Men, money and muscle still guard the gates of politics

The vision of an inclusive democracy, forged on the streets during the July uprising, has collided with a formidable structural wall.

While the movement promised to remove discrimination from society, including those enforced by patriarchy, the February 12 election this year has instead exposed a pattern of systemic exclusion.

Initial ambitions for gender parity were incrementally diluted, with demands for 100 direct seats eventually shrinking to just 84 female candidates contesting the election, of whom only seven secured seats -- a disparity that reflects a failure to penetrate the country’s true epicentre of political influence.

Ahead of International Women’s Day today, The Daily Star sat with five female candidates, a professor of women and gender studies at Dhaka University, and a senior leader from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.

Their collective experiences surrounding the recent national polls reveal that the structures of power remain guarded by deeply entrenched patriarchy, which manifests through immense capital, systemic muscle power, and coordinated digital warfare.

Full article.