Patraiarchy Bangladesh PDF

Asian Journal of Social Science 37 (2009) 599–622 brill.
nl/ajss
Theorising Patriarchy: The Bangladesh Context
Farah Deeba Chowdhury

University of Rajshahi
Abstract
In Bangladesh, men dominate, oppress and exploit women through private and public patriarchy.
Private patriarchy is maintained in the family through the misinterpretation of religion and the
non-recognition of unpaid work done by women at home. In the family women are considered as
passive dependants and property of their husbands. Women are also excluded from economic and
political power through public patriarchy. In the public arena women are only considered as sexual
objects and patriarchy is maintained through sexual harassment. Capital accumulation further
strengthens patriarchy in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, men’s attitudes towards women are shaped by
advertisements, films, beauty contests and pornography where women are used as sexual objects to
accumulate capital. Increasingly, men have started to use the dowry system for capital accumula-
tion. Thus men in Bangladesh accumulate capital through private and public patriarchy.
Keywords
religion, unpaid work, sexual harassment, capital accumulation
Introduction
I am a Bangladeshi scholar. I have three daughters and I am very proud of
having three daughters. My husband also feels the same way, but most people
in Bangladesh think that we must be unhappy and disappointed for not hav-
ing any sons. They console us and say, “Oh, you don’t have sons. What can
you do? You have no control over it. It will be good if you raise your daughters
as sons.” They mean that if we provide a good education to them, they will be
established in life like men. By saying this, they also mean that girls have no
right to have a quality education and to join the paid labour force. Why is this
so in this modern age? Why are women considered as inferior to men? In fact,
this consciousness derives from the continued existence of patriarchal ideol-
ogy, as well as the misinterpretation of Islam in Bangladesh.
How does patriarchy work in the family and public arena in Bangladesh?
Does Islam consider women inferior to men? Why are women in Bangladesh
considered as passive dependants? How do sexual harassment and capital
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/156853109X460200

600 F. D. Chowdhury / Asian Journal of Social Science 37 (2009) 599–622
accumulation strengthen patriarchy in Bangladesh? I will address these ques-

tions in this paper.
I will review feminist scholarship on patriarchy to demonstrate its ongoing
relevance to gender and familial relations in Bangladesh. I will review Islamic
principles on women and family to show how misinterpretation of Islam allows
the continuing of patriarchy in Bangladesh. I will also examine the ongoing
relevance of patriarchy in Bangladesh in the following three contexts: (1) non-
recognition of unpaid work; (2) sexual harassment; and (3) accumulation of
capital. I will use both primary and secondary sources in this paper. The pri-
mary source I will use is the Holy Quran; secondary sources include relevant
books, journal articles, research reports, dissertations, and internet sites.
Understanding Patriarchy
Patriarchy is an ancient Greek term that means: ‘the rule of the father’. Origi-
nally this word was used to mean the herding societies of the Old Testament
where the father’s authority over family members was absolute.1 Lerner argues
that patriarchy is a historic creation by men and women and that the patriar-
chal family is the basic unit of its organisation.2 Millett used this concept
to describe male domination over women in 1970.3 For Millett, the main
institution of patriarchy is the family. The family encourages its members to
conform to the sexually differentiated roles and maintain women’s inferior
position. She also views patriarchy in terms of its public dimension; she writes,
“The military, industry, technology, universities, science, political office, and
finance — in short, every avenue of power within the society, including the
coercive force of the police, is entirely in male hands.”4 Millet identified the
family as the major site of oppression, but her observation is not fully applica-
ble to present society as all power is not entirely in male hands. Even in Bang-
ladesh women participate in the economy, politics and society. In Bangladesh,
both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition are women.
Patriarchy was conceptualised as a system which is parallel, or similar, to
capitalism. Delphy sees patriarchy as a system of oppression with a material
base in the ‘domestic mode of production’; she points out that production
occurs in the household and that husbands appropriate all the work done by
1
LeGates, M. (2001) In Their Time A History of Feminism in Western Society. London: Rout-
ledge, pp. 11−12.
2
Lerner, G. (1986) The Creation of Patriarchy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 216.
3
Millett, K. (1970) Sexual Politics. New York: Doubleday and Co.
4
Ibid.
F. D. Chowdhury / Asian Journal of Social Science 37 (2009) 599–622 601
their wives there. She further argues that marriage is the institution by which
women’s unpaid work is appropriated by their husbands.5 Hartmann states
that patriarchal control is mainly maintained through the appropriation of
women’s labour. She states that, before capitalism, a patriarchal system pre-
vailed where men controlled the labour of women and children in the family.6
In the capitalist society, men’s superiority is maintained through job segrega-
tion by sex, as it enforces women’s lower wages in the labour market. As a
result of the lower wages, women remain dependent on men and have to per-
form domestic responsibilities. According to Hartmann the key elements of
patriarchy include: heterosexual marriage; female childbearing and house-
work; women’s economic dependence on men; the state; and different institu-
tions which are based on social relations among men, such as clubs, sports,
unions, professions, universities, churches, corporations and armies. She
thinks that dominance and submission are learned from the family.
Eisenstein believes that the sex class division is more fundamental to human
society than the economic class division that has changed historically with the
changes in economic organisations.7 She points out that patriarchy and capi-
talism depend on each other, claiming that patriarchy and capitalism work
within the sexual division of labour. These systems work in society, rather than
in the family.8
Eisenstein further points out that women’s domestic work perpetuates
patriarchy; women’s role stabilises patriarchal structures (family, housewife,
mother, etc.). Women reproduce new workers, they take care of the men and
children. They also work in the paid labour force for low wages. Their role as
consumers also stabilises the economy. She writes, “If the other side of produc-
tion is consumption, the other side of capitalism is patriarchy.”9
Mies differs with Eisenstein and argues that, “As capitalism is necessarily
patriarchal it would be misleading to talk of two separate systems.”10 Capitalism
cannot function without patriarchy because the goal of this system is capital
5
Delphy, C. (1984) Close to Home a Materialistic Analysis of Women’s Oppression. Amherst,
MA: University of Massachusetts Press, p. 95.
6
Hartmann, H. (1979) “Capitalism, Patriarchy, And Job Segregation by Sex”, in Eisenstein,
Z. R. (ed.) Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. London: Monthly Review
Press, p. 207.
7
Fox, B. J. (1988) “Conceptualizing Patriarchy”. The Canadian Review of Sociology and
Anthropology 25(2): 175.
8
Eisenstein, Z. R. (1979) “Developing a Theory of Capitalist Patriarchy and Socialist Femi-
nism”, in Eisenstein, Z. R. (ed.) Capitalist Patriarchy and the Case for Socialist Feminism. London:
Monthly Review Press, p. 27.
9
Ibid., p. 29.
10
Mies, M. (1986) Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale Women in the International
Division of Labour. London: Zed Books, p. 38.
accumulation and it cannot be achieved if patriarchal relations are not main-

