Gender Equality is still a Far Cry in Bangladeshi Politics
Ms. Munima SULTANA (Bangladesh)
Lucky Akter’s entry in the mainstream politics in Bangladesh was a little bit
dramatic. She was not well known by people until the first week of February this year
despite her success in leading her educational institution. It was some slogans she
delivered with her bold voice and encouraging words that jumped her popularity, raising
the number of supporters from hundreds to thousands, and even to hundreds ofthousands in a day or two. Sparked up by her strong message, hundreds and thousandsof people from all over the country gathered at Shahbagh Square in central Dhaka for
two to three months.
Lucky eventually emerged as a symbolic figure of the movement, which later cameto be known as the Shahbagh Movement in Bangladesh that was developed from protests
against the sentences given to the war criminals of the 1971 war of independence(Liberation War).
A meritorious student of a university college in Dhaka City, Lucky now dreams of
becoming a leader in national politics despite the fact that it is not at all an arena for
women in Bangladesh.
Female leadership in Bangladesh, even though bothruling and main opposition party chiefs are women,
remains almost void since long ago. Student politics has
been a popular mode of climbing up the leadershipladder to the national level in this country, but thisnevertheless has applied only to men so far. Female
student leaders either have not been able to survive inthe male-dominated political field or have become more
devoted to their profession and family, giving up theirambition to become leaders of the nation. This practicehas been continued for decades, and for this reason there
are only a very limited number of women leaders in theMs. Lucky Aktercountry.

A few more new faces of young female leaders joined Lucky as central figures in theShahbagh Movement. But after the movement, female leadership has turned weakcompared to the level when it was started, and they have become lost from view.
Lucky said, even in such a situation, she wanted to remain in the world of politics
and vowed to fight against male supremacy there. She stressed the improvements instudent facilities that have been realized under her able leadership, such as improved
food at canteens, bus services and hotels in educational institutions. Her leftist party
recognized her role in the student politics. Lucky said she would gain stronger leadershipwith better quality on her party level, and eventually boost it to the national level.
As Bangladesh has yet to create the culture of developing leadership througheducation, the emergence of young women in politics has been rare. The present
government has tried to encourage women to raise their voices, by increasing the numberof reserved seats allocated for women in the national parliament to 50 along with fivecabinet posts.
But still, true leadership in Bangladesh is a far cry as people continue to raisequestions about leaders’ quality and attack on their activism. Lucky is not exceptional.
Many people, mainly men, cast doubt on her leadership asking what she has done in
Shahbagh. They do not want to accept the fact that thousands of people felt strength at
Shahbagh when they listened to her slogans with powerful voice.
Amidst the situation, the trend that brings hope is that non-governmentalorganizations have been trying to promote women’s leadership in all sectors across thecountry. Since 2008, Bangladesh Association of Women Leader (BDAWL) has beenworking with great speed to raise awareness about the need for greater engagement by
women in political decision-making. So women are hopeful that their leaders will ascendfrom the grass-root level to the top level in the near future. Lucky and other young
leaders are also a beacon of hope for them.