DIGNITY AND RIGHTS OF WOMEN
IN BANGLADESH
INTRODUCTION
In presenting a clear view on the "Dignity and Rights of women in
Bangladesh" we need to acquaint ourselves with
the various terms used in the title. (i) "Dignity" means self-respect.
For any person it depends upon how much one
considers oneself useful or worthwhile in the society. It is natural
that this feeling would lead one to think, how much
respect and concern one might expect from the fellow members. However,
one's own thought about self or
his/her credibility does not in fact express her dignity. It depends
upon how much importance the society gives her or
attaches to her activities. (ii) "Right" indicates one's due claim due
to ethical or legal reasons. Whatever might be the
ethical, moral, parental rights of a woman, it is always designated by
law. In some societies the due rights of various
groups of men or women are not given, because either those are not
spelt out in laws or, their religious faith teaches
them to do so. This happens mostly in the less educated, poor and
religion-biased countries. On the other hand, in
The developed countries more or less equal rights for all persons
including women are exercised under law.
In the above context, we find that the "Dignity and Rights of women in
Bangladesh" in the contemporary period is the
outcome of a number of factors, prominent among which are the
following : (a) Type and nature of jobs the women
do. (b) The importance attached by the society on these jobs. (c) The
extent of women's liberty essential for self
evaluation. (d) Rights of women allowed by the society. (e) Legal
rights sanctioned to the women and their
execution. Investigation of these points in the light of history and
under various influencing factors like economic
activities, culture and cultural activities, rituals, religion etc.
would lead one to understand the present state of
the "Dignity and Rights of women in Bangladesh".
FAITH AND WOMEN'S RIGHT :
In History there are major divisions like Ancient, Old, Modern,
Contemporary etc. If one intends to know details of
the further past, one has to depend upon Religion". Modern science has
proved beyond any doubt that religions
were and are the creations of some men, who formulated it because, (i)
they believed like that, (ii) they
endeavored to establish order and peace in the turmoiled society
through it or (iii) they wanted to ensure
their selfish interest and at times, familial gains through it.
However, in a considerable part of the world religion
is extremely deep-rooted and in those countries the religious
teachings considerably influence their
rules and
activities. The story of expulsion of the first race of men from the
Eden (heaven) has been explained
in the story
of Adam (or Manu) and Eve (or Hawa etc.). This story exists in almost
all the religions in slightly different forms.
In this story the reason for
expulsion of Eve (Hawa) from the heaven was Eve's fault. Naturally,
the societies having
blind faith in
religion blame the womenfolk for the grave and crucial fault that led
to their great misfortune (i.e.
expulsion from the heaven).
Naturally, the women in the religious-dominated countries suffer from
the consequences through ill behaviors from
their male partners.
Fortunately the women in the societies believing in science and logic
are free from such
blame.
It is interesting to note that all the preachers of religions were and
are males and so also are the gods. This indicates
the dominance of men in the "religious domains". It also indicates
that men in general were not prepared to accept
any 'female' as preacher or god. It was natural that the preachers of
religions formulated those by enriching the
rights of men and curtailing
those of the women. The religious preacher who were in urgent need of
men's muscle
power either for punishing the non-
believers or expanding their religious territory endeavored to do the same by
'pleasing the men' at the cost of
'limitation of women's rights'. Ever since the beginning of history,
the wealth of the
family has been managed by the males. In case the wealth would have been
managed by the females, the
preachers would have formulated religions differently. In some religions the
marriage relation can be seceded within
a very short time. For obvious reasons, the husbands belonging to such
societies do not prefer to keep
properties in
the names of their wives for obvious reasons. In some religions a
person's inheritance is counted in the
father's line
only. In the above reality where it has been proved that the preachers
were in need of gratifying the male-folk, no
one
should look for 'ample rights' of women in any religion, nothing to
say about 'equal rights'.
HISTORY AND WOMEN'S RIGHT :
In the large arena on history we shall see that during its greater
part, political activities including all sorts of
administration, warfare, choice of migration, formation of guilds and
groups etc. were in the hands of the kings,
who necessarily were males. Only in few cases the women could rule the
territory as Queens because of
strategic reasons. Since 'assassination of the king' was a regular
affair in some regions, at times the real
king
Used to remain hidden behind such a queen for safety. In the palace
the queens were mostly adored for their
youth and beauty. The proverb, "the queen rules the king" is
over-exaggerated. It was fabricated by the
imaginative poets as expression of their own adoration of beauty and
consolation for the helpless queens".