tained or reconstructed.11 Patriarchy and capitalism are closely connected and
capitalism is, therefore, another form of patriarchy. Mies rightly argues that
male dominance does not mean only the rule of fathers, but also rule of hus-
bands, male bosses and the ruling men of society, politics and the economy.
Mies believes that women are the optimal labour force for the capitalist sys-
tem, because they are considered as housewives, not workers. By considering
women as housewives their labour can be cheapened and it brings political
and ideological control over women. Mies also argues that there is a relation-
ship between dowry demands and capital accumulation; in India, the dowry
money is used, in many cases, to start a business, lawyer’s office, private prac-
titioner’s clinic, engineering office, etc.12 Mies rightly points out that the insti-
tution of dowry can be considered as: ‘a source of wealth which is accumulated
not by means of the man’s own work or by investing his own capital, but by
extraction, blackmail and direct violence’.13
Walby sees patriarchy from a multi-dimensional approach. She defines
patriarchy “. . . as a system of social structures and practices in which men
dominate, oppress, and exploit women.”14 The main element of patriarchy is:
“. . . systematically structured gender inequality.”15 She argues that patriarchy
consists of six structures: household work, paid work, the state, male violence,
sexuality, and cultural institutions.16 Her first structure is the patriarchal rela-
tions in the household. She says that through these patriarchal relations wom-
en’s labour is expropriated by their husbands, fathers, or co-habitees.
Walby further says that there are two forms of patriarchy: private and pub-
lic. Private patriarchy is based on household production in which men control
women individually. Public patriarchy is a form whereby the expropriation of
women is performed collectively. Private patriarchy is maintained by women’s
non-participation in public life.
Walby argues that changes have occurred in the degree and form of patriar-
chy in the household. In the household, patriarchal control over women has
decreased significantly and the labour of women is not expropriated by their
husband to the same extent. She points out, “The individual personal control
over women by husbands is reduced, since women can leave any specific hus-
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid., p. 162.
13
Ibid.
14
Walby, S. (1996) “The ‘Declining Significance’ or the Changing Forms’ of Patriarchy?”, in
Moghadam, V. M. (ed.) Patriarchy and Economic Development Women’s Positions at the End of the
Twentieth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 21.
15
Ibid., p. 28.
16
Ibid., p. 24.
band, but they do not escape the wider patriarchal relations by doing this. For
instance, they are still responsible for children.”17
The above-mentioned scholars find that the family is the main site of
oppression, but their limitation, particularly with the Marxist feminists, is
that they analyse the oppression of women in the family mainly in terms of
economic aspects. Mies argues that the bourgeoisie declared the family as a
private place and created social and sexual division of labour similar to capital-
ism. Capitalism did not destroy the family; rather, it created the family with
the help of the state and police where the housewife is considered as a social
category.18 ‘Housewifisation’ increases the lack of women’s political power, as
well as bargaining power. Mies points out that, “The extension of bourgeois
laws to the working class meant that in the family the propertyless man was
also lord and master.”19
Hartmann argues that, “. . . the wage differentials caused by extreme job
segregation in the labour market reinforces the family, and, with it, the domes-
tic division of labour, by encouraging women to marry.”20 Here Hartmann
thinks that women only marry for economic reasons and she ignores the sex-
ual and emotional needs of women. Mies also thinks that family was created
to maintain capitalism. Thus, she also ignores the main function of the family.
In Bangladesh, girls are married off so that they can fulfil their sexual and
emotional needs legally; marriage is universal in Bangladesh and the main
function of the family is to satisfy sexual and emotional needs of men and
women. Bangladeshi society actually encourages young divorced women and
widows to remarry so that they can fulfil their sexual and emotional needs
legally.21 Marriage gives women the opportunity to share their feelings with
their husbands and children. Sometimes women are emotionally so attached
with their husbands that they do not even leave their violent husbands.
Besides, marriage gives security to many women in Bangladesh. The inci-
dence of rape and sexual harassment is increasing in Bangladesh; child mar-
riages take place to protect girls from rape and sexual harassment.22 Thus, the
family also provides security to women in Bangladesh. The above-mentioned
scholars failed to understand the important role of family in women’s lives and
17
Walby, S. (1990) Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 86.
18
Mies (1986:104−105).
19
Ibid., p. 110.
20
Hartmann, H. (1981) “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a
More Progressive Union”, in Sargent, L. (ed.) Women and Revolution. The Unhappy Marriage of
Marxism and Feminism: A Debate on Class and Patriarchy. London: Pluto Press, p. 108.
21
Based on the author’s observation.
22
Chowdhury, F. D. (2004) “The socio-cultural context of child marriage in a Bangladeshi
village”. International Journal of Social Welfare 13: 250.
they have not recognised the complexity and contradictory nature of family
relations. In the family there are unequal relations and struggles between hus-
bands and wives but, simultaneously, it has security and emotional sustenance.
Those scholars also think that patriarchy is maintained through women’s
childbearing and rearing activities. Eisenstein points out that childbearing and
rearing are considered as natural and inevitable by patriarchy. She also argues
about the system of patriarchy:
. . . it is the creation of newborn children and the mothers to rear them. Patriarchy,
then, expresses the struggle to control women’s options in order to keep their role as
childbearer and rearer primary. Power reflects the activity of trying to limit choices.
The priorities of patriarchy are to keep the choices limited for women so that their role
as mothers remains primary.23
Again, the situation is considerably more complex than indicated by this fem-
inist. In Bangladesh, motherhood (note: giving birth to many children is nei-
ther encouraged by society, nor the state) is not considered as opposed to
women’s emancipation, rather motherhood gives women bargaining power
with their husbands and families-in-law. It is observed that, sometimes, when
children grow up, they support their mothers in bargaining with their fathers.
In addition, many women enjoy childbearing and childrearing activities and
consider this work to be most important for the existence of this world.
Kandiyoti writes about patriarchal bargain in developing countries. She
argues that “. . . women strategise within a set of concrete constraints that
reveal and define the blueprint . . .” of what she calls ‘patriarchal bargain’ of any
given society.24 It may vary according to class, caste and ethnicity. She argues
that the operations of the patrilocally-extended household are the main sources
of classic patriarchy. Examples of such classic patriarchy may be found in
North Africa, the Muslim Middle East, and South and East Asia. Kandiyoti
rightly observes that in classic patriarchy parents marry off their girls at a very
early age and they are transferred to households where the head of the family
is husbands’ father. In their in-laws’ homes, they are under the control of all
the men and, at the same time, they are also subordinate to and controlled by
senior women, especially by their mothers-in-law.
23
Eisenstein, Z. R. (1993) The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism. Boston: Northeastern
Press, p. 16.
24
Kandiyoti, D. (2002) “Bargaining with Patriarchy”, in Holmstrom, N. (ed.) The Socialist
Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics. New York: Monthly Review Press,
p. 137.
Sangari views patriarchies as “systems of subordinating women [that] func-

