View [The Dhaka University Studies, Part-D], Vol

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN BANGLADESH: AN UNENDING CYCLE Looking back during the Decades of the Eighties and the Nineties Ayesha Banu1 Abstract The main focus of this article is to look at the issue of Violence against Women and Girls (VAW/G) with particular reference to two specific incidents during the decades of the eighties and the nineties in Bangladesh i.e. the cases of Shabmeher and Yasmin. Death of these two young girls created agitation, led to mass reactions among general people and civil society. The two cases are purposefully selected as they are considered as critical in informing the conceptual framework of VAW/G and had been very influential in shaping the contours of women’s movement in Bangladesh. The paper explores the responses from the selected key figures from the women’s movement to analyse the two particular incidents in retrospect. The discussion revealed that despite disagreement, dilemma and divergence within the women’s movement, activism around these two cases was efficacious in claiming laws and legal measures advantageous to women. On the other hand, during its journey towards making a feminist construction, the women’s movement has been successful in bringing up contentious issues related to body politics. This paper also analyses women’s body and sexuality as a site of resistance where power is contested and negotiated. The paper uses data drawn from both primary and secondary sources using qualitative methods with a feminist lens. Keywords: VAW, women‘s movement, Shabmeher, Yasmin, state, feminist formulations Introduction Conceptualising VAW as A Common Issue for the Women’s Movements across the Globe It is indeed a very long and complex process to translate oppression, subordination, repression, harassment and degradation, misery and desolation—in the form of domestic violence, murder, suicide, dowry, trafficking, ‗women in prostitution1 (later Ayesha Banu, PhD, Professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka Social Science Review [The Dhaka University Studies, Part-D], Vol. 34, No. 2, December 2017 22 Banu formulated as ‗sex worker‘), rape, stalking (more commonly understood as ‗eve teasing‘), insecurity in private and public—into a framework of ‗Violence against Women‘, especially with the currently added dimension of Girls (VAW/G). VAW is largely understood and perceived as ‗natural‘, part and package of ‗ideal womanhood,‘ for example women being weak, soft, dependent, forbearing, long- suffering2 and non-protesting-- all fuelled by patriarchal values, internalised both by men and women, thus legitimising VAW by the society at large. The process of theorising VAW is difficult and a long one. It is even more contentious within the women‘s movement in terms of defining, identifying, highlighting, protesting and resisting around the issue of VAW which actually depend upon the context and historical setting of any given incident (Ahuja, 2009; BNWLA, 2001; Jahan & Islam, 1997; Jahan, 1994). Unpacking the already structured notions around gender, femininity, purity-pollution, rape and domestic violence, stalking and not to mention the wider domain of body politics (Brown and Garson, 2016), reformulating the notions to reach a transformational level and analysing from feminist perspective is not a smooth journey for the feminists. Reaching a consensus is often difficult. Moreover, when certain issues are discussed in hindsight (particularly for this paper), the changes and shifts that have taken place over time makes the argument even more complex. However, all over the world it is the presence and active functioning of the women‘s movements that has played a critical role in this process of transformation and labelling of subjugation of women and identification of issues as feminist for centuries. Recently published in the American Political Science Review (2012), a new study on violence against women conducted over the course of four decades and in 70 countries reveals that the mobilisation of feminist movements has been more important for change than the wealth of nations, nature of the state, democracy or left- wing political parties, or the number of women politicians (―Largest Global Study on VAW‖, 2012). It was revealed through this global research that the feminist movements that were autonomous from political parties and the state, women were found to be able to articulate and organise around their top priorities as women without having to be liable to broader organisational concerns of the state, national concerns or men‘s needs. Across several countries it was found that feminist movements and mobilisations urged governments to approve and ratify global and regional norms as well as agreements and conventions against violence. The study also indicated that strong, autonomous feminist movements were the first to articulate the issue of violence against women and the key catalysts for government actions. In Violence against Women in Bangladesh: An Unending Cycle 23 most cases strong and resilient women‘s movements