Are women proxy or surrogate leaders? empirical evidences from a few cases of the Union Parishad of Bangladesh

As a unit of rural local government, Union Parishad (UP) started functioning in the Indian subcontinent in 1870 but until 1997 there was hardly any scope for women's representation in the UP. In a traditional society like Bangladesh, following a reservation policy a huge number of women members have become leaders in the UP. At the same time, out of 4498 UPs, 24 women were directly elected as the Chairpersons in the UP. Against such a context, the paper is aimed at unraveling the research questions: Are these Women Chairpersons (WCs) proxy or surrogate leaders? and if so, what factors helped them become leaders at the community level? The paper is based on in-depth case study method. The findings revealed that WCs were the product of the family legacy, while some of them emerged as leaders using their social capital gained through NGO involvement and political network. In most of the cases, the women leaders entered into political space by using their family network and dynastic political legacy, being surrogates for their husbands or fathers or other relatives.