Women leaders on Wednesday called on the authorities to increase the number of reserved seats in parliament to 150 and introduce direct elections for them.
“To ensure effective representation of women in parliament, the number of reserved seats for women must be increased,” Fauzia Moslem, president of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, said at a roundtable discussion in the capital.
The roundtable, titled “Effective and Productive Representation of Women in Parliament: Direct Elections for Reserved Women’s Seats,” was organised by the Social Resistance Committee.
Fauzia Moslem explained that, currently, political parties nominate women for the 50 reserved seats in parliament.
However, this limits women to being party candidates, reducing their opportunities to play an effective role.
She further emphasised that, in addition to elections for general seats, at least one-third of the reserved women’s seats should be directly elected.
At the discussion, Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, said that to involve women in national development activities, the position of women in the National Parliament needs to be strengthened.
She said that ensuring at least one-third of women members are directly elected to parliament would greatly strengthen the protection of women’s rights and human rights.
During the discussion, several demands were raised. One of the key proposals was to increase the total number of seats in parliament to 450, with 300 general seats and 150 reserved seats for women.
It was also suggested that two general seats should combine to form one reserved women’s seat. Another significant recommendation was that women members in the reserved seats should be elected through direct public voting, ensuring greater democratic participation.
Furthermore, it was proposed that this arrangement should be maintained for a maximum of two or three terms to give women the opportunity to build their own electoral constituencies.
Former BNP lawmaker Nilofar Chowdhury Moni, Jatiya Party general secretary Shamim Haider Patowary, Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince, and Biplabi Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haque, among others, also attended the programme.
