Female leadership and education:is there any relation at all?

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Rozina Akhter Toma and Tazlina Zamila Khan | Published: April 16, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

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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 women's education, health and well-being has been achieved, yet women's political participation is considerably less. South Asian countries show impressive achievements in women's 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 states. 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 an obstacle to women's 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 is, the more the possibility of involvement in political participation is.  Women from Mongolia and Japan have higher education attainment but due to lack of transformation of educational advantages in achieving economic outcomes, women's 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 from others. Money, power and political networks play a vital role in engagement in politics.
It is important to stress that even though education is considered a 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 women's 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 an individual's 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 - both on the other hand contribute to explaining education as the substitute for other factors. The pre-adult socialisation model focuses on the factors such as socio-economic status of family, personal characteristics and political socialisation during impressionable years. The factors also contribute to 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 women's political participation cannot be measured by looking at the number 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 women's 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 women's domain.
Moreover, their lower political participation and the subordinate position can also be explained by pre-adult socialisation model which focuses on socio-economic status of family, personal characteristics and political socialisation 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 to another. In this case, socio-economic status of family and political socialisation both play an 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 women's political participation, yet women comprise presently only 19.7 per cent of national parliament (69 seats out of 279).
In addition, families with lower socio-economic status are also influenced by patriarchal society and gender prejudice. There is an immense number of girl students who get enrolled in primary and secondary education but lose 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 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 of girls go for university education, although having financial stability, passion and talent, women can't go abroad for higher studies due to traditional mindset of society. Familial surroundings create pressure on them to get married immediately 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 saw their passion for higher education perish  and automatically suppress their understanding regarding politics and their political participation.
Different types of social ills such as early marriage with farewell to education, engagement in household chores and obligation for reproductive roles imposed by society and family tradition are also playing an 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 catalysts behind this reason. As the girls are getting married at the very tender age and their male counterparts are senior enough compared to 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 daughters to their husbands. They view that husbands will be all in all for their daughters after marriage, so the girls' burden shifts from parents to husbands without their choices. Those women remain absolutely dependent and 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 their children to come out of this vicious trap and therefore, the voice of Bangladeshi women in politics is being suppressed.
Except for a few exceptions, many qualified women can't make it out to participate in politics. The family must change their perception about daughters, sisters, wives and mothers as this cannot be solved from the 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.

Rozina Akhter Toma and Tazlina Zamila Khan are the students under the Master of Development Studies (MDS) programme at BRAC University. Email: tazlinazamila@gmail.com