Bangladesh Feminist Archives

by Maisha Zaman

Bangladesh’s political parties, including BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, have made women’s empowerment a centerpiece of their 2026 election agendas, promising education, jobs, and representation. Yet these structural pledges sidestep the cultural mindsets fueling violence against women, leaving their gains precarious.

BNP’s platform pushes free Master’s-level education for girls, merit-based civil service jobs, equal pay enforcement, and a “women-friendly” state with more female parliamentarians, building on past successes such as loans introduced under Khaleda Zia. Jamaat-e-Islami offers post-graduation education with moral and religious emphasis, “dignified” flexible jobs, Shariah-aligned inheritance, and social security programs that frame women as pillars of the family, alongside promises of a women’s university. Both echo Awami League-style quotas and grants. BNP’s stance appears more substantive but remains largely symbolic if patriarchal party ranks persist, while Jamaat’s approach is overtly tokenistic with zero female candidates. The interim government has similarly failed to tackle violence against women, offering no meaningful intervention to address the escalating crisis.

Both parties contesting the election fail to recognize that Bangladesh suffers from what social scientists call the Backlash Effect or Status Inconsistency. While women’s participation in jobs and education is crucial, these are merely structural changes that do not challenge the root cause of violence: the patriarchal mindset of male dominance, harbored by both men and women and visible within the political culture of both parties.

Structural advances can create status inconsistency. When women’s education and income challenge male identities tied to provider roles, tensions can escalate into violence. UNFPA data shows that 76% of women in Bangladesh face lifetime intimate partner violence, including physical, sexual, emotional, economic, or controlling abuse, while 15% experience non-partner physical abuse and 2.2% sexual abuse since the age of fifteen. A September 2025 longitudinal study by icddr,b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) confirmed that violence by husbands against female garment workers remains “very high” and has increased over two years. The study also found that 55% of female workers experienced psychological violence in the workplace. Dismissive rhetoric such as “women already have enough rights” ignores this reality.

Domestic violence stems from patriarchal norms, not simply policy gaps. Laws without accompanying cultural shifts can even heighten risks by framing women’s independence as deviance. When traditional hierarchies feel threatened, men may attempt to reassert control physically, eroding women’s “exit power.”

Jamaat reinforces this dynamic. The party’s women’s wing secretary has stated that top female leadership is “not a priority,” citing Quranic interpretations of men as societal managers. Ameer Dr. Shafiqur Rahman has similarly argued that women should not hold top party leadership roles on religious and biological grounds. Both parties lack internal female representation: BNP nominated only 3.5% women candidates, while Jamaat nominated none. These male-dominated hierarchies excluded women from Consensus Commission meetings, signaling clear resistance to sharing power. Leaders prioritize patriarchal norms over challenging gender biases, reinforcing exclusion.

Both parties avoid discussing male-inclusive reforms or critiquing dominant male norms, likely fearing voter backlash in a conservative society. Instead, they address online harassment against women politicians and cite “electability” to justify safer structural pledges such as education quotas, while avoiding deeper conversations about cultural change. Addressing complex social reforms could alienate their political bases.

BNP’s “Bangladesh First” agenda and Jamaat’s Islamic framework both emphasize women’s public roles without demanding male accountability, as broader political priorities sideline gender norms amid economic concerns. Women’s issues risk becoming vote-gathering tools rather than genuine reform efforts, perpetuating societal biases. True change requires men as allies, yet parties often avoid this conversation to evade accusations of Western imposition or the dilution of religious and traditional values.

Policies can equip women with survival tools, jobs, and education, but unchanged definitions of masculinity continue to fuel conflict. True safety requires economic independence paired with social acceptance through norm-shifting campaigns, bias education, and male-inclusive reforms. Change must begin with the men and women who uphold patriarchal values, challenging their own assumptions and biases to model equity.

True safety for women occurs only when economic independence meets social acceptance. Empowerment is a two-sided coin. If women are empowered while definitions of masculinity remain unchanged, the result is a recipe for domestic and social conflict.

—————————————————————————————————

This piece is part of Political & Personal: An Anthology of Gender & Sexuality Issues in Bangladesh, a weekly series by the Bangladesh Feminist Archives. To read all contributions and view submission guidelines, click here.