Stimulating thinking on gender issues

Women in Bangladesh
From Inequality to Empowerment
Najmunnessa Mahtab
A H Development Publishing House.

This book is the outcome of the author's collection of papers prepared for seminars, workshops and conferences at home and abroad, enriched by her own teaching and research experiences. It deals with critical issues within the overall situation of inequality, giving rise to divide and discrimination within a sovereign state. The social process of empowerment, as the theme makes it clear, is a pragmatic and a much needed method to ameliorate what is a worsening situation.
The purpose of the book is to raise awareness, generate discussion, set people thinking, and ignite them to action to bring about attitudinal changes, a tough goal to achieve! The aim is to reawaken interest in the entire domain of gender relationship. This, then, is a study of relationships in the sociological perspective and a storehouse of resource material for academics and serious-minded readers.
Chapter 1 deals with women's studies in Bangladesh. Officially, Women and Development studies began in 1986 at Dhaka University and as a teaching and research area in the departments of Political Science, Sociology and Public Administration the following year. In 1990 this course was introduced in the departments of Anthropology and International Relations. At the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, a course offered on Gender and Development covers women studies.
The department of Women's Studies was inaugurated in May 2000, offering BSS (Honours), Masters, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees. The course development, linkages and networks are discussed here. Additionally, problems and challenges are highlighted as well.
The small volume is made up of nine chapters with related sub-headings. Chapter 2, Women in Bangladesh (Dimensions of Gender Inequality), is the core of the book with 33 sub-headings. The extent of inequality in the adverse situation of poverty is examined in the global context and within the country along the periphery of education, economy, health, politics, political parties and administration. All of that of course includes local governance, bureaucracy, judicial system and law.
Chapter 3 covers the education and training of women in Bangladesh with reference to the Beijing Conference as well as the National Education Policy and women's education. The systemic constraints and major challenges that confront women's education are highlighted here.
Chapter 4 (Working Women in Bangladesh: Problems and Challenges) begins with the status of and details pertaining to women in various employment sectors. The enormous limitations of women when working in the cabinet (leadership position) or down at the factory level, leading to gaps and schisms in gender, are discussed here. The main problems encountered by working women and ways of meeting the challenges conclude the chapter.
Women in Enterprise Development in Bangladesh (Chapter 5) cover poverty situations, micro-credit and the micro-credit programme-related NGO-MFIs, BRDB, PKSF, with a table on micro-credit impact study and misconception on micro-credit highlighting the issue. Micro-enterprise and entrepreneurship development touches on the feminist empowerment paradigm, the constraints/barriers and strategies for future development.
Impact of livestock, more specifically in the empowerment of women in the coastal fishing community of Bangladesh, is elaborated in Chapter 6. Women's role in fisheries, particularly in shrimp cultivation, fish drying and trading is discussed. Livestock development leads to poverty reduction among rural women.
Empowerment, as Chapter 7 points out, is an essential element in welfare, access, conscientization, participation and control level. It is 'a process of awareness and capacity building leading to greater participation in decision making, power and control and to transformative action (Karl:1995)'. Research studies have noted six general types of the process and these are grouped under cognitive, psychological, economic, and political process. In the context of Bangladesh's participation, democracy and governance are relevant to understanding the process of political empowerment.
The nine tables in the chapter provide details on participation of women in Parliament; reserved seats for women nominated by the majority party (1973-1996); percentage of successful candidates in National Parliament; women ward commissioners in reserved seats in the four city corporations; women's participation in union parishad elections; women in political parties; women in cabinet leadership positions; and representation of women at different levels in the administration. Women's political performance is determined by a patriarchal pattern.
Chapter 8 covers the participation of women in urban and rural local governance, with tables underlining women's participation in union parishad elections, and elected women commissioners in city corporations, and the attitudinal constraints encountered in the process.
Chapter 9 is on global and national milestones in women's advancement. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW, was established on 21 June 1946 to deal with human rights issues and adopted by the UN 33 years later in 1979. This was ratified by member states in 1981 to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. The only women specific convention consists of 30 articles and a unique definition of discrimination. The Optional Protocol adopted by the General Assembly in 1999 made CEDAW inclusive among other international human rights instruments.
Between 1975 and 1995, world conferences on women in Mexico, Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing, followed by Beijing +2000, and Beijing +10 2005 were significant milestones, particularly in the identification of 12 critical areas for action and achievement. Simultaneously, the Millennium Development Goals further recognised women's empowerment in eliminating poverty, hunger and disease.
In Bangladesh the milestones in women's advancement are clearly delineated in Articles 27, 28(1), (2), (3), (4) and 29 (1) of the Constitution. In addition, there are such women specific legislative measures as the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 amended in 1984, the Dowry Prohibition Act 1980 amended in 1982, the Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Amendment Act 2003, Acid Control Act 2002 and Acid Crimes Control Act 2002
Bangladesh withdrew its reservations in 1997 on Article 13(a) and Article 16 (1) (b) of CEDAW. Exceptions like Articles 2 and 16.1(c) remain.
Women in Bangladesh: From Inequality to Empowerment will not provide a panacea to the current situation. Its stated intention is not to do that, but to stimulate thinking and understanding and then ignite action for attitudinal changes within the gender genera. This book has not only succeeded in achieving this but has in turn aroused serious interest in many towards a furtherance of this endeavor with more focus on weaving the many aspects and arguments presented in the various sub-sections into a beautiful tapestry.
Farida Shaikh is a sociologist-management consultant.