tion simultaneously through coercion or the threat and practice of violence,
through making a wide social consensus drawn from and dispersed over many
areas of social life and through obtaining in various ways, different degrees of
consent from women.”25 She rightly argues that the family is not only a place
of women’s socialisation and oppression, but also a place of struggle and of the
daily recreation of various types of inequality where women participate. She
rightly points out that maintaining patriarchy also involves the consent and
participation of women. In fact, women are not united to fight against patri-
archy and men know this limitation of women and they continue to exploit
and oppress women. In Bangladesh, it is observed that women do not want
patriarchal control for themselves, but they want patriarchal control for other
women. Women oppress their daughters-in-law, but at the same time they
want liberation for their own daughters. Thus, they participate in maintaining
patriarchy.
Cain et al. (1979) wrote about patriarchy in Bangladesh. They define patri-
archy “. . . as a set of social relations with a material base that enables men to
dominate women. In Bangladesh, patriarchy describes a distribution of power
and resources within families such that men maintain power and control of
resources, and women are powerless and depended on men. The material base
of patriarchy is men’s control of property, income, and women’s labour.”26
They believe that the elements of patriarchal control are the kinship system,
political system, and religion. They write, “According to Islam, man is the
earner and woman is the server of men.”27 In fact, this is the patriarchal view
about Islam. The patriarchal society of Bangladesh misinterprets Islam to con-
trol and exploit women. The Quran states that, “The believers, men and
women, are protectors, one of another” (Quran 9:71). Marriage in Islam is
based on mutual peace, love, and compassion, not just the satisfaction of men’s
needs. The Quran states that the husband and wife are the garments of each
other (Quran 2:187).
Following Walby, I will define patriarchy as a system in which men domi-
nate, oppress and exploit women through private and public patriarchy in the
context of Bangladesh. Following Mies, I will explore how capital accumula-
tion strengthens patriarchy in Bangladesh. In other words, men accumulate
capital through private and public patriarchy.
25
Sangari, K. (2002) Politics of the Possible: Essays on Gender, History, Narratives, Colonial
English. Anthem Press, p. 371.
26
Cain, M., Khanam, S. R. and Nahar, S. (1979). “Class, Patriarchy, and Women’s Work in
Bangladesh”. Population and Development Review 5(3): 406.
27
Ibid., p. 407.
Private Patriarchy: Misinterpretation of Religion

