Whispers to voices: Gender and social transformation in Bangladesh.

Abstract

Bangladesh stands out as the shining new example in South Asia of a poor country achieving impressive gains in gender equality. After Sri Lanka and the Indian state of Kerala here is a country that had been famously written off by Henry Kissinger as a basket case which now dwarfs India and Pakistan in many areas. Between 1971 and 2004 Bangladesh halved its fertility rates. In much of the country today girls secondary school attendance exceeds that of boys. The gender gap in infant mortality has been closed. The micro-credit revolution continues to boost womens solidarity groups and earning potential and vast numbers of young women are leaving their villages to work in garment factories where in earlier generations young women were rarely seen outside their homes. Bangladeshs success has been widely celebrated and analyzed - even posed as a puzzle. For how could a country with such low per capita income achieve such heights? All this achieved moreover in a cultural context widely believed to be repressive to women. While there remains more to be done in terms of increasing womens labor force participation reducing and punishing violence increasing political participation and visibility in leadership positions we also need to understand how these gains came about. In particular we need to appreciate how policies and opportunities can change behaviors and norms widely perceived to emphasize seclusion and to relegate women to the home. (excerpt)