Female leadership and education
According to conventional wisdom, higher education increases the tendency of higher political participation as
education offers civic skills and political knowledge
Rozina Akhter Toma and Tazlina Zamila Khan
One of the most consistently documented relationships in the field of political behaviour is the close association between educational attainment and political participation. For some scholars, the reason for this relationship is clear: education gives citizens the skills and resources needed to participate in politics. American socialists Burns, Scholozman and Verba identified direct and indirect effect of education on political participation of men and women in the United States of America (USA) after decades of research. According to their findings, as direct effects, education enhances knowledge and skills regarding public debate, political analysis and current affairs which in turn motivate political participation.
In many societies in East Asia, enhancement in womens education, health and well being has been achieved, yet womens political participation is considerably lesser. South Asian countries show impressive achievements in womens political participation; for example, Sirimavo Bhandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka, Indira Gandhi and Pratibha Patil in India, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, and Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh served as head of the state. However, in this region, women whose positions are at a higher or national level seem possible due to having male mentor-ship or familial connection. Male politicians play important roles in exercising gender prejudices by allowing female relatives to be the members of parliament without systematic consideration of electing them. The deeply-rooted patriarchal society and cultural life are also found to create obstacle to womens political participation in South Asia according to an American sociologist Gail Omvedt.
There are two key factors, education and economic opportunities that provide resources and contacts for political activities. The higher the endowment of these two factors, the more the possibility of involvement in political participation. Women from Mongolia and Japan have higher education attainment but due to lack of transformation of educational advantages in achieving economic outcomes, womens political participation is not significant at all. In case of South-east Asia, education attainment by women is less than significant but economic empowerment has taken place where women are involved in factories and entrepreneurship. However, economic empowerment has not been able to lead to significant political empowerment in this region. The scenario of South Asia in this field is quite different than others. Money, power and political networks these three factors play vital role in engage in politics.
It is important to stress that even though education is considered as prerequisite for being in politics, the participation of illiterate rural women in zila parishad and panchayat proves that the lack of education and training does not sometimes constrain womens political participation in South Asia.
According to conventional wisdom, higher education increases the tendency of higher political participation as education offers civic skills and political knowledge. Scholars have developed three theoretical models of the relationships between education and political participation so far. The first education model is called the absolute education model which supports the conventional wisdom, considering education as a cause of political participation. It says, through gaining knowledge, education triggers the cognitive ability which develops the understanding of individuals role as a citizen as well as potentiality in political process. The model says, an increase in education causes the rising tendency of political participation. The other models -relative education model and the pre-adult education model are both on the other hand contribute in explaining education as the substitute of other factors. The pre-adult socialization model focuses on the factors such as socio-economic status of family, personal characteristics and political socialization during impressionable years. The factors also contribute in choosing the education which in turn influences political participation. Similarly, the relative education model, also referred as the sorting model asserts that education influences political participation through social status.
The model was supported by Nie, Junn and Stehlik-Barry in their book Education and Democratic Citizenship in America
In case of Bangladesh, the direct contribution of education for womens political participation cannot be measured by looking at the numbers of women in representative politics. The presence of quotas and reservations are the major way for women in Bangladesh to become a part of the legislature which also constrains their active participation in politics. In addition, even though womens participation at Union Parishad and Paurashava elections has increased, the responsibilities and duties are not well-defined and their involvement in decision making process is absent. Women are usually given areas such as education, health, women and children affairs, which are traditionally considered as womens domain.
Moreover, their lower political participation and the subordinate position can also be explained by pre-adult socialization model which focuses on socio-economic status of family, personal characteristics and political socialization during impressionable years. Bangladesh is a country with deeply embedded patriarchal social and cultural life and gender prejudice. The heads of three major political parties carry the trend of passing political leadership in the same family-either from one member to another or from one generation another. In this case, socio-economic status of family and political socialization both play important role in motivating women in Bangladesh to participate in politics; however, gender prejudices exercised by the male politicians in allowing female relatives in politics without systematic way causes the subordinate position and representation of those women in politics. This family controlled politics in Bangladesh is working as a tool of discouraging the involvement of poor or less affluent women in politics of Bangladesh.
Although the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has introduced quotas or reservations at the national and local levels for ensuring significant increase in womens political participation, yet women comprise presently only 19.7% of national parliament (69 seats out of 279) (The women in Public Service Project, 2014, 14).
In addition, families with lower socio-economic status are also influenced by patriarchal society and gender prejudice. There are immense number of girl students who get enrolled in primary and secondary education but loses their pace when they are about to enter tertiary education. This drop out rate is partly due to lack of necessary support to continue their education further. Incentives are provided by the GoB for the girls only up to higher and secondary level. Therefore, families with lower socio-economic status cannot bear the expense for further education causing drop out.
The entrance of tertiary education is a stage of life when they are supposed to start free thinking practice and love towards the branches of disciplines they are interested in. Even though only a handful number of girls go for university education, although having financial stability, passion and talent, women cant go abroad for higher studies due to traditional mindset of society. Familial surroundings create pressure on them to get married immediate after secondary and graduation and the girls are bound to vow to their peer pressure in this case because they are locked with the chained discipline of submissive tendency and obliged to obey the whims of their husbands or male counterparts. Thus every year thousands of girls perishing their passion for higher education and automatically suppress their understanding regarding politics and their political participation.
Different types of society set patterns such as early marriage with farewell to education, engage in household chores and obligation for reproductive roles imposed by society and family tradition also playing important role in discouraging Bangladeshi women to participate in politics. The age when girls start understanding surroundings using their own assessing ability they become bound to quit their quality formal education and child marriage is one of the major catalyst behind this reason. As the girls are getting married at the very tender age and their male counterparts are senior enough comparing wives age, reasonably husbands get more opportunity to dominate over wives choice, decision and freedom. As they get married at the very early age, they cannot reach up to the level of education neither they can manage a source of income through their education. Moreover girls parents feel relief after discharging the responsibility of their daughter to her husband. They view that husband is all in all for their daughter after marriage, so the girls burden shifts from parents to husband without their choices. Those women remain absolutely dependent handicapped mentally and financially on their husbands. Thus the wives live under the whimsical wills of husbands and cannot escape from both physical and mental violence against them. One day they become mothers, and these strategically handicapped mothers cannot help out of their children to come out of this vicious trap and therefore, the voice of Bangladeshi women is being suppressed in
politics.
Since Bangladesh is an agriculture based country, it has not always appreciated that women are considered as leaders. Having few exceptions, many qualified women cant make it out to participate in politics. Change must be started from family towards their perception on daughters, sisters, wives and mothers as this cannot be solved from top level if the bottom remains unchanged. The state has to take such initiatives that will create positive perception towards women and their capacity to face challenges in political domain.
The writers are students of Master of Development Studies- MDS programme of BRAC university
