Acceptance of female political leadership in society: Voters' perspective
Friday, 26 December 2008
S. S. M. Sadrul Huda, Ayesha Tabassum, Dr. Jashim Uddin Ahmed, Dr. Salim Rashid
FEMALE involvement in public life is not always welcomed or appreciated in the male dominated society of Bangladesh. The question of female political leadership is thus questioned. Their capability is also always underestimated. That's why when the question of leadership arises the prominent choice is a male figure.
Whether women could make better leaders has not been carefully studied in Bangladesh. Though the country experienced female political leadership for the last 15 years, people still have doubt about the effectiveness of female political leadership. In the forthcoming parliamentary election of 2008, 50 female political leaders are contesting 55 seats. Bangladesh Awami League (AL) mentioned in their election manifesto that they will increase the reserved female seat in the parliament to 33 per cent. It is also mentioned that in direct parliament voting, 100 seats will be reserved for women political leaders by AL, though another large party, BNP, did not mention anything about female seats in their election manifesto. About 30 per cent of the voters will cast their votes for the first time. Interestingly, the number of female voters exceeds their male counterpart for the first time in this country. The political parties are giving more importance to the new voters. One of the parties even dedicated the election manifesto to the young voters. There is a large proportion of voters from the younger generation who have different ideas and ideals compared to the older generations. In most of the cases, they hate religious extremism and have modernised. The purpose of the survey is to identify the acceptance level of female political leadership among the educated and urban first time voters.
A study was conducted to identify the acceptance level using a judgmental sampling over 300 persons from urban educated class who are voting for the first time. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted by Centre for Policy Research and Social Responsibility (CPR2). The survey was conducted during the first two weeks of December and asked 15 questions. Opinions were sought on, whether is it practically possible for a woman to lead the nation, whether the previous female political leadership was satisfactory in Bangladesh, whether the previous female political leadership is responsible for present political crisis, what are the good leadership qualities and whether women can possess all those qualities compared to men, whether it is difficult for women to achieve leadership even if they possess all those qualities.
The demographic profile of the sample is as follows. They comprised of 65.3 per cent males and 34.6 per cent females. Majority of the respondents, that is around 85 per cent of them were from 18-25 age group and the rest of the respondents were from 26-30 age group. The duration of the respondents' living in the city also varied-16.8 per cent were living in city for 1-5 years, 12.1 per cent for 6-10 years, 28.2 per cent for 11-15 years, 36.2 per cent for 16-25 years, and 6.7 per cent were living in city for more than 25 years. Among the respondents, the majority, 74.3 per cent were students, 15.1 per cents were service holders, 6.6 per cent were businessmen, and 2.6 per cent were housewives. The respondents were from different educational background. A large number of respondents that is 68.2 per cent were below graduate, 22.3 per cent were graduate and another 5.4 per cent completed masters degree. Most of the respondents, that is, 85.5 per cent were Muslims, 11.9 per cent were Hindus, 1.3 per cent were Christians, and 0.7 per cent was Buddhists. Among the respondents, 86.7 per cent were unmarried and only 13.2 per cent were married. More than 69 per cent of the participants agreed that they have respect for religious customs. While responding to the question whether the religion allows women's leadership in politics, 58.9 per cent responded as yes and 41.1 per cent responded as no. Only 21.3 per cent of the participants had particular political ideology and 78.7 per cent did not have any particular political ideology. The key findings of the survey are presented here.
Among all the respondents, 50.7 per cent mentioned that it is possible for a woman to lead the nation successfully. Of them 42.4 per cent are males and 65.5 per cent are females. Among all the respondents, 46.8 per cent disagreed with the statement that previous female political leadership was satisfactory in Bangladesh. Among them 56.6 per cent are male respondents and 34.7 per cent are female respondents. Among all the respondents, 54 per cent agreed that previous female political leadership is responsible for present political crisis. Again the percentage of male and female agreement is respectively 55.5 per cent and 50 per cent.
