The Politics of Implementing Women’s Rights in Bangladesh

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the forces for change in the status of women flow from many sources including the women’s movement, grassroots nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and human rights organizations. The impetus for change also comes from sources both in and outside of the government that are concerned with economic development, from international organizations such as the United Nations, donor agencies or “development partners,” and from global corporations that bring capital into the country in the form of direct foreign investment, investment that often creates jobs for women. The state faces a situation where its national development goals require that it subscribe to the development discourse that would, for example, seek to educate women, especially the girl child, and provide development inputs for the advancement of women who constitute half of the country’s population. At the same time, the state has to exercise caution and not appear to be espousing “equalizing measures” directly promoting women’s equality and women’s rights too zealously because such measures might displease the conservative, fundamentalist, and patriarchal forces that shape the political contours of the society.