ABSTRACT
women's political inclusion has had a chequered history in Bangladesh. Women were key actors within the Bengali nationalist movement but 15 years of military dictatorship and the rise of religious institutions within politics posed challenges to the advancement of women's rights. This chapter explores the political factors that affected the pace of adoption and degree of implementation of domestic violence policy in Bangladesh. The chapter explains how within a competitive clientelist political settlement, the informal relationships between the members of the policy coalition and the political elites were made possible because of the interplay between one powerful female minister's exploitation of extensive informal networks and the strong international pressure at a particular moment in the political cycle. It reveals the critical role played by the transitional caretaker governments used during electoral periods in Bangladesh, with this suspension of competitive clientelist politics offering the political space for activists and femocrats to form an alliance to drive the enactment of the law. However, implementation has not been as swift; although the law was enacted in 2010, four years later the rules of procedure were still being drafted.
