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Ensuring Women's Participation in Development Process

by Zafrunnaher Shelly and Sohel Ibne Ali
***During the last four decades, various policies and conventions have been adopted and implemented by the United Nations and many countries of the world aiming for ameliorating the condition of women. The women movement in Bangladesh has also gathered momentum from this.***
ABOUT half of the world's population is female. Although most countries of the world guarantee total equality of sexes, discrimination against women is still a major social problem the world over. Even at the end of the 20th century. women do not enjoy the same rights as men.
Discrimination against women still persists in varying degrees In different societies of the world. Although women have qualities same as or similar to men. the cross cultural trend is towards male dominance and female subordination. Women often do not achieve competence or skills equal to men due to lack of opportunity. As a result, a huge disparity between men and women exists tn terms of status, rights, ownership of and control over properties and their respective sex roles in every sphere of life. Thus women have been neglected, deprived of their rights and have often become victims of physical and mental torture. The evil trend of using women as commodities is still upward. The world labour market is also indirectly controlling the standard of women's live — women provide two-thirds of the total labour expended In economic activities but earn only a measly tenth of the total income. Seventy per cent of the women live under the poverty line, two-thirds of are illiterate and 80 per cent of women and children are homeless. This is the prevalent condition of women in general In the world today with a much higher degree of severity in the third world countries in particular.
Condition of Women in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world. Although about half of the country's population is female, a vast majority of women have not yet been involved In the development process. Although women have registered some success in economic, social, political and educational fields, no significant change has taken place in their overall position in society. Nevertheless, a positive trend of women's participation and change In their po-
sition has started to take shape in the family, workplace, political arena, administration. policymaking and mainstream economic process. But once again, discrimination between men and women is still so acute that it is a stumbling-block to women's development and thus overall national development. Several agencies of socialization systematically reinforce the existing patterns of discrimination. The root of this discrimination starts in the family. A girl is discriminated against in terms of food, healthcare, education etc. while preferential treatment is given to the boy. Thus a male child grows up to be self-reliant. On the other hand, a girl child encounters innumerable restrictions that cause her individuality and natural abilities to suffer heavily and she remains ever dependent on the men folk.
Women have fallen behind in all sectors of the society. Women's participation in education. culture and the pursuit of knowledge has been traditionally discouraged. This has caused not only women but the entire nation to fall behind.
Because a child learns the fundamental lessons of life from its mother, only educated mothers can make an educated nation. The pursuit of knowledge has been made obligatory for both women and men by religions as well. Nonetheless, there is no reflection of this truth in the society. Rather, women have been forced to remain captive in the house only to give birth, take care of children and render other services to the family. There is not even any social recognition of their relentless service; even no gesture of sympathy Is made to them for their hardship.
Besides, may degenerative rites like dowry, polygamy, child-marriage, hllla marriage and discriminatory laws pertaining to divorce and property inheritance cause women, whether educated or illiterate, rich or poor, urban or rural, to suffer untold physical and mental torture. So many pathetic incidents take place everyday that hardly any eyebrows are raised nowadays: if is as though this is how things are supposed to be. However, the startling
fact is that most of these incidents of torture is caused by family members. The discriminatory inheritance law also adds to the misery. Women inherit lesser share of property according to the law. Even after that, she sometimes has to relinquish whatever little share she gets under pressure from family members. So women are more prone to poverty than
Women are once again the underdogs when it comes to receiving public service. Per capita amount for medical treatment In Bangladesh is 24 taka for men and only 18 taka for women. Over 13 per cent of girl children suffer from malnutrition compared with 11.9 per cent of male children. The number of maternity deaths is 3 • every hour in Bangladesh. (Source: Dally Sangbad. 15 May. 1999, Aporajita). Negligence and poverty cause women to die from malnutrition.
A huge disparity between men and women prevails in the education sector also. To elaborate. the rate of female education in 1992 was 20.3 per cent and that for men was 34.6 per cent. Registering only a slight Increase, the rate of women education has now gone up to only 23 per cent. The percentage in rural areas Is much less than in urban areas. In addition, the drop-out rate of women from school is more than men. Many people believe that the primary task for women is taking care of a family. Furthermore, as it is difficult to arrange marriages for women without dowry, parents deem it wise to save money as much as possible for dowry purposes rather than spending it on their education. Also, the number of women finding employment out of the total number of educated women is very small.
Women are tortured outside their homes in different ways due to rampant male chauvin-
ism Statistics show that 3,824^ cases of torture on women took place over three years — from August 1995 to August 1998 (Source: Daily JanoKantho. 3 August. 1998). Among the cases, there are abductions, rapes and murders. However, the real picture is even more dreadful and the number of torture cases Is increasing everyday. Moreover, women do not get justice because of non-cooperatlon from different institutions and the delay in the implementation of protective legislation. The patriarchal social system is responsible for this. The vested social quarters and opportunist fundamentalist forces help this unjust social system to continue. The fundamentalists misinterpret religious norms to oppress women. They have become so fanatic that they do not hesitate to attack innocent women in the name of religion. This was manifest in the recent incident in Brahmanbarla. As women and men grow up with discriminatory values, these are reflected in their behaviours and activities, not only in the house but also in the broader periphery of the society. Nonetheless, in course of time, people have started to slowly give up traditional discriminatory practices. About 100 years back, the illustriously courageous lady Begum Rokeya showed women the path to freedom. She proved that women could achieve competence equal to men if proper educational and Job facilities arc provided. Following her footsteps, many women since then have come forward to break the shackles of convention, asserting their rightful place in the society. The names of Sufia Kamal and Matla Chowdhury are worth mentioning in this respect.