In case of economic activities like agriculture, animal raising,
industry, trading etc. the women were used in processing
of agro-products, raising the cattle, selling milk-products (in
Brindabana, India), selling sura (liquor) (in Egypt,
Afghanistan etc.) etc. In case of trading, dancing and sura-serving
women (known as Saki) were used for pleasing
the prospective buyers. The ownership of the land, cattle, products
etc. necessarily remained in the hands of the males.
In the recent days many real estate properties and trading houses are
seen to bear the names of women as 'owners'.
However, in most cases if not all, this is done not as a gesture of
goodwill, but as a means of befooling the
anti-corruption authorities.
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS :
Now we shall investigate the various factors that determine the
position of a woman in a society. First of all we shall
discuss the type and nature of jobs the women do. In almost all the
societies the women do the jobs of house
keeping and cooking. However, there is no dearth of illiterate women
who can do these jobs. They are known as
maids and their services are available at a cheap rate. Such a
situation has undermined not only the economic,
but also the conceptual value of such jobs in the society. Naturally
the housewives suffer from inferiority complex, which
we may consider as 'negative dignity'. In the developed countries, the
jobs of house-keeping and cooking are
managed both by the husband and the wife. It happened so because in
those countries maid-servants are
extremely costly and superior-quality gadgets for house-keeping and
cooking are available. This naturally solved
the problem the feeling of 'dignity of women'.
An illiterate woman does not have any valid reason to feel dignified,
where as a well educated woman definitely
has got reasons. These days, women read in all subjects of learning.
Now there is no dearth of women Scientists,
Pilot, High-ranking army personnel etc., not to say anything about
doctors, engineers, accountants, teachers
and administrators. When the women get such degrees and work in such
positions, the society gives them
dignified positions. Also they get better treatment in the family for
being 'earning members'.
Child-raising is definitely a dignified job for the women and all the
religions and societies endorses the same.
The educated and service-holder women cannot give much time for it.
The modern societies have extended
help to such mothers through maternity leaves, day care centre etc.
There was a time when there was little scope for a woman to get
educated and hence most of them were illiterate.
Such women used to suffer from inferiority complex and there was no
one to help them. But when their children
could become successful in life, they were given dignified positions
in the society. These days, however, an illiterate
or less educated lady has no way of feeling dignified for such reason,
because there is ample scope of women's
education in the country.
From the above we find that there happened lots of changes in the
status of Dignity of women in the land of
Bangladesh. In short we may narrate these changes through the following lines :
(a) Education : Earlier there was little scope of women's education in
the country. As such illiteracy or little learning
was accepted in the society. However, the dignity of such women was
measured in terms of house-maintenance and
raising of children and finally, in the status of their children.
Nowadays, when there is ample scope of women's education in
Bangladesh, illiteracy or less education is considered
as indication of less calibre and such women are considered as less
dignified. Higher education adds to the dignity
of a woman. Important and worthwhile job further increases the same.
However, ill-educated children again lessen
mother's dignity.
(b) Religion : The religious societies used to add dignity only to
those who strictly followed religious rituals including
prayer, dress-code, veil-system etc. Those who learnt western
education and accepted jobs were looked at with
humiliation.
Nowadays, however, adherence to religious customs is given less
importance and higher education is considered
to enhance the women's dignity. The ultra-modern society even
considers the old religious faiths as obsolete and
back-dated.
(c) Child bearing and raising : These two were and still are
considered as extremely dignified job for the women.
In the modern age less number of children get praise.
(d) Housekeeping and cooking : Since education and specialized skills
are not required for these jobs and maid-
servants are available in the country at cheap rate, this job is not
considered as dignified.
(e) Children : In all cases, educated and moral character children add
to the dignity of the mother, where as ill-
educated children decreases the same.
(f) Dowry : Earlier dowry given by the bride's father used to add to
the dignity of the bride. Nowadays it is considered
as consolation or gratification for the bride's shortfall.
(g) Wealth or money : It does not increase dignity of women, but
increases the number of flatterers.
(h) Finally, good deeds including contributions for noble cause
increases women's dignity, where as involvement
in bad and immoral activities lessen the same.
RIGHTS : The society determines the rights of various members,
including the women. Some of those are done
as unwritten rule or convention and some, as written documents. Since
the men have acted as the leaders or
administrators in the greater part of history and chalked out these
rights, it was natural that they were privileged.
Some religions also have prescribed discriminatory rules for the
women. In some religion one man can marry four
women at a time, where as one woman has to remain satisfied with only
one husband, the husband can secede
the relation with extremely short-time verbal notice, which the wife
cannot. These indicate that such religions
do not endorse equal rights for the women. It is encouraging that the
modern society believes in equal rights and
has ignored such discriminatory provisions.