The respondents were asked to identify the good leadership qualities. Among all the respondents, 64.4 per cent treated honesty as the most important quality, 24.5 per cent mentioned patriotism, 12.4per cent mentioned hard work, 12.2 per cent mentioned intelligence, 11.6 per cent mentioned decision making power, another 10.3 per cent mentioned the ability to control, 9.8 per cent mentioned analytical ability, 9.6 per cent mentioned communication skill, another 9.6 per cent mentioned personality, and only 3.5 per cent mentioned statesmanship. Among all the participants, 49.7 per cent responded saying that most of the times women can have all the above mentioned qualities. Around 40 per cent of the males and 67.3 per cent of the female participants said that most of the times women possess all the above mentioned qualities. Among all the participants, 43.4 per cent mentioned that achieving political leadership for a female is difficult most of the times even if she possesses all the good qualities in comparison with men. The degree of optimism was higher in the female respondents in this respect with 60.6 per cent saying that it is possible for the females to become leader whereas their male counterparts were slightly less optimistic with 55.5 per cent agreeing with the statement.
According to the survey result, 48.4 per cent of the participants mentioned that it is generally possible for women to do all jobs that a man can do. Among all the participants, 63.1 per cent agreed that men and women can do a job with equal level of efficiency. Around 64.2 per cent participants agreed that men and women should have equal footing in every sphere of life.
It is evident from the present study that female political leadership is generally accepted among the urban educated class though the degree of acceptance differ between the male and female groups. The attitudes of male respondents are less favourable towards female political leadership than their female counterparts. So, the present study can be an evidence of women empowerment in society. It can also be an indicator of changed attitude of the people towards women. Further research is needed to explore more of this issue. (Of the writers S. S. M. Sadrul Huda is Assistant professor, East West University; Ayesha Tabassum, Lecturer, Eastern University; Dr. Jashim Uddin Ahmed, Assistant Professor, North South University; Dr. Salim Rashid, Prof. Economics, University of Illinois, USA)
*The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and not of the institutions they represent.
FEMALE involvement in public life is not always welcomed or appreciated in the male dominated society of Bangladesh. The question of female political leadership is thus questioned. Their capability is also always underestimated. That's why when the question of leadership arises the prominent choice is a male figure.
Whether women could make better leaders has not been carefully studied in Bangladesh. Though the country experienced female political leadership for the last 15 years, people still have doubt about the effectiveness of female political leadership. In the forthcoming parliamentary election of 2008, 50 female political leaders are contesting 55 seats. Bangladesh Awami League (AL) mentioned in their election manifesto that they will increase the reserved female seat in the parliament to 33 per cent. It is also mentioned that in direct parliament voting, 100 seats will be reserved for women political leaders by AL, though another large party, BNP, did not mention anything about female seats in their election manifesto. About 30 per cent of the voters will cast their votes for the first time. Interestingly, the number of female voters exceeds their male counterpart for the first time in this country. The political parties are giving more importance to the new voters. One of the parties even dedicated the election manifesto to the young voters. There is a large proportion of voters from the younger generation who have different ideas and ideals compared to the older generations. In most of the cases, they hate religious extremism and have modernised. The purpose of the survey is to identify the acceptance level of female political leadership among the educated and urban first time voters.
A study was conducted to identify the acceptance level using a judgmental sampling over 300 persons from urban educated class who are voting for the first time. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted by Centre for Policy Research and Social Responsibility (CPR2). The survey was conducted during the first two weeks of December and asked 15 questions. Opinions were sought on, whether is it practically possible for a woman to lead the nation, whether the previous female political leadership was satisfactory in Bangladesh, whether the previous female political leadership is responsible for present political crisis, what are the good leadership qualities and whether women can possess all those qualities compared to men, whether it is difficult for women to achieve leadership even if they possess all those qualities.
