There are no seating arrangements for the women at the Upazila Parishad offices, and they are rarely allowed to play a role in development activities in their area. The Upazila Parishad (Reintroduction of the Repealed Act and Amendment) Bill 2009 does not include any guidelines for the new posts. In the Union Parisad, proxy representation exists, which means male members of the family represent women Union Parishad (UP) members and many husbands help their wives with their work in the Union Parishads (Nazneen and Tasneem 2010). Many female members have participated in shalish (a social system for informal adjudication/justice) and many of them have presided over the shalish sessions. Various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and women's organisations training programmes that focus on alternative dispute resolution and human rights, support creating space for women to participate in these shalish. Women in Bangladesh feel more comfortable discussing issues like marriage, divorce, domestic violence, dowry or polygamy with the female UP members.