In this section I will examine how patriarchy is maintained through the mis-
interpretation of religion. In Bangladesh, more than 85% of the population
are Muslims and Islam plays a very important role in society. Huque and
Akhter write about the importance of Islam in Bangladeshi society:
Generally, the people of Bangladesh have strong attachments to Islam, and no-one
among the rulers and the ruled would risk retribution by opposing or criticising reli-
gious customs, practices and beliefs. A large number of Bangladeshis do not perform
the mandatory religious practices, but most display their devotion to Islam in public.
The slightest aspersion on Islam results in hostile public reaction, which is why neither
the government, nor the opposition political parties of Bangladesh speak out against
Islam.28
The ideology of Islam determines the relations between men and women in
Bangladesh. Women are oppressed through misinterpretation of Islam by
Bangladeshi men and a section of little-learned religious leaders. Benazir
Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the first woman to lead the
government of a Muslim country, writes, “We learned at an early age that it
was men’s interpretation of our religion that restricted women’s opportunities,
not our religion itself.”29
Girls are considered as liabilities and boys are regarded as assets in Bangla-
deshi patriarchal society. The discrepancy in the treatment between males and
females starts at birth when a male child is welcomed to the world by Ajan
(call for prayer). On the contrary, the birth of the female child is not greeted
this way, although, according to Islamic provision, the female child has the
same right to hear Ajan.30 Habiba Zaman, a Bangladeshi woman teaching in a
Canadian University, writes, “A son creates joy and optimism for the family,
whereas a daughter receives a half-hearted welcome. When my fourth and
youngest sister was born (all my siblings are sisters), my paternal grandfather
was so upset he refused to see her.”31 When a woman does not have a son, then
everybody consoles her, “Allah (God) did not give you, what will you do?”
As if God punished that woman by not giving her son. Actually, does Islam
consider that women are inferior to men? Does Islam allow the oppressive and
28
Huque, A. S. and Akhter, M. Y. (1987) “The Ubiquity of Islam: Religion and Society in
Bangladesh”. Pacific Affairs 60(2): 200.
29
Bhutto, B. (1988) Daughter of the East. London: Hamish Hamilton, p. 31.
30
Thanvi, A. A. (1996) Beheshti Jeor. Vol. 2. Dhaka, Emdadia Library p.169.
31
Zaman, H. (1999) “Violence Against Women in Bangladesh: Issues and Responses”. Women’s
Studies International Forum 22(1): 41.
exploitative behaviours and attitudes towards women? The Quran does not
allow the unwelcoming attitudes among some parents upon hearing the news
of the birth of a baby girl, instead of a baby boy. It states,
When the news is brought to one of them of (the birth of ) a female (child) his face
darkens and he is filled with inward grief! With shame he hides himself from his
people because of the bad news he has had! Shall he retain her on (sufferance and)
contempt or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they decide on! (Quran
16:58−59)
Parents must support and show kindness and justice to their daughters. The
Prophet Mohammad said,
Whosoever has a daughter and he does not bury her alive, does not insult her, and does
not favour his son over her, Allah will enter him into paradise . . . Whosoever supports
two daughters till they mature, he and I will come in the Day of Judgment as this (and
he pointed with his two fingers held together).32
Education is not only a right, but also a responsibility of all males and females.
The Prophet Mohammad said, “Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every
Muslim” (here, the term ‘Muslim’ is used for both males and females). Bangla-
deshi patriarchal culture misinterpreted Islam to control women and created
values stating that Islam does not allow female education and it a great sin to
provide education to girls. As such, gender disparity prevails at all levels of
formal education in Bangladesh and, due to this disparity, women cannot
enhance their capabilities. At present, parents are interested in educating their
daughters but the goal of educating girls is to find a better husband-to-be.
In recent times, there has been a significant change attitudes towards women
taking up paid employment in Bangladesh. With the breakup of the extended-
family system and increasing poverty, large numbers of women from landless
and middle-class families are in need of economic support. Women from such
families are searching for any available employment. As a result, they shed
off their age-old inhibitions and prejudices. Changing male attitudes toward
employed women and the expansion of educational and employment oppor-
tunities also helped bring about changes in female participation in paid
32
Badawi, J. A. (n.d.) “Gender Equity in Islam”. World Assembly of Muslim Youth, WAMY
Studies on Islam. Available at: http://www.jannah.org/sisters/genderequity.pdf.
employment. Both urban and rural women are no longer hesitant to join the
paid labour force whenever opportunities arise.33
On the other hand, maintenance is the lawful right of the wife to be pro-
vided for at the husband’s expense with food, clothing, accommodation and
other necessities of life. This law derives from the injunctions of the Holy
Quran, the Prophet’s tradition and the consensus of the jurists.34 It does not
matter whether the wife is involved in the paid labour force or not. It is man-
datory for a husband to provide for his wife. The Holy Quran instructs men
to provide full maintenance for the wife, even if the wife is a rich woman.35
According to Islam, women have every right to spend their income indepen-
dently and control their money.36
What happens in Bangladesh when women start to work? A study shows
that 35% of female garment workers spend their income absolutely according
to their own decision. Forty-three percent of the female workers spend their
own earnings according to a joint decision with others. Twenty-three percent
report that they have no control over their earnings.37 After taking credit/loans
from NGOs, 24% of women spend their money by themselves, while 50% of
women spend money along with their husbands. The rest of the women’s loan
money goes directly to their husbands.38 Another study also finds that some
women parliamentarians in Bangladesh have a lack of control over their own
earnings.39
In Bangladesh, husbands control their wives’ money directly or indirectly.
Husbands employ a number of strategies to control their wives’ income. Most
husbands do not want their wives to spend money on their parental family
and, thus, control their wives’ income. In many cases, women’s incomes or
part of their income is spent on the in-law’s family.40 It is believed that women
are transferred to their husbands’ families through marriage. Husbands con-
33
Khan, S. (1993) The Fifty Percent: Women in Development and Policy in Bangladesh. Dhaka:
The University Press Limited, p. 3.
34
Monsoor, T. (1998) “Maintenance to Muslim Wives: The Legal Connotations”. The Dhaka
University Studies 1X(1:F): 63.
35
Doi, A. R. I. (1984) Shari’ah: The Islamic Law. London: Ta Ha Publishers, p. 204.
36
Badawi, J. A. (n.d.).
37
Paul-Majumder, P. (1997) “Sramajibi Mohilader Daridrer Bibhinna Matra”, in Rahman,
R. I. (ed.) Daridra O Unnayan: Prekkhapot Bangladesh. Dhaka: Bangladesh Institute of Develop-
ment Studies, Pp. 138−139.
38
Halder R. and Akhter, R. (1999) “The Role of NGO and Women’s Perception of Empow-
erment: An Anthropological Study in a Village”. Empowerment 6: 61.
39
Chowdhury, F. D. (2004) “Problems of Women’s Political Participation in Bangladesh: An
Empirical Study”. Unpublished MA Thesis, Saint Mary’s University, p. 88.
40
Chowdhury, F. D. (2007) “Married Women’s Income in Bangladesh: Who controls it and
How?” Unpublished Major Research Paper, Department of Political Science, York University.
sider their wives as property and the Bangladeshi patriarchal culture teaches
girls that it is their religious duty to make their husbands and husbands’ fami-
lies happy. Society teaches that Islam promises heaven for women in return for
complete submission to their husbands. Bangladeshi patriarchal society uses
religion in support of this argument and teaches that the wives’ heaven lies
at the feet of their husbands; however, this statement is not found in the
Holy Quran, nor in the words of the Prophet. Bangladeshi patriarchal society
spreads this message in the name of Islam and, thus, men exploit women and,
due to the lack of proper religious education, women believe this and,
thus, patriarchy is maintained through the misinterpretation of religion. It is
believed that an ideal wife should not argue with her husband and her only
responsibility is to look after her husband, children and members of husband’s
family. A woman in Bangladesh is effectively cut off from her parental family
after marriage. Daughters cannot look after their parents from their in-law’s
home. Kabir et al. (1998) point out, “Daughters are considered to be ‘tempo-
rary guests to the family’ who will be married off when they reach the appro-
priate age. Even if a daughter wants to, according to social norms she is not
expected to directly look after her parents or have her parents live with her.”41
Married women who want to look after their parents are criticised by their
husbands and in-laws’ families. The husbands and in-laws’ families always put
psychological pressure on them by saying, “You are so poor and helpless that
you do not have anybody to look after your parents.” On the other hand,
according to social norms, women must take care of their in-laws. Sometimes
husbands and husbands’ families disconnect the relationship with the daugh-
ters-in-law’s natal families so that their daughters-in-law cannot look after
their parents. Married women in the paid labour force also experience this
situation.
When the Quran instructs about the responsibility towards parents, it does
not instruct only for men. The Quran states,
And We have enjoined on the person (to be good) to his/her parents: in travail upon
travail did his/her mother bear him/her and in years twain was his/her weaning: (hear
the command) “Show gratitude to Me and to you parents: to Me is (your final) Goal.
(Quran 31:14)
We have enjoined on the person kindness to his/her parents: in pain did his/her
mother bear him/her and in pain did she give him/her birth. The carrying of the
(child) to his/her weaning is (a period of ) thirty months. (Quran 46:15)
41
Kabir, Z. N., Szebehely, M., Tishelman, C., Chowdhury, A. M. R., Höjer, B. and Winblad,
B. (1998) “Aging trends — Making an invisible population visible: The elderly in Bangladesh”.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 13: 362.
Bangladeshi patriarchal society never teaches girls about this instruction in the
interest of their husbands and husbands’ family. For this reason, girls are con-
sidered as liabilities by their natal family. Parents who do not have sons feel
insecure in the absence of a state-provided security system. Kotalova under-
took research in a Bangladeshi village; there a young mother explained to her
after delivering a girl, “A girl? What for? She will leave one day; here she will
stay like a guest fed for others.”42
In Islam women not only have responsibilities towards their parents, but
also they have the same religious and moral duties and responsibilities:
And their Lord has accepted of them and answered them: “Never will I suffer to be lost
the work of any of you be it male or female: you are members of one another . . .”
(Quran 3: 195)
If any do deeds of righteousness be they male or female and have faith they will enter
paradise and not the least injustice will be done to them. (Quran 4:124)
For Muslim men and women and for believing men and women, for devout men and
women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant,
for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in char-
ity, for men and women who fast (and deny themselves), for men and women who
guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah’s praise, for
them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward. (Quran 33:35)
Bangladesh patriarchal society never gives these messages to women of their

broader responsibilities in the interest of men. It only spreads the message that
women have responsibilities only towards their husbands, children and mem-
bers of their in-law’s family. Husbands want to appropriate all the income of
their wives and do not even allow their wives to give charity with their own
income. When women pay their zakat,43 it is their husbands who instruct
them to whom it should go. Many women in Bangladesh cannot give their
zakat or charity according to their own will.44
In Bangladesh, patriarchy is maintained through spreading the message
that men are superior to women in Islam. Badawi argues that the Holy Quran
does not state anywhere that one gender is superior to the other. He says, “The
Quran makes it clear that the sole basis for superiority of any person over
42
Kotalova, J. (1996) Belonging to Others: Cultural Construction of Womanhood in a Village in
Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press Limited, p. 65.
43
Zakat is an obligation of Muslims to pay 2.5% of their wealth to specified categories in
society when their annual wealth exceeds a minimum level.
44
Chowdhury, F. D. (2007).
another is piety and righteousness, not gender, colour, or nationality.”45 The

