Empirical evidences on how women leaders changing governance in the grassroots based local government of Bangladesh

Abstract

From colonial era there was hardly any scope for women's representation in the UP, a local government unit in Bangladesh. Entering into the trajectory of local governance, since 1997 to till date the women leaders (WLs) ceaselessly struggled to ensure their participation and by doing so WLs have been able to achieve their limited participation and thereby as an aftermath of their constrained participation they have brought some changes in rural governance. Against such a backdrop, the paper purports to unravel the research questions: i) What were the challenges WLs encountered towards playing their role in the UP? ii) How did these WLs change rural governance through their leadership performance? The paper is based on in-depth case study method. The findings revealed that women's major challenges towards ensuring their participation were male domination, corruption, faulty legal provision, and the autocratic structure of the UP. Amidst their limited scope of participation in the UP some women leaders have changed local governance though rendering social justice and community services, ensuring women's rights in the UP.