National Discourses on Women's Empowerment in Bangladesh: Continuities and Change

Abstract

SummaryAs Bangladesh turns 40, improvements in women's wellbeing and increased agency are claimed to be some of the most significant gains in the post-independence era. Various economic and social development indicators show that in the last 20 years, Bangladesh, a poor, Muslim-majority country in the classic patriarchal belt, has made substantial progress in increasing women's access to education and healthcare (including increasing lifeexpectancy), and in improving women's participation in the labour force. The actors implementing such programmes and policies and claiming to promote women's empowerment are numerous, and they occupy a significant position within national political traditions and development discourses. In the 1970s and 1980s development ideas around women's empowerment in Bangladesh were influenced by an overtly instrumentalist logic within the international donor sphere. This led to the women's empowerment agenda being perceived as a donor driven project, which overlooks how domestic actors such as political parties, women's organisations and national NGOs have influenced thinking and action around it. This paper explores how these perceptions and narratives around women's empowerment have evolved in Bangladesh from 2000 to date. It studies the concepts of women's empowerment in public discourse and reviews the meanings and uses of the term by selected women's organisations, donor agencies, political parties and development NGOs. By reviewing the publicly available documents of these organisations, the paper analyses the multiple discourses on women's empowerment, showing the different concepts associated with it and how notions such as power, domains and processes of empowerment are understood by these actors. It also highlights how these different discourses have influenced each other and where they have diverged, with an emphasis on what these divergences mean in terms of advancing women's interests in Bangladesh.

Women’s Empowerment through Small-Scale Dairy Farming in Selected Areas of Bangladesh

“…Nazneen et al (2011) examined women's empowerment in post-independence Bangladesh and noted improvements in female education, treatment in health facilities, and participation in the labor force. However, due to traditional patriarchal attitudes, social and financial inequalities still prevail among men and women.…”

Climate change adaptation in Southwest Bangladesh: vulnerability and gender inequality

“…. There have been improvements in girls' education, attributed to government policies and a stipend for girls' primary education (Nazneen et al, 2011). In Khulna, girls outnumber boys at school until grade 10, with near universal primary education (Blunch & Das, 2015).…”

“…At the Upazila level, there is a requirement for the elected Chair to be accompanied by an elected Vice Chairman and Vice Chairwoman, who often has limited power. As Nazneen et al (2011) argue, improvements in terms of women's wellbeing have not been matched by structural and institutional improvements, in terms of political engagement, beyond symbolic and consultative roles. These institutional arrangements are expected to have impacts on the capacity for women and communities to adapt and respond to climate change.…”

“…As findings from Parveen (2009) indicate, the division of labour in rural Bangladesh is represented more by the absence of men in household tasks (as indicated above), rather than the absence of women in on-farm and off-farm commercial work. Nationally, there has been a significant increase in women's participation in formal employment, with much of this attributed to the garments sector (Nazneen et al, 2011), and the feminisation of agriculture (Sheuli, 2013). While the garments industry has yet to reach the Southwest, the feminisation in agriculture was confirmed, with many women engaged in both paid and unpaid farm work.…”

“…Across all sites, a significant growth in girls' education was noted, with current rates of girl's enrolment indicated to be at either 75 per cent (Hurka and Baintola) or 100 per cent (Chitolmari and Fakirhat). This growth was attributed to the government stipend introduced in the 1990s (see Nazneen et al, 2011), and increased consciousness that both girls and boys can and should and can be educated. Changes in family composition were also credited for improvements in education.…”