The deep-rooted sexism In our society Is reflected in our workplaces also. Women are expected to be submissive to
men and are assigned less rewarding economic roles. Eighty four per cent of women in rural areas and 57 per cent in urban areas earn very' low income. Despite all these discouraging features, women's participation in the workplace is increasing. At present. 80 per cent of the garments Industry workers are women. Women's participation in the total workforce in 1984-1985 was 8.2 per cent and in 1990-1991. the percentage rose to an admirable 58.2 per cent.
Although in recent years the number of women voters has increased significantly, women's participation in the political process from national down to the local level is not substantial. At the policymaking level of the state and administration, women's participation is negligible. The 30 women members of the parliament have been dubbed 30 sets of ornaments because they practically have no opportunity to participate in decision-making and play any effective role In the development process. Although women have been elected to the Union Parishad (UP) in the last elections through direct vote, they practically nave no power due to the absence of a specific policy guideline. The men In the council Impose theirIdeclsions on the women by way of coercion or other means. Further, the village arbitration system is totally controlled by men. As a result, the Issues of development of and Justice for women remain burled.
Government - NGO initiatives
During the last four decades, various policies and conventions have been adopted and Implemented by the United Nations and many countries of the world aiming for ameliorating the condition of women. The women movement In Bangladesh has also gathered
momentum from this. At the government and nongovernment level, many policies and action plans have been developed and are being implemented. After liberation, women's development issues did not receive much attention in the first three 5-year plans. However, in the last two 5-year plans, it received more attention. An independent ministry has been created for women and children affairs. Equal rights for women are enshrined in the constitution also. Besides, government of Bangladesh is committed to implement the resolutions of the Beijing Conference and SEDAW convention with reservations about only two of the articles. The National Women Development Policy, declared on 8 March 1997. has been formulated for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. With the aim of empowering women politically, the government passed an ordinance. creating room for women to be elected through direct vote in each of the broader wards of the Union Council. Moreover, provision has been made for women to become heads of 7 out of 11 projects in the Union Council. Draft of the amended version of the Women and Child Oppression Prevention Act passed in 1995. was prepared Ln 1998. Further. GoB has initiated stipend for girl students with the objective of increasing the number of educated women. Also, a quota for reserving 60 per cent of the positions for women in workplaces has been approved. Side by side with the government, the NGOs have also undertaken various programmes in education. health, credit, training, legal aid services, rehabilitation etc., for improving tlfe condition of women. They have played a crucial role in putting pressure on the policymakers to formulate policies for the em-
powerment of women and safeguarding their interests.
NGO Step: An Example
Like many other non-gov-ernment organisations Samata has also made significant contributions to women's development. The NGO has marked successes in its operation towards achieving the aim of realizing the rights of poor women and men over resources and their empowerment. This has been demonstrated in the movement Samata organized in the beginning of its journey for recovering the Khas lands (vested lands) of Beel Ghuhgudah in Pabna. Women participated in the movement on an equal footing with men. They suffered inhuman torture at the hands of local property owners and the police. But they bravely endured all the hardship and finally came out successful in securing their rights. Later on. recommendations for introducing joint ownership of wife and husband instead of monopolistic ownership of only the husband over Khas lands was accepted in line with their demand following the Joint initiative of NGO Council and Samata. The ministry of land passed this as law in 1987. So far 1705 acres of land has been leased out for life under the names of both wife and husband. This has ensured financial security for women to a great extent’ Apart from this. 8 of the 15 representatives of the landless people in the executive committee of Samata are women. This has created an opportunity for women to participate in its policymaking leading towards the empowerment of women.
In the last UP elections following the ordinance creating women's seats Samata extended support to 21 poor women in the competition. Among them 15 won the elections with huge number of votes. Later, thana based forums of the elected women members in the UP have been formed to challenge the majority of the members of the council who often threaten them or pressurize them otherwise to neutralize their role in the UP activities. Five such forums have been formed so far.
They provide legal aid to the poor women victims of oppression besides arranging local meetings or arbitration. Since the root of women's oppression is in the family, oppressed women do not like to make the issue public being apprehensive of further torture or loss of prestige. After analysis of this reality. Samata has established Women Action Committees in seven villages under an experimental project with the aim to curb women oppression in families and promote women education. This project has already had significant success in curbing women oppression in families. Last year, these committees resolved 82 cases of women oppression through arbitration or mediation. They have further been able to enroll 85 girl children in school. As a result, this project has acquired much acceptability even beyond the project areas. It has a Staff Action Committee for protecting the interests of women staff members and curbing discriminatory practices against them. Besides all these, the NGO emphasizes on the implementation of the gender policy at the field level as well as in the offices. ’
Since its inception in 1976. Samata's aim has been to help establish an equitable and just society through apportioning resources to poor men and women as It considers resources to be the pre-condition of development. Also, since women have fallen behind as a result of discrimination Ln a patriarchal society, it believes in affirmative action as a remedy to the situation. Its primary target is the family as it is the most basic social institution. It believes that the likeness of a nation that suppresses its women Is that of a person without a hand. It has been working with various government and non-gov-ernment organizations towards the goal of gender equality through repealing various discriminatory laws and abolishing various rites that oppress women.
The writers are Coordinator. Gender and Coordinator, respectively, of Samata.