Since the creation of the Second Parliamentary Republic in Bangladesh in 1991, women have been at the forefront of Bangladeshi politics. It is exclusively women who have been elected as Prime Ministers and women were once again at the forefront of the political protests which ultimately brought down Sheikh Hasina last year. Even more crucial than their presence in politics however is the role they play in the economy.
Women make up the majority of the ready-made garment (RMG) industry workforce in Bangladesh. Estimates vary but they are thought to make up at least 55% of this industry which is the backbone of the Bangladeshi economy. Their role as the primary homemakers alongside this means that the impact women have on the Bangladeshi economy cannot be understated.
Despite this, there has been an extreme escalation in cases of violence against women and sexual violence in the past year. Social media has been filled with harrowing images of women who have been physically attacked or raped in their own homes, as well as in public. In many of these cases, women and children have been attacked by their own family members, as was the case of a 8 year old girl who passed away after suffering a brutal attack.
These cases of violence have multiplied largely in part due to the collapse in law and order since the change of government last August. In many of the cases of violence and harassment targeted at women and girls, the perpetrators have escaped any sort of formal justice, even when there is video evidence. Instead of focusing on the perpetrators of extreme violence and femicide, the Interim Government has decided to instead focus on prosecuting anyone who may have had a passing relationship with the former regime. For victims wishing to see any action, they are having to take it themselves, illustrated by the growing reliance on mob justice and vigilantism, reflective of a broader worrying trend which has seen violence remain on the streets of Bangladesh for the past year.
Whilst the rise in violence against women and girls is horrifying at an individual level, it is coupled with the rise of the Islamist parties. Whilst Jamaat-e-Islami have maintained a balanced approach, the more extreme Hefazat-e-Islami have repeatedly dismissed human rights issues, including saying they would not allow any United Nations monitoring in the country if they won the election. Yunus failed to denounce these rallies, a move which Human Rights Watch has condemned. Many women who participated in the uprising last summer, as well as women who held visible roles in politics have shared that they feel they are being pushed out of their roles and facing increased harassment. Worryingly, the consensus commission on elections has proposed scrapping the quotas for parliamentary seats for women and replacing it with a model that is sure to see less women elected.
The erasure of women from public life in Bangladesh following the July Uprising is a horrifying trend and symptomatic of the wider human rights abuses which continue to proliferate in the country. Women deserve to have their economic contributions to Bangladesh lauded and their bodily autonomy respected, regardless of religion. If the Interim Government cannot even guarantee them this, then the future for women and girls in Bangladesh looks increasingly bleak.
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