South Asia: Violence hinders women's political participation, empowerment

June 20, 2008 - (The Daily Star) Violence against women in politics hinders their political participation and empowerment in South Asian countries, said speakers yesterday at a regional experience sharing programme.

At the programme titled 'Regional Experience Sharing Programme at National Level of the Status of Women in Politics,' they highlighted the state of women's political participation, misconceptions about violence against women in politics (VAWIP) and different forms of violence against them in politics in the region.

While presenting the keynote paper, South Asia Partnership (SAP) International Executive Director Dr Rohit Kumar Nepali said violence against women in politics takes place in the forms of murder and physical assault, rape and sexual exploitation, threat and coercion, character assassination, stigmatisation, kidnapping their children and social boycott for being involved in politics.

He suggested promoting South Asian Network of Women in Politics for combating issues of violence against women in politics, promoting social protection mechanism for reducing vulnerability of women politicians from the adverse effects of violence and establishing regional knowledge sharing platform to raise the voices of VAWIP.

Exploration of alternative policies for addressing issues of violence against women in politics in South Asia is important while advocating, lobbying and campaigning at national level on the issues of gender-insensitive political culture and relevance of breaking the culture of silence should be stressed, he added.

However, a three-year project titled 'Violence against Women in Politics' (VAWIP) has been taken by the SAP International to overcome the barriers of women's participation in politics, he added.

South Asia Partnership (SAP) Bangladesh organised the programme at Brac Centre Inn where the speakers demanded 33 percent reserved seats for women in the parliament through direct election.

The speakers said the state of women's representation in the parliament is very meagre with only 2 percent, while it is 33 percent in Nepal, 21 percent in Pakistan and 8.3 percent in India.

DemocracyWatch Executive Director Taleya Rehman said, “In Bangladesh we have reserved seats for women in the parliament, but the tragedy is that they are only selected for those seats. That is why, the women cannot play effective role in decision making. They don't have power, cannot raise their voice and often they don't have knowledge about constituency.”

If the demand for one-third reserved seats for women in the parliament would be met, 33 percent women's representation in political parties would be seen gradually, she said, adding that our political parties lack democratic practices.

Prof Zerina Rahman Khan of Public Administration department at Dhaka University (DU) said violence against women in politics is the biggest hindrance for a bigger role of the women in politics as a whole.

The speakers also stressed the need for converting the National Women Development Policy into a law to sensitise the law enforcement agencies regarding women politicians and to announce election schedule within a short time to facilitate women's participation in politics.

Moderated by SAP Bangladesh Executive Director Syed Nurul Alam, the programme was also addressed by DU Prof Ishrat Shamim and representatives of different rights organisations.

From:http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43481