Now we shall mention the present status of women's rights in a global
context in various fields.
(a) Right to vote : By the 1980s women could vote virtually everywhere
in the world, except for a few Muslim countries.
As of mid-2005, women were allowed to vote in all countries where men
could vote excepting however, Saudi Arabia.
In 2005 there were 12 female national leaders in the world, including
8 heads of state (3 monarchs and 5 presidents)
and 4 heads of government (prime ministers). In 2005 women made up
almost 16 percent of legislative bodies
worldwide, compared to 11 percent in 1999 and 9 percent in 1987.
(b) Economic status : Women today constitute nearly 70 percent of the
world's poor. In 2002 women held only 15.7
percent of corporate executive positions in the 500 largest companies
in the United States.
(c) Education : While primary school enrollment for girls now roughly
equals that of boys, women constitute about
two-thirds of the world's one billion illiterate adults. Of the more
than 100 million children who drop out of school before
completing the fourth grade, two-thirds are girls.
(d) Reproductive rights : Contraception is available in most
countries, with the exception of a few fundamentalist
Islamic nations, such as Iran. However, women in many countries are
too poor or uneducated to obtain effective
birth control. Abortion is legal under specific circumstances in many
industrialized Western nations.
FIGHTS FOR THE RIGHT : The "Women's Rights" have been defined as the
rights that establish the same social,
economic, and political status for women as for men. There have
happened numerous endeavors and
revolutions to establish Women's rights and to abolish discriminatory
rules on the basis of sex.
The supporters of Women's rights from the United States and other
countries have endeavored to build international ties among such
activists since the late 19th century. They have formed international
advocacy groups and organized women's conferences for attaining equal
rights for women. Women have used these meetings to focus on such
issues as equal pay and equal economic and educational opportunities
for women. The International Congress of Women was founded in 1888, it
demanded equality of access to education and industrial training,
equal wages for equal work, and a single standard of moral conduct for
men and women. The International Woman Suffrage Alliance was
established in 1904 in order to secure the right to vote for women of
all nations. During the 1930s another group known as Equal Rights
International campaigned for the passage of a treaty that would
establish equal rights between men and women. In 1935 a coalition of
international women's rights organizations brought the treaty before
the League of Nations, which voted to further study the issue of
women's legal status.
The UN encouraged equality in the workplace for men and women in the
Convention Concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for
Work of Equal Value in 1953 and the Convention Concerning
Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation in 1960. Over
100 countries ratified these measures. In 1975 the UN launched the
Decade (1975-'85) for Women. During this period the international
groups organized a series of conferences throughout the world and drew
leaders and delegates from developing and industrialized nations. The
Decade for Women culminated in the 1985 UN Nairobi Conference, which
was attended by 375 delegations of women from nations around the
world. The United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women was held
in Beijing, China, in 1995. Over 17,000 people registered for the
event, including delegates from nearly 200 countries.
CONCLUSION : The dignity and rights of women are decided both by the
people of the society and the rules
Of the country. The dominance of the males in religion, economic
activities, administration and political activities
have led to the formulation of discriminatory systems and rules all
over the world. The more women became
educated the stronger and vocal turns their fights for equal rights.
By this time they have been able to achieve
A lot in the developed countries. However, women's dignity and rights
have not yet been established in the
poor and religion-biased countries. Bangladesh, a country with rich
heritage of extreme honor for "women as
mother" has been entangled in numerous dilemmas throughout the
history. The traditional belief and faith of the
Land established the women as "mother gods" (in traditional faith the
number of mother gods exceeds the number
Of male gods), extremely powerful person as "mother" in the family and
honor to be shown to the womenfolk.
Such a land came under religions, some of which prescribed the
position of women (who were previously destined
to have been the sole leader of the family as mother) so vulnerable as
to be thrown out of the family with the
pronouncement of few words. When such religious dogmas came in direct
clash with the traditional faith, the
Conventional system won over all others. Now even with religious
provisions there are negligible cases of
"quick cessation" (Talaque) and many of the women's rights have been
established by law. The dignity of women
Has also been attached with her education, service to the society etc.
In the political scene, in the country there
still exists fanatic religious parties. And these people endeavor to
curtain women's rights and lessen dignity in
the name of religion. The tussle still goes on. We hope soon there
will be brighter days when no such tussle would
exist, and the women would be able to earn for them "equal rights" in
the society.
-----------------------------------------
SHRABANI SARMA, B. Sc. Engg. (Chemical), BUET 2008.
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