commanded mass support and attention, and convinced the media that the issues were/are important for public discussion. In countries that were slower to adopt policies on/against violence, feminist movements leveraged global and regional agreements to push for local and even international policy change (Htun & Weldon, 2012). Over the last several decades, the women‘s groups and organisations in Bangladesh have also taken up issues of VAW and have organised protests and resisted alongside formulating feminist agendas. However, the forms were different at different points of time, structured by the context and multiple factors like nature of the state, political alliance of the organisations, and strength of collective forces, resilience of coalitions and networking, support from the civil society or of critical individuals at strategic point and so on. The main research objective of this study is to explore the cases of VAW and to reflect upon the responses from the women‘s movement; the focus here is to unfold the internal dynamics of the women‘s movement while looking at how did the movement perceive the issue, what was the nature of protest and resistance, what were the reactions from the key protagonists? How did they continue to seek justice and finally what were the strategies employed to address the issue of VAW by the movement. One must realise that the responses from the women‘s movement were not homogenous but varied, diverged, often fragmented, but rich in multiple texture and tones (Butalia, 1997; Manchanda, 2001). It was often hard to find a univocal voice. This paper thus broadly intends to look into the nature of responses and feminist articulations from the women‘s movement related to VAW in Bangladesh. Methodological Concern Against this background this paper attempts to locate two specific incidents in particular i.e. the death of Shabmeher in Dhaka Medical College and rape and murder of Yasmin in police custody. These two incidents were purposefully chosen to contextualise the issue of VAW in Bangladesh and how it was dealt with by the women‘s movement and by the general people at large. The cases of Shabmeher and Yasmin were selected from the long list of issues3 related to VAW in Bangladesh largely in order to mark the two milestones of the women‘s movement during the decade of eighties and nineties respectively. While selecting the issues the researcher has used secondary sources of data as well as conducted a series of in-depth interviews with the key personas4 of the women‘s movement to comprehend the unchartered terrain of the movement. 24 Banu As mentioned above, the research based on secondary sources was complemented with in- depth interviews (10 in total) with selected key protagonists of the women‘s movement. The respondents were purposefully chosen representing three major women‘s organisations of Bangladesh, namely; Bangladesh, Mahila Parishad (BMP), Women for Women (WfW) and Naripokkho (NP). Why and how these two cases demand special attention requires elaboration. Over the decades VAW came out as the main area of concern for the women‘s movement in Bangladesh. By and large the narration of the women‘s movement is all about resisting and addressing issues related to VAW, an unending vicious cycle emerging and re-emerging at different point of time in Bangladesh. During the decades of seventies, the main concern of the women‘s movement (and state) rotated around the atrocities against women committed by the then West Pakistani soldiers. After the independence in 1971, the women‘s movement was largely involved around the rehabilitation issues related to abortion, adoption of war children (recently formulated as victory babies), the title of Birangona by the state, quota system in the job market, training and skill development of the war survivors etc. This paper however, looks into the decades of eighties and nineties highlighting two particular incidents of VAW which was very much different from the scenario of the seventies. During the decade of seventies the main perpetrator was enemy soldiers, in the background of the War of Liberation. Apart from mass genocide women were raped, killed and abandoned in 1971. But during eighties and nineties, VAW continued to be a central issue in curtailing the opportunities and life choices of women within the independent country, committed by its own fellow citizens and by the state machinery. In this connection the above mentioned incidents were highlighted by the respondents as crucial to the understanding of VAW during the time frame chosen here. Relationship of conflict and cooperation, convergence and divergence are common with regard to VAW issues within the women‘s movement. The responses are also shaped and structured by the nature and form of VAW, degree of severity, when and where, to whom, socio-political characteristics of the perpetrator and the ‗victim‘. For example, there happens to be numerous cases of VAW, murder, killing, dowry death, stalking, suicide, rape and gang rape, but only a few receive public attention or are taken up by the women‘s movement.

Load more