Quran states,
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you
into nations and tribes that you know each other. Verily the most honoured of you in
the sight of Allah is (one who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowl-
edge and is well acquainted (with all things). (Quran:49:13)
Men in Bangladesh beat their wives to express male superiority. A study finds
that 47% of women in Bangladesh experience physical assault by husband and
men.46 Ameen states, “The village people are of the opinion that a man who
does not beat his wife is spineless. In rural areas there is a saying that, ‘My son
keeps his wife at the end of a stick.’”47 It is observed that husbands even some-
times beat their wives when rice is not cooked properly. Even in the urban
areas husbands of many highly-educated women beat them. Once a highly-
educated woman expressed her experience:
My husband often beats me. My mother complained to my father-in-law that my

husband beats me. My father-in-law replied, “A good wife does not say to other people
that her husband beats her. Your daughter is not a good girl. So she informed you. It
is the personal matter of husband and wife.”48
Islam does not allow husband’s cruelty towards wives. The Prophet Muham-
mad taught to be kind to women and he said, “The best of you is the best to
his family (wife) . . .”49 The Quran asks husbands to be kind and considerate
even if they do not like them, but patriarchy in Bangladesh hides this message
and gives men the authority to oppress their wives. The Quran states,
O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should
you treat them with harshness that you may take away part of the marital gift you
have given them except where they have been guilty of open lewdness; on the contrary,
live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them it may
be that you dislike a thing and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.
(Quran 4:19)
45
Ibid.
46
Ameen, N. (2005) Wife Abuse in Bangladesh: An Unrecognized Offence. Dhaka: The Univer-
sity Press Limited, p. 3.
47
Ibid., p. 35.
48
Based on the author’s conversation with a Bangladeshi woman.
49
Badawi, J. A. (n.d.).
Private Patriarchy: Non-recognition of Unpaid work

In Bangladesh, most of the women are housewives, although women’s labour
force participation rose from 18.1% in 1995/1996 to 22.8% in 1999/2000.50
The UNDP Human Development Report 1995 reveals that women spend
more hours in unpaid work and fewer hours in paid work than men, but women
have less access to money. They have less wealth and less control over the
economy to which they contribute. It is found that women spend on average
one-third of their working time in paid work and two-thirds in unpaid house-
work in developing countries.51 Unpaid domestic work of women is hidden
and disregarded, because society perceives this work as wifely duty and this is
not considered as work. Sikosha finds that, “When women work in the house-
hold, they are considered to be ‘doing nothing’. They are housewives without
a profession and are passive dependants upon the breadwinners, i.e., the men.
Hence, constructed social relationships based on women’s subordination to
men continue to be reproduced in all other aspects of human life.”52
Even the women of Bangladesh themselves do not consider these activities
as work. If someone asks a housewife, “What do you do?’ She replies, “I do
nothing.” One village leader commented about women’s work, “Our women
do not work; they only eat and sleep.”53 These patriarchal expressions make
women’s work and women inferior to men.
Rosenberg points out that the home is the place where men relax after fin-
ishing their work outside. The household is not considered as a place where
work can be done. She mentions three major interrelated aspects of the
50
The Report of the Labour Force Survey: Bangladesh 1999−2000 defines the labour force or
the economically active population as persons aged 15 and over who are either employed or
unemployed during the reference period of the survey (week proceeding to the day of the
survey). It includes employers, own-account workers or self-employed persons or commissioned
agents, employees, salaried employees and wage earners, paid family workers, unpaid workers,
members of producers’ cooperatives, and persons not classifiable by status. The labour force
excludes disabled and retired persons, income recipients, full-time housewives and students,
beggars and other persons who did not work for payment or profit for at least one hour
during the reference week. Refer to: Rahman, R. I. (2005) The Dynamics of the Labour Market
and Employment in Bangladesh: A Focus on Gender Dimensions. Dhaka: Employment Strategy
Department, p. 11.
51
Campillo, F. (2003) “Unpaid Household Labour: A Conceptual Approach”, in Martha,
G. Macro-economics: Making gender matter: Concepts, policies and institutional change in developing
countries. London: Zed Books, p. 112.
52
Sikosha, T. (2003) “Measurement and Valuation of Unpaid Household Production: A
Methodological Contribution”, Macro-economics: Making gender matter: Concepts, policies and
institutional change in developing countries. London: Zed Books, p. 124.
53
Zaman, H. (1996) Women and Work in a Bangladesh Village. Dhaka: Narigrantha Praban-
tana, p. 3.
work that women perform at home: housework, motherwork, and wifework.54

