Women leaders on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to make the upcoming national election more women-friendly and ensure proper security for women before and after the polls, pointing out that they are often the most vulnerable during election-time violence.
“Incidents of mob violence and violence against women occur before and after elections. If special attention is given to such areas, women will feel safer,” said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Dr Fauzia Moslem at a dialogue with the Election Commission.
The discussion was held at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital as part of the Commission’s ongoing series of dialogues with different stakeholders ahead of the 13th parliamentary election, planned for early February 2026.
A total of 16 women representatives took part in the dialogue, chaired by Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin.
Dr Fauzia Moslem said only expressing hope for a gender-friendly election from the CEC is not enough.
“To make the election gender-friendly, the mindset of all stakeholders involved in the process must be gender-sensitive. We may not be able to change everyone, but those directly involved in the electoral process can be trained in this regard,” she said.
Chief of the Women’s Affairs Reform Commission Shireen Parveen Haque said although the country’s population has increased, the number of parliamentary seats has remained unchanged.
“We proposed increasing the number of seats from 300 to 600. Each constituency should have two seats — one exclusively for women and the other open for all. We also support the proportional representation system,” she said.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad General Secretary Maleka Banu said, “We want elections free from violence against women. Female candidates often face gender-based propaganda and harassment during campaigns. We fear such incidents may happen again. Female voters are also subjected to various forms of intimidation. We expect the EC to take effective measures to prevent these.”
Nijera Kori Coordinator Khushi Kabir said if women can win through direct votes, they can play their role in Parliament. “The culture of mob violence discourages women from going to polling stations…..You (EC) must also ensure safety for women voters,” she said.
