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Women rights activists and professionals have rejected the National Consensus Commission’s decision of not increasing the reserved seats for women in parliament from the current provision of 50.

Their resentment and frustration were revealed at a discussion on Saturday over the matter as the NCC’s decision did not reflect at least the recommendation of the Constitutional Reform Commission and Electoral Reform Commission for doubling the reserved seats for women in parliament.

The NCC decision over the matter does not go any near the recommendation of the Women’s Reform Commission’s that wanted 50 per cent seats reserved for women in parliament.

Moderated by former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Choudhury, the discussion titled ‘Our demand: no decision on women without including women’ was organised by non-governmental body Campaign for Popular Education at the BRAC Centre in the capital.

Rejecting the commission and its decisions, the speakers also castigated the national consensus commission for taking vital decisions without involving women representatives.

Rasheda K Choudhury, also CAMPE executive director, said that although there was a promise to build a discrimination-free Bangladesh, the interim government formed commissions, except for the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission, mostly without including women representatives, and the consensus commission itself did not have a single woman representative.

‘The decision not only disappointed us but also made us angry… We will not tolerate the tendency to keep women behind,’ she stated.  

Shaheen Anam, executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation, questioned how such important decisions could be made solely through discussions with political parties, ignoring the voices of women who represented more than 50 per cent of the population.

‘We simply reject this decision,’ she said.

Women’s Affairs Reform Commission member Maheen Sultan said that they had already raised concern that the NCC lacked representation as it did not include diverse groups, including women and national minorities, while commission vice-chairman Ali Riaz himself admitted at public events that it ‘will be elite consensus’.

‘We did not want any elite consensus. We wanted representation from civil society where citizens’ voices would be heard,’ she stated.

Whenever compromises were made to appease political parties, women’s issues were the first to be sacrificed, Maheen Sultan observed. 

She also alleged that although chief adviser Muhammad Yunus told them that the report prepared by the Women’s Reform Commission would be submitted to the NCC, but Ali Riaz later informed them that the NCC would not consider the report as it was not within their ‘Terms of Reference’.

Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Fauzia Moslem stated that in the post-July uprising period misogynistic attitudes and activities were encourage.

‘Harassing women for their attire, organising mob attacks on them and abolishing women quotas all are encouraged following the uprising,’ Fauzia Moslem stated.     

Centre for Policy Dialogue research director Khondaker Golam Moazzem termed the process currently unfolding in Bangladesh was one of building a ‘moderate Islamic state.’

‘I predict a dangerous situation—not before, but after the election. The political future that is emerging suggests that the situation for women would become even more precarious,’ he said.

Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir, Women’s Reform Commission chairperson Shireen Parveen Haque, Naripokkho president Gita Das, and Jahangirnagar University economics professor Sharmind Neelormi also spoke at the event.

Amid disagreements, the political parties requested the NCC to make a final decision on women’s representation in parliament.

On July 30, the commission announced that majority political parties had agreed to gradually increase women’s nominations at an increasing rate of 5 per cent in every parliament election until women nominations reached 33 per cent, or for 100 seats, of their total nominations. 

According to the NCC, majority political parties have further agreed that once women occupy 33 per cent of the total seats in parliament, the current provision of 50 reserved seats will be cancelled through a constitutional amendment.

The Women’s Reform Commission has recommended increasing the number of seats in parliament to 600, with 300 reserved for women, and advised that these reserved seats be filled through direct elections.