Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract

This empirical study from Bangladesh shows how hidden patriarchy restricts women’s voting agency, with electoral pressure acting as gender-based violence. Using VAW 2015 data, it links husbands’ influence, education, wealth and absence to women’s autonomy, offering new GBV–politics insights.

Paper long abstract

Women’s participation in elections is often celebrated as democratic progress, yet participation alone does not guarantee substantive political agency. Using nationally representative data from the Violence Against Women (VAW) Survey 2015, this paper examines women’s independent voting choices in Bangladesh, conceptualising intra-household electoral pressure as a subtle but significant form of gender-based violence— where coercion, intimidation, and constrained autonomy operate within intimate relationships.

Voting agency is defined as the ability to vote freely without pressure from husbands or family members. Logistic regression results show that while most married women report voting freely, 14% do not—and among these, nearly 80% cite husbands as the source of pressure. Women’s tertiary education and household wealth are positively associated with voting autonomy, but the most influential predictors concern husbands: both higher husband education and his physical absence from the household significantly increase women’s likelihood of voting freely. These patterns suggest that patriarchal control is exercised through both normative expectations and close supervision.

Anchored in feminist theories of patriarchy, intra-household bargaining, and the capability approach, the paper argues that electoral coercion forms part of a continuum of gendered control that mirrors other forms of GBV. The study demonstrates the potential of GBV surveys for analysing political agency, revealing hidden constraints on women’s citizenship.

The findings highlight the need for voter education addressing intra-household coercion, gender-sensitive electoral safeguards, and broader empowerment initiatives that strengthen women’s bargaining power. Without freedom from patriarchal control, women’s votes may be counted, but their voices remain constrained.