Struggle of the Reserved Women Councilors at City Corporations for Building Political Congruence in Bangladesh

  ABSTRACT : Struggle for building political congruence of women councilors at city corporation‘s reserved seats is literally complex and multidimensional in Bangladesh due to various persisting challenges. Historically women were largely neglected and their participation in politics had been insignificant. In recent years, a remarkable progress has been seen in terms of women‘s leadership and their participation in political arena. Particularly, city corporation is considered as one of the vital organs of local government and its reserved seats for female councilors through direct electoral process within their constituency signifies undoubtedly a milestone for women empowerment in Bangladesh. However, the elected female councilors of the reserved seats can hardly play a crucial role in decision making process due to lack of genuine women empowerment in city corporations. This article tries to explore the process, challenges and prospects of building political congruence on the part of women councilors at reserved seats of city corporations against the backdrop of male superiority and the incidence of female subordination due to the patriarchal social system in Bangladesh. This article puts forward recommendations to build a strong political congruence for women councilors elected to the reserved seats at city corporations by figuring out various structural and attitudinal challenges in reality and a way out to overcome these challenges, which can eventually enable them to play active role and also to come out of their current status of being merely a symbolic councilor.

Key Concepts: Women empowerment, reserved women seats, direct election, political congruence, City Corporation