No women on tickets of 30 parties

Women remain largely absent from the electoral race, with 30 of the 51 political parties contesting the upcoming national election fielding no female aspirants at all, Election Commission data shows.

 The figures lay bare a stark imbalance -- despite women making up half the population, their presence among candidates remains marginal.

Women are visible during movements, but during elections they are sidelined. Parties could have supported women financially, but even at the policy level, no such initiative is visible.

— Jesmin Tuli, member of Electoral Reform Commission

 Of the 2,568 aspirants for the February 12 polls, only 109, just 4.24 percent, are women. Seventy-two of them were nominated by parties, while the rest are independents.

The exclusion is most pronounced among Jamaat-e-Islami, which submitted 276 nominations without a single woman, followed by Islami Andolan Bangladesh with 268.

Several other parties, large and small, have also fielded exclusively male candidates, reinforcing what female activists describe as tokenistic and limited efforts at inclusion across the political spectrum.

No party, including BNP, has nominated more than 10 women, underscoring how limited and symbolic these gestures of inclusion remain.

Several parties, including Bangladesh Khilafat Majlis (94), Khilafat Majlis (68), and the Bangladesh Islami Front (BIF) (27), have similarly shut their doors to women, fielding only male candidates.

The Liberal Democratic Party – LDP fielded 24 candidates, Jonotar Dal 23, Bangladesh Sangskritik Mukti Jote 20, and Bangladesh Congress 18 candiadtes—all without female representation.

Jatiya Party (JP) (13), Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan (11), Bangladesh Nationalist Front (9), and Bangladesh Jasad (9) have excluded women entirely.

The list continues with Nationalist Democratic Movement (8), Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Andolan – BNM (8), Bangladesh Muslim League – BML (7), Zaker Party (7), Bangladesh Nezame Islam Party (6), and Gano Front (6). Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Sirajul) (5) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh (5) also show no female participation.

Jatiya Ganatantrik Party – Jagpa (3), Islami Oikya Jote (3), Bangladesh Kalyan Party (3), Bangladesh Jatiya Party – BJP (Partha) (3), and Bangladesh Development Party (2). At the very bottom of the list, Ganatantri Party, Bangladesh National Awami Party, Bangladesh NAP, and Bangladesh Samadhikar Party each fielded just one candidate—and none of them women.

 Jesmin Tuli, a former additional secretary of the Election Commission and a member of the Electoral Reform Commission, said the electoral process remains deeply male-dominated.

 "Elections are not women-friendly," she said, noting that major parties nominate very few women while smaller parties simply follow their lead.

 Financial barriers, social attitudes, and the absence of muscle power further discourage women from contesting polls, she added.

 "Most women who do come forward belong to political families. Very few rise through grassroots activism," she said, adding that parties have failed to build women's confidence or meaningfully include them in party committees.

 "Women are visible during movements, but during elections they are sidelined. Parties could have supported women financially, but even at the policy level, no such initiative is visible."

Among the 21 parties that did nominate women, the numbers remain modest. Jatiya Party (GM Quader) and newly registered BaSaD (Marxist) each nominated nine women.

 BNP, led by a woman for more than four decades, gave tickets to 10 women out of 328 aspirants for the 300 seats. The party has asked multiple leaders to collect and submit nomination papers for single seats in a number of constituencies. 

 Several others, including JaSaD, Ganosamhati Andolon, Basad, and AB Party, nominated between three and six women each.

 Even parties born out of mass movements with strong female participation showed limited inclusion. The NCP, formed by leaders of the July uprising, nominated three women among its 44 aspirants.

The Representation of the People Order (RPO), 1972, requires parties to reserve at least 33 percent of committee posts for women, including at the central level.

 Yet almost all parties have failed to meet this obligation. In 2021, the Election Commission extended the deadline to 2030.

 Munira Khan, president of the Fair Election Monitoring Alliance, called the situation "deeply frustrating".

 "Women contribute significantly to the economy and make up half of the population, yet their representation in parliamentary nominations is negligible," she said.

 "We shout about democracy all the time, but this picture of internal democracy within political parties is profoundly disappointing," she added, questioning whether parties truly enforce rules mandating women's inclusion in their structures.

 Shireen Huq, chief of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission, said she was "disappointed but not surprised" by the low level of women's representation.

 "This scenario is a manifestation of a male-dominated political tradition and culture," she said.

 Anticipating such an outcome, Huq said the commission had proposed a 50-50 model of representation, under which each constituency would have both a general seat and a reserved seat for women.

 The proposal would expand parliament to 600 members, with women contesting the reserved seats against women and being elected through direct votes, she added.