Housework includes cleaning, maintaining, and repairing the home, purchase
and preparation of food, doing laundry, mending clothes, etc. Housework also
provides services to children, unemployed, sick and elderly.
She writes, “Motherwork is the culturally organised set of tasks that are part
of feeding, clothing, nurturing, and socialising a child (or children) until he or
she can leave home and become self-supporting.”55
Wifework is emotional housework. Rosenberg says, “Wifework is the job of
listening and sculpting conversations to suit a man. It is the job of soothing,
comforting, and having sex with one man exclusively. It is the job of attending
to a husband’s needs before he knows that he has them. And it is the job of
always putting those needs before one’s own.”56
Following Rosenberg,57 I divided women’s unpaid work in Bangladesh into
the same three categories, namely: (1) housework; (2) motherwork; and (3)
wifework.
(1) Housework: This includes cooking, cleaning, fetching water, collect-
ing fuel, repairing the house, raising poultry, feeding animals, taking
care of in-law family members, and visiting relatives and friends.
(2) Motherwork: This includes child bearing and child rearing activities,
helping them with children’s homework, providing daughters the nec-
essary training for domestic work, and taking care of married daugh-
ters and grandchildren.
(3) Wifework: This includes satisfying husband’s sexual and emotional
needs, protecting the husband from unsanctioned sexual activities, and
giving birth to legitimate children.
Women do all these duties on behalf of their husbands enabling the men to
work hard in paid employment. Although men earn money they are depen-
dent on women for their survival. Non-recognition of unpaid work done by
women strengthens patriarchy. Once I met an old woman in Bangladesh
whose son-in-law and daughter-in-law were both ill, but she was only anxious
about her son-in-law. I wanted to know the reason behind it and asked
her. She replied, “I am very much anxious about my son-in-law because
my son-in-law looks after my daughter.” It is evident that women’s unpaid
54
Rosenberg, H. (1990) “The Home is the Work Place”, in Luxton, M. and Rosenberg,
H. (eds.) Through the Kitchen Window: The Politics of Home and Family. Toronto: Garamond
Press, p. 59.
55
Ibid., p. 60.
56
Ibid., pp. 60−61.
57
Ibid., p. 59.
work at home is not recognised and, therefore, women are considered only as
passive dependants. That old woman did not recognise that important and
essential work for life was being performed by her daughter-in-law. This is one
of the main reasons for the dowry system in Bangladesh. A dowry is defined as
property or valuable security which the bride party gives or agrees to give to
the bridegroom party as the essential requirement of marriage. The dowry can
be in many forms: cash money, payment for the bride’s dress, ornaments, and
cosmetics, a large marriage feast, a job for the groom, expenses for going
abroad, land, a house, or goods (e.g., radio, watch, bicycle, motorcycle, etc.).
If the demands are not agreed to, then the marriage does not take place. If an
agreement has been reached but the transaction has not been carried out by
the time of the marriage or shortly thereafter, then the bride is inevitably sub-
jected to harassment, abuse or divorce.58 A new element of the dowry system
is that it is not considered as a one-time demand. A study finds that, “The
husband continues to make demands from his in-laws long after the wed-
ding.”59 Dowry-related violence has been increasing in Bangladesh; 85% of
women become victims of various kinds of oppression in connection with
dowry.60 Odhikar, a human rights organisation, reports that 138 women were
killed and 47 tortured, while 13 committed suicide, in dowry-related inci-
dents in 2007.61
Husbands and in-laws believe that women are not able to earn and they do
nothing for the family. Women are regarded as liabilities, not as assets. Hus-
bands and in-laws believe that these liabilities have been transferred from the
parents’ families to husbands’ families, so husbands and their families have
the right to get compensation from the parents of the brides. Moreover,
women are considered as liabilities in their parental family due to this dowry
system. Parents are not interested in having daughters. They think that they
should marry them off and it will cost much for the dowry. It is observed that
the dowry is smaller when the bride is very young and child marriages are
arranged to avoid high demands from the bridegroom party.62 It also further
reinforces patriarchy.
Educated grooms demand higher dowries; Arends-Kuenning and Amin
find that, “Some parents intend to limit their daughters’ education before they
58
Ahmed, R. and Naher, M. S. (1987) Brides and the Demand System in Bangladesh: A Study.
Dhaka: Centre for Social Studies, p. 160.
59
PromPT (1996) Dowry: Poor People’s Perspectives. Dhaka: UNDP, p. 9.
60
Dhar, S. (2002) “Nari Nirjaton Barche (Oppression of women is increasing)”. Prothom Alo,
Bangladeshi Daily Newspaper.
61
New Age, 8 March 2008.
62
Chowdhury (2004:252).
complete secondary school because they are concerned that they will not be
able to pay the dowry for an educated groom.”63 Women are also deprived
from higher education because of dowry system. Thus, non-recognition of
unpaid work is responsible for the dowry system in Bangladesh and it makes
women in Bangladesh liabilities and strengthens patriarchy.
Public Patriarchy: Fear of Sexual Harassment

In the public arena women are only considered as sexual objects and patriar-
chy is maintained through sexual harassment. Sexual harassment includes
“. . . staring at, commenting upon, or touching a woman’s body, requests for
acquiescence in sexual behaviour, repeated non-reciprocated propositions for
dates, demands for sexual intercourse and rape.”64 In Bangladesh women are
sexually harassed on the streets, in the marketplaces, in every institution, even
in police stations.65 They are always insecure without men’s company, though
sometimes it is reported that women are sexually harassed, raped or killed in
front of even their male family members. In university, female students are
routinely sexually abused, harassed and raped by their male classmates, other
students, political goons and even by some respected teachers.66
The Jahangirnagar University Fact-Finding Committee reported in 1998
that 20 rapes and over 300 cases of sexual assault took place at that univer-
sity.67 A survey unfolds that many female university students were the victims
of sexual harassment by their male teachers either directly or indirectly.68
Complaints of sexual harassment by university teachers have also been made
by many students in subsequent years. However, female students are generally
too intimidated by the power dynamics of the student-teacher relationship to
lodge a complaint. Collecting evidence in most of the cases is extremely diffi-
cult. Some teachers with the help of lawyers and women’s rights activists have
been demanding for a formal Policy Against Sexual Harassment. The Bangla-
desh National Women’s Lawyers’ Association (BNWLA) filed a writ petition
63
Arends-Kuenning, M. and Amin, S. (2001) “Women’s Capabilities and Right to Education
in Bangladesh”. International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 15(1): 131.
64
Sheffield, C. J. (1984) “Sexual Terrorism”, in Freeman, J. (ed.) Women: A Feminist Perspec-
tive. Mayfield Publishing Company, p. 8.
65
Huda, S. (1999) “Perspectives on Sexual Harassment in Bangladesh: Acknowledging its
Existence”. Empowerment 6: 22.
66
The Daily Star, 4 October 1998 and Star Weekend Magazine, 1 August 2008.
67
Star Weekend Magazine, 2−8 October 1998.
68
Putul, S. R. and Munnii, S. S. (1999) “Where professors proposition pupils”. The Indepen-
dent, 9 July.
(no. 5916) under Article 102 (Powers of the High Court Division to issue
certain orders and directions, etc.) of the Constitution at the High Court
Division of the Supreme Court to formulate guidelines/policies to protect
women from sexual harassment in work places, educational institutions and
other public places and take immediate steps to enact proper legislation to
address sexual harassment.69
According to the report of a daily newspaper (Daily Janakantha), four
elected women members of the Union Parisad (Council) were raped within
five months in 1999.70 A report says that in Bangladesh rape in police custody
is an alarming problem. Policemen sexually harass and rape women when they
arrest them for committing crimes, beat them and speak to them in abusive
terms. Sixty-four occurrences of rape by the policemen were reported during
1996−2001. The report further says that policemen also sexually harass their
women colleagues.71 The situation of the entire country is even more bleak
and frustrating. Human rights coalition Odhikar said that 5,816 women and
children were reportedly raped across the country between 1 January 2001
and 28 February 2007. Of them, 636 were killed after being raped and 69
committed suicide after the incident.72 Generally it is observed that most of
the victims of rape cases do not report to the police for fear of public disgrace
and lack of security. In a study on garment workers, Majumder states, “In the
existing social context of Bangladesh, living alone is not safe and secure for the
young women . . . The female garment workers living in mess remain always
occupied with the fear of attack by the local touts, flesh traders, drug addicts
and above all by the landlords and their sons.”73
Sexual harassment is a serious factor, which may prevent many women
from taking up politics. Politics involves 24-hour duty and much travel with
strangers, so women may face sexual harassment by male leaders or their male
political colleagues. Courting arrest and facing police brutalities are more
problematic for young women. If a woman political activist is raped or sexu-
ally harassed, it damages her political career. These realities reveal that a patri-
archal society always considers women as sexual objects, not human beings.
Rape or any kind of sexual harassment can be used as a way to control women.
Fear of sexual harassment prevents many women from participating in the
69
Star Weekend Magazine, 12 September 2008.
70
Daily Janakantha, 19 May 1999.
71
Prothom Alo, 24 August 2003.
72
New Age, 9 March 2007.
73
Majumder, P. P. (2000) “Violence and Hazards Suffered by Women in Wage Employment:
A Case of Women Working in the Export-Oriented Garment Industry of Bangladesh”.
Empowerment 7: 15−16.
paid labour force or politics. Many girls do not undertake higher education
due the distance of colleges and universities from their homes; despite being
interested in higher education, many girls in Bangladesh cannot get college or
university degrees due to a lack of security. Thus, they cannot get high paid
jobs, strengthening patriarchy. Again, many women in Bangladesh, even after
receiving college or university degrees, consider which jobs will provide them
with more security. For this reason women of Bangladesh cannot simply apply
for any type of job, as in the case of men. Thus, the employment rate for
women became lower than that of men in Bangladesh. Child marriage also
occurs due to the lack of security, also strengthening patriarchy.
Capital Accumulation: Private and Public Patriarchy