The demographic profile of the sample is as follows. They comprised of 65.3 per cent males and 34.6 per cent females. Majority of the respondents, that is around 85 per cent of them were from 18-25 age group and the rest of the respondents were from 26-30 age group. The duration of the respondents' living in the city also varied-16.8 per cent were living in city for 1-5 years, 12.1 per cent for 6-10 years, 28.2 per cent for 11-15 years, 36.2 per cent for 16-25 years, and 6.7 per cent were living in city for more than 25 years. Among the respondents, the majority, 74.3 per cent were students, 15.1 per cents were service holders, 6.6 per cent were businessmen, and 2.6 per cent were housewives. The respondents were from different educational background. A large number of respondents that is 68.2 per cent were below graduate, 22.3 per cent were graduate and another 5.4 per cent completed masters degree. Most of the respondents, that is, 85.5 per cent were Muslims, 11.9 per cent were Hindus, 1.3 per cent were Christians, and 0.7 per cent was Buddhists. Among the respondents, 86.7 per cent were unmarried and only 13.2 per cent were married. More than 69 per cent of the participants agreed that they have respect for religious customs. While responding to the question whether the religion allows women's leadership in politics, 58.9 per cent responded as yes and 41.1 per cent responded as no. Only 21.3 per cent of the participants had particular political ideology and 78.7 per cent did not have any particular political ideology. The key findings of the survey are presented here.
Among all the respondents, 50.7 per cent mentioned that it is possible for a woman to lead the nation successfully. Of them 42.4 per cent are males and 65.5 per cent are females. Among all the respondents, 46.8 per cent disagreed with the statement that previous female political leadership was satisfactory in Bangladesh. Among them 56.6 per cent are male respondents and 34.7 per cent are female respondents. Among all the respondents, 54 per cent agreed that previous female political leadership is responsible for present political crisis. Again the percentage of male and female agreement is respectively 55.5 per cent and 50 per cent.
The respondents were asked to identify the good leadership qualities. Among all the respondents, 64.4 per cent treated honesty as the most important quality, 24.5 per cent mentioned patriotism, 12.4per cent mentioned hard work, 12.2 per cent mentioned intelligence, 11.6 per cent mentioned decision making power, another 10.3 per cent mentioned the ability to control, 9.8 per cent mentioned analytical ability, 9.6 per cent mentioned communication skill, another 9.6 per cent mentioned personality, and only 3.5 per cent mentioned statesmanship. Among all the participants, 49.7 per cent responded saying that most of the times women can have all the above mentioned qualities. Around 40 per cent of the males and 67.3 per cent of the female participants said that most of the times women possess all the above mentioned qualities. Among all the participants, 43.4 per cent mentioned that achieving political leadership for a female is difficult most of the times even if she possesses all the good qualities in comparison with men. The degree of optimism was higher in the female respondents in this respect with 60.6 per cent saying that it is possible for the females to become leader whereas their male counterparts were slightly less optimistic with 55.5 per cent agreeing with the statement.
According to the survey result, 48.4 per cent of the participants mentioned that it is generally possible for women to do all jobs that a man can do. Among all the participants, 63.1 per cent agreed that men and women can do a job with equal level of efficiency. Around 64.2 per cent participants agreed that men and women should have equal footing in every sphere of life.
It is evident from the present study that female political leadership is generally accepted among the urban educated class though the degree of acceptance differ between the male and female groups. The attitudes of male respondents are less favourable towards female political leadership than their female counterparts. So, the present study can be an evidence of women empowerment in society. It can also be an indicator of changed attitude of the people towards women. Further research is needed to explore more of this issue. (Of the writers S. S. M. Sadrul Huda is Assistant professor, East West University; Ayesha Tabassum, Lecturer, Eastern University; Dr. Jashim Uddin Ahmed, Assistant Professor, North South University; Dr. Salim Rashid, Prof. Economics, University of Illinois, USA)
*The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and not of the institutions they represent.