Political Empowerment of Women in Urban Local Government : A Study on Urban Local Government in Bangladesh

This study aims to analyze the term 'political empowerment' and to sketch present condition of women word Councilors in the City Corporations of Bangladesh. There are number of factors those affect women's councilors' empowerment to functioning in the city corporations. The factors have tried to identify in this study with special attention to 'gender' as an intervening factor. From this context it seeks to critically appraise the extent of women's participation in urban local Government. The researcher has mainly focused on three issues. They are Councilor's perception on political empowerment, to identify the barriers to women's empowerment process and to asses whether 'gender' has any impact on women's political participation.This study suggests that the importance of women Councilors in the City Corporations as well as in political process should be recognized by the Government and political parties. Women Councilors have to achieve both quantitative and qualitative development. Women's perception of their political role could be enhanced through education, training, awareness, advocacy, employment, and legal measures. In fine software of mind of the social actors need to chang