Mies rightly argues that capitalism cannot function without patriarchy, because
the goal of this system is capital accumulation and it cannot be achieved if
patriarchal relations are not maintained or reconstructed.74 As such, capitalism
is another form of patriarchy.
In Bangladesh women are used as sexual objects in advertisements and
mainstream movies for capital accumulation. Nasreen says, “The objectifica-
tion and commodification of women are most apparent in advertisements and
mainstream movies. Women’s sexuality and physical attributes are used as
bait through which products are advertised.”75 Promotion of consumerism in
recent years strengthens patriarchy. Teenage girls of Bangladesh are now grow-
ing up with Hollywood and Bollywood idols due to the free flow of informa-
tion. Nasreen says, “But they are not shown the role models they really need
to see, who posses qualities like knowledge, intelligence, leadership, etc.”76
There were not as many beauty contests, soap operas or advertisements for
cosmetics, toiletries, etc. Even in talent hunt shows on television as the candi-
dates move up, they become more and more glamorous. It also pressurises
women to strive to be beautiful by following the media. In beauty contests,
participating women are required to expose their body and beauty before male
judges. A section of the business community organises beauty contests of
the women to use them for commercial purposes. To hide their bad inten-
tions, they say that beauty does not only include physical beauty, but also it
includes the intelligence of a woman. In fact, the questions asked in the beauty
contests are very silly and through these questions intelligence and wisdom
74
Mies (1986:38).
75
Star Weekend Magazine, March 9, 2007.
76
Ibid.
cannot be proved. Beauty contests simply determine the size and shape of a
beautiful woman. ‘Women must be beautiful for men’, ‘beauty is the success
of women’ — these values are strengthened through the media.
Some people make pornography to accumulate capital. Pornography is now
available in stores, cable channels, cell phones, homes, offices and cyber-cafes
through the internet. In Bangladesh most of the pornographic photos and
movies are taken by hidden cameras where the girls are not aware of it.77 Por-
nography strengthens patriarchy through decreasing husbands’ dependency
on wives. ElHage writes that pornography provides dangerous messages about
sex and the value of human beings, and which are harmful to maintaining a
healthy relationship between the husband and wife.78 Pornography brings dis-
satisfaction with the ‘sexual performance, affection and physical appearance of
intimate partners’. A woman described the impact of online pornography on
her relation with her husband, “He is unable to be intimate, he objectifies me,
he objectifies women and girls on the street, (and) he fanaticises when we’re
together. I feel humiliated, used, and betrayed, as well as lied to and misled.”79
Manning also finds, “It was common for pornography users to continue sexual
relations with their female partner, but the sexual advances conveyed a mes-
sage of objectification as opposed to meaningful interaction.”80 In that study
one woman explains,
I am no longer a sexual person or partner to him, but a sexual object. He is not really
with me, not really making love to me . . . He seems to be thinking about something or
someone else — likely those porn women . . . He is just using me as a warm body.81
Pornography also shapes the attitudes of young men towards women and sex.
A young man in the USA commented, “The standards of beauty I developed
for women were based on images I saw in porn.”82 In Bangladesh men’s
attitude towards women is also shaped by the advertisements, films, beauty
contests and pornography where women are used as sexual objects to accumu-
late capital.
77
Islam, A. (2007) “Online Pornography Growing in Bangladesh”. Available at: http://www.
groundreport.com/articles.php?id=2833879.
78
ElHage, A. M. (2004) “Sexual Degradation: How Pornography Destroys the Family”.
North Carolina Family Policy Council. Available at: http://www.ncfpc.org/PolicyPapers/Findings%
200407-SexualDegrad.pdf.
79
Ibid., p. 3.
80
Manning, J. C. (2006) “The Impact of Internet Pornography on Marriage and the Family:
A Review of the Research”. Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity 13(2): 143.
81
Ibid.
82
ElHage (2004).
The girls’ physical beauty does have an impact on the dowry. The demand
of dowry is much higher when the girl is not beautiful. Girls who do not have
a beauty face receive more discrimination in the parents’ family. Therefore,
educated girls who do not have physical beauty are facing difficulties in find-
ing bridegrooms. By the 1950s and 1960s, bridegrooms started to demand
objects which were not of Bengali origin or manufacture.83 Rural bridegrooms
started to demand fountain pens, watches and, sometimes, transistor radios.
Urban bridegrooms demanded tape recorders, record players, and television
sets which were manufactured in Japan or the United States. Some demanded
bicycles which were made in Britain and Germany and suits of clothing mostly
from Britain. The dowry demands reveal that the emergence of Bangladesh as
a consumer of goods from the industrialist countries and, through this, Ban-
gladesh entered into a capitalist world relationship.84 Despite the introduction
of socialism after independence, the rich-poor gap widened in Bangladesh and
continued to increase after the introduction of free market economic policies
in the mid-1970s. Competition started among the people of Bangladesh for
accumulating capital. People became more corrupt for the accumulation of
wealth. The income inequality in Bangladesh is explained by the fact that the
top 10% of the population controlled 40.72% of the national income and the
poorest 10% controlled only 1.84% in 2000.85 Khan argues, “The middle
class and salaried people are squeezed constantly by increasing rises in the
prices of essential commodities, house rents, children’s educational expenses,
medical bills and taxes. The toiling masses struggle endlessly to barely survive
in a man-made unjust world.”86
In Bangladesh, men increasingly started to use the dowry system for capital
accumulation. In many cases, dowry money are used to start a business. Mies
rightly points out that the institution of the dowry system can be considered
as ‘a source of wealth which is accumulated not by means of the man’s own
work or by investing his own capital, but by extraction, blackmail and direct
violence.’87 It is observed that daughters who work in the garment industry in
Bangladesh contribute to the dowry. Kabir notes that, “. . . men who marry gar-
ment workers were not asking for dowry since their earnings were perceived as
83
Lindenbaum, S. (1981) “Implications for Women of Changing Marriage Transactions in
Bangladesh”. Studies in Family Planning 12(11): 396.
84
Ibid.
85
Bangladesh Public Policy Watch (2005) Millennium Development Goals: A Reality Check.
Unnnayan Onneshan, p. 10.
86
Khan, M. M. (2003) “State of Governance in Bangladesh”. The Round Table July: 395.
87
Mies (1986:162).
sufficient compensation for waiving dowry demands.”88 Dannecker finds that

