Patriarchy and Women’s Parliamentary representation in Bangladesh

Abstract: The low representation of women in almost every legislative form of life is an international con-cern. In reality, very small portion of women representations are seen in the government in pro-portion to their population. Now a day women participation in the parliament is assumed neces-sary in modern democracy because decent number of women representation is noticed as crucial for appropriate government. In connection to above discussion my paper tried to reveal the rea-sons hindering women’s representation in Bangladesh parliament. Case study design is a good option to find out the actual factors causing women under representation in the parliament. Re-search question is set from the logical point of view identifying the elements or factors which are influential on women representation. Posing question consisted with “why” and “how” has helped me revealing the identification of the factors and created a broad aspect of discussing their impact on women representation. For this reason, my study becomes explanatory study as it requires explaining the situation. Furthermore, I tried to figure out if the religion is really a factor causing women low representation or it is a manipulated factor? To problematize my analysis portion I have found “Patriarchy” and “supply and Demand model” theories most suitable. After my going through my discussion, the reader will see I have focused and sorted out male domination as a prime factor hindering women’s representation in the parliament and which also makes impact on all the other factors causing women under representation in the parliament. I made some recommendations for future studies at the conclusion part as well.