Editorial
Women in spite of being consistently fighting against existing centuries’ old patriarchal mindset and hierarchical social structure could hardly be successful in making a noticeable dent in the power structure. Men are still dominating decision making positions though some women have effortlessly succeeded in grabbing the highest positions in South Asian political governance. The reality is that there is no dearth of capable and competent women to hold decision making positions. Many factors are however responsible for marginalization of women in politics. Among them violence has been recognized as a major reason.
Women in politics are subject to a range of violence and intimidation that adversely affect their active participation in decision-making processes. Violence against Women in Politics (VAWIP) is a common problem faced by all countries throughout the globe and mostly by South Asian nations. The embedded and shuttle discriminatory policies and practices create hindrances for women to position themselves in power hierarchy. The culture of silence prevalent among women politicians due to domination of age old phenomenon of patriarchy can only be broken through consolidated efforts of like minded group of actors.
By realizing the need to develop collective regional agenda among national, international and regional stakeholders to increase the qualitative participation of women in politics by combating the issues of VAWIP, this quarterly bulletin BREAKING THE SILENCE has been attempted.
This bulletin will cover information on the issue of six countries of South Asia- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and bring together news, views, analyses and information regarding women in politics, violence against women in politics (VAWIP) and women in governance.
This first issue of BREAKING THE SILENCE comes as an initiative to raise the issue of violence against women in politics not only at national level but also at regional and international levels to nudge stakeholders into taking corrective actions.
This bulletin is an effort to seek out the substantive solution to the violence, the major obstacle of women in the career path of politics. It is an effort to ensure a bigger role for women in decision-making by creating congenial environment for women in politics to become a part and parcel of the democratic governance. It is an effort to break the deep rooted culture of silence that is prevailing in the political environment of South Asia. We anticipate larger participation from “the friends of women in politics” for breaking the culture of silence.