most of the married female garment workers sent part of their income regularly
to their in-law families and, thus, a new marriage arrangement developed.89
Traditionally, the bride’s family had to pay a certain amount of money to the
bridegroom’s family once, but now these female workers took this responsibil-
ity by contributing their salary. A female garment worker said,
I am married now; therefore I do not give any money to my parents. I have to give the
money to my husband who transfers part of it to his parents, otherwise he would be
disappointed and his family would think that I am not a good daughter-in-law. See,
I come from a poor family but his parents did not mind, they said that they do not
want any dowry but that I should go on working, sending money from time to time.
If I need some money for myself I try to get something from my parents.90
Although middle class educated people know that demanding dowry is a

criminal offense and they cannot demand dowry publicly, they adopt different
strategies to accumulate wealth from their wives. Now they say, “We do not
want dowry. We want working women.” Apparently it seems that they want
women’s emancipation, but their main intention is to control the income of
their wives and accumulate wealth to enhance their living standard.
Conclusion
In Bangladesh, men dominate, oppress and exploit women through private
and public patriarchy. Private patriarchy is maintained in the family through
the misinterpretation of religion and the non-recognition of unpaid work
done by women at home. In the family, women are considered as property of
their husbands; Bangladeshi patriarchal culture teaches girls that it is their
religious duty to make their husbands and husbands’ families happy. Woman
in Bangladesh is effectively cut off from her parental family after marriage and
daughters cannot look after their parents from their in-laws’ homes and men
ensure it through misinterpreting Islam.
Women’s unpaid work at home is not recognised and, therefore, women are
considered only as passive dependants. Women do all the duties at home on
behalf of their husbands, enabling the men to work hard in paid employment.
88
Kabir, N. (1997) “Women, Wages and Intra-household Power Relations in Urban Bangla-
desh”. Development and Change 28: 299.
89
Dannecker, P. (2002) Between Conformity and Resistance Women Garment Workers in
Bangladesh. Dhaka: The University Press Limited, p. 163.
90
Ibid., p. 162.
Although men earn money they are dependent on women for their survival.
Capital accumulation also strengthens patriarchy in Bangladesh. Men accu-
mulate capital through private and public patriarchy. In Bangladesh, men’s
attitudes towards women is also shaped by the advertisements, films, beauty
contests and pornography where women are used as sexual objects to accumu-
late capital. Girls’ physical beauty does have an impact on the dowry. Men
have increasingly started to use the dowry system for capital accumulation
and the demand of the dowry is much higher when the girl is not beautiful.
Teenage girls of Bangladesh are now growing up with Hollywood and Bolly-
wood idols due to the free flow of information and they are not shown the role
models who have qualities like knowledge, intelligence, leadership, etc.
Women are also excluded from economic and political power through public
patriarchy. In the public arena, women are only considered as sexual objects
and patriarchy is maintained through sexual harassment.
To resist patriarchy, women in Bangladesh have been educating themselves
and joining the paid labour force in large numbers, but education and paid
jobs failed to liberate women — patriarchy now exists in a different form. At
present, parents are interested educating their daughters, but with the goal of
finding a better bridegroom.
In most of the cases women cannot control their income independently.
Their husbands control their money directly or indirectly. Married women
who are in the paid labour force also cannot look after their parents due to the
misinterpretation of Islam. For this reason they are considered as liabilities in
their parental family. In many cases, women’s income or part of their income
is spent on the in-law’s family. Husbands consider their wives’ income as ‘a
source of wealth accumulation’. Paid employment, therefore, only gives them
a ‘double burden’, instead of benefits, which strengthens patriarchy. Appro-
priation of the women’s income by husbands or the in-law’s family has emerged
as a new form of dowry in Bangladesh.
Women’s organisations in Bangladesh have been working to stop violence
against women and the unequal status in the society. Although the women’s
movement in Bangladesh has many positive achievements, it is dominated by
the urban, educated upper and middle class. However, the women’s move-
ment in Bangladesh has been negatively strengthened by the money and ideas
of donor agencies.91 Akhter writes, “The overwhelming presence of NGOs
and dictation of international agencies through their counterparts has often
marginalised the voices of Bangladeshi women . . . Bangladesh had only few
91
Jahan, R. “Men in Seclusion, Women in Public: Rokeya’s Dream and Women’s Struggles in
Bangladesh”, in Basu, A. (ed.) The Challenge of Local Feminists Women’s Movements in Global
Perspective. Oxford: Westview Press, Inc., p. 107.
middle- and upper-class women seeking jobs at the national and international
organisations and therefore they became the ‘implementers’ of the suggestions
made by foreign ‘gender consultants’.”92 Women’s organisations must find
their own theory of women’s emancipation for the women of Bangladesh
which is not dictated by donor agencies; only then they can involve many
women in the movement to resist patriarchy.
92
Akhter, F. (n.d.) “Working Women vs ‘Powerful’ Women”. Available at: http://www.newagebd.
com/store/anni06/gender.html.

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Asian Journal of Social Science 37 (2009) 599–622 brill.

Theorising Patriarchy: The Bangladesh Context

Farah Deeba Chowdhury

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009 DOI: 10.1163/156853109X460200

accumulation strengthen patriarchy in Bangladesh? I will address these ques-

accumulation and it cannot be achieved if patriarchal relations are not main-

Sangari views patriarchies as “systems of subordinating women [that] func-

Private Patriarchy: Misinterpretation of Religion

Bangladesh patriarchal society never gives these messages to women of their

another is piety and righteousness, not gender, colour, or nationality.”45 The

My husband often beats me. My mother complained to my father-in-law that my

Private Patriarchy: Non-recognition of Unpaid work

work that women perform at home: housework, motherwork, and wifework.54

Public Patriarchy: Fear of Sexual Harassment

Capital Accumulation: Private and Public Patriarchy

suﬃcient compensation for waiving dowry demands.”88 Dannecker ﬁnds that

Although middle class educated people know that demanding dowry is a

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