BANKE,rajnitik dal ma mahilaharulo kam pratinidhitva. DEC 16 - At a time when the issue of increasing women’s reservations in both government and private sectors is being raised, district level political parties including few organisations are found to have low representation of women. The 35-member Banke district committee of the ruling Nepali Congress has only five women as its members including one holding the position of joint secretary. Lahuram Chaudhary, acting president of the committee, said that efforts are underway to ensure more women’s participation in the committee. Likewise, the 67-member district party committee of the CPN-UML has only 10 women as its members, while the 51-member district committee of the UCPN (Maoist) has 11 women representatives including those holding the positions of vice chairperson, secretary and members. When asked about the reason behind the low participation of women in the district level committees of the political parties, Ratna Khatri, secretary of district party committee of the UML, said that they have initiated efforts to ensure more participation of women representatives in the committee. He said that female leaders themselves have to increase their efforts to ensure 50 percent participation of women in district level committees of the political parties including various posts and services of the local administration and non-government organisations. According to the District Education Office, Banke out of 381 government schools in the district, only nine have women as chairperson of their school management committees. Likewise, the District Forest Office said that out of 118 community forests in the district, only 12 community forest users’ groups are led by women. According to the community forest development guidelines, 2065, there should be at least 33 percent women representation in each community forest users’ group and a woman should hold one of its key five positions. Similarly, out of 80 organisations associated with the NGO Federation of Nepal, seven have women serving in its executive level positions. Damodar Acharya, district level leader of UCPN (Maoist), said that all should unite to increase women participation in both government and private sectors. He, however, said that women’s participation in his party is increasing in comparison to past years.