicha in the capital. They demanded that the number of reserved women’s seats be increased from 50 to 100 in direct elections and that political parties be given 33 percent nominations for women for 300 seats. The speakers said that they have started discussions with political parties to realize their demands.
Incidentally, the two-phased discussions of the National Consensus Commission with political parties ended on July 31. In the discussions between the parties and the commission, it was decided that the number of reserved seats for women in the National Parliament will remain at 50 as before and there will be a party-based nomination system. In the case of direct elections to 300 seats, the parties will nominate women in 5 percent of the seats. The parties will continue to nominate women candidates in each election at a rate of 5 percent increments until the target of nominating 33 percent women candidates is achieved. These proposals have been included in Article 24 of the proposed July Charter. Expressing their anger against this decision, women’s rights activists have demanded a fresh start in discussions with the parties.
In this context, a platform called ‘Women’s Political Rights Forum’ was launched on August 31. There are 12 organizations on this platform.
Today, human rights activist Farah Kabir said at a press conference, ‘Many people think that we are only sitting in Dhaka and discussing women. That is not the case. We have spoken to marginalized women from Teknaf to Tentulia across the country and their aspirations have been brought forward. They do not get the opportunity to come to Dhaka and speak for themselves. We are speaking on their behalf from our place of responsibility.’ She said, women want to participate in the elections as voters and as leaders. Women have the qualifications needed to participate in elections through accountability.
Professor Samina Lutfa of the Department of Sociology at Dhaka University said, ‘We have started talking to political parties. We have talked to several parties. More parties will be talked to. We hope they will understand the concerns of women.’ She said, the desire of women has been brought up in the forum discussion through recent surveys and talks with marginalized women. Women are seeking 100 reserved seats, and they are seeking direct elections in them. Political parties should take this information into account. If they understand which party is creating obstacles, women will make their own decisions. Political parties now have time to come back from the wrong path. Parties need to come out of the old political calculations. If women are not taken into account, the danger will be on the parties.
Publisher Mahrukh Mohiuddin said, direct elections in reserved seats are possible only in the 2026 elections. Women’s leadership is ready. If the political parties are willing, the methods of how to conduct direct elections in 100 seats can be discussed. The decision made in the political party’s discussion with the National Consensus Commission on women’s seats is beyond the expectations of women. This is disappointing. If the July Charter is passed ignoring the expectations of 51 percent of women, if the July Charter is passed without the voices of women, that charter will never be acceptable to women.
Labor leader Taslima Akhtar said that they are giving importance to two issues. One. Direct elections to 100 reserved seats. Two. At least 33 percent nomination of women in 300 seats. In the proposed July Charter, it has been decided to increase the reserved seats in the parliament from 50 to 100. However, it has not been clearly mentioned whether there will be direct elections in 100 seats. They said that they are interested in discussing direct elections in reserved seats and its methods.
Written statements were read out at the event by Professor Samina Lutfa, Taslima Akhtar, Nari Paksha member Sadaf Saaz Siddiqui and Sushmita Roy of Nari Mukti Kendra.
The written statements said that women’s representation cannot be limited to a symbolic level. Real empowerment of women must be ensured so that they can play an effective role in parliament by being elected by the people. A minimum of 33 percent representation of women in parliament must be made mandatory now and gradually increased to 50 percent. To implement this, legal obligations must be imposed on the candidate nomination process of political parties. Relying only on the goodwill of the parties will not increase women’s participation.
On September 9, a delegation of the Women’s Political Rights Forum met with the National Consensus Commission. The commission said that in principle the commission agreed with the forum’s proposal. They had long discussions and negotiations with the political parties on this proposal and the outline of the two reform commissions. But political parties have not agreed to increase the female nomination rate for the 2026 elections by more than 5 percent, citing a lack of qualified women to win the general election. In 2025, when women are advancing at every level of society in education, qualifications, workplaces, and movements, the attempt to portray them as marginalized within political parties is therefore extremely unfortunate.
The written statement further states that a letter was sent to the National Consensus Commission on September 10, demanding a meeting with all political parties. But the commission said that they would not be able to organize such a meeting. More disappointingly, the proposal of the forum in the chapter on women’s representation of the July Charter has not been taken into account in practice.
The written statement further states that the Representation of the People Order (RPO) should be amended to provide special financial assistance from the state treasury to all women candidates, whether nominated by political parties or independents. Provision should be made to allocate an amount equal to the election expenditure limit from the state treasury as a grant. As a result, many eligible women candidates will not be withdrawn from the elections due to financial constraints.
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