Rural Women in Bangladesh : The Legal Status of Women and the Relationship between NGOs and Religious Groups
Author
Summary, in English
As a Muslim country it has strong patriarchal social norms and cultural legacies that are predominantly derived from Hinduism. In general, most of the population is religious and devoted to a life of piety. On the one hand, the lives of women are affected by the prevailing patriarchy, religious practices, social and cultural norms. On the other hand, women are also influenced by the conscious interventions of the government, NGOs and microcredit institutions. In recent decades, the status of women has changed drastically from limited movement inside the four walls of the home to a dominant presence in the labour-market, small businesses, careers in media and private sectors, participation in local as well as national politics, and a greater role in household decisionmaking.
The country has a long tradition of Sufi orders which hold reasonably sympathetic outlooks towards women. However, in recent years, Bangladesh has been deeply influenced by Deobandi-cum-Wahhabi Islam with Salafi ideology. This ideology has been propagated through countrywide qaomi madrassahs and Jamaat-e-Islami’s devotional activities that are combined with economic, theological, and moral support from Middle Eastern societies. Since the beginning of 1990s, religious militancy, in the name of the Puriterian movement with the slogan “return to the origin”, has increased drastically. This has resulted in countrywide terrorist activities, demonstrations against development programmes by the Grameen Bank and other NGOs, misogynous activities including attacks on women and organizers involved with NGOs, and the denial of secular laws resulting in numerous attacks on public premises and holy shrines of Muslim saints.
This study thus provides an analytical discussion on the status of rural women in Bangladesh focusing on the legal status, religious practices, and patriarchal social norms in a new era of economic freedom created by microcredit programmes and government policies. It also analyses the conflict and debate about women and development activities between NGOs and the Islamist groups.
Department/s
Publishing year
2010
Language
English
Publication/Series
Lund Studies in History of Religions
Volume
26
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
History of Religions, Lund University
Topic
- Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
Keywords
- NGOs
- Islamology
- Women in Bangladesh
- nongovernment institutions
- Gender
- Rural Bangladesh
- Qur'an
- Legal status of women
- Islamists
- Bangladeshi girls
- Bangladesh
- Village women
- Islam
- Women
- Hadith
- History of Religion
Status
Published
Supervisor
- Jan Hjärpe
- Leif Stenberg
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1103-4882
- ISBN: 978-91-628-8052-1
Defence date
21 May 2010
Defence time
13:15
Defence place
Sal 215, Centrum för teologi och religionsvetenskap, Allhelgona kyrkogata 8, Lund
Opponent
- Monica Erwér (fil dr)