The socio-legal status of Bangali women in Bangladesh : implications for development.

There have been specific studies on Bangladeshi women in the past, which have dealth with either the empowerment of rural women, Muslim women or women in the industrial sector. In order to determine the socio-legal position of Bangali women in Bangladesh, it has been necessary to identify and discuss different social and legal issues pertinent to the topic. This study is, therefore, not a selective one, but a broad-based analysis of the position of women in Bangladesh in the eyes of the social and legal system of the country.

The thesis deals with the 'socio-legal status' of Bangali women. Many may deem that using the term 'status' is degrading to women, as it conjures up the idea of measuring women to a male yardstick where women become dehumanised. However, this thesis has no intention of dehumanising women. The term 'status' has been used to determine women's position in the social and legal system in Bangladesh to date, and refers to women's access to legal, educational and 'public' resources and their decision making power within the household and larger society and what social and legal cosntraints they have to overcome.

The women of Bangladesh have always been dominated by a patriarchal society, reluctant to shed its traditions and customs which have denied women actual participation in political and social decision-making. This attitude is reflected in some of the laws prevalent in the country and in the lack of implementation of laws enacted to protect women.

It is, however, not only patriarchy which is stifling women in Bangladesh, but also poverty, which is, in some cases, due to patriarchal ideas. One example of this is the fact that women-headed households rate among the 'poorest of the poor' in the country, since these women have no male voice or support. Government run poverty alleviation programmes fail to include these households as patriarchal trends consider men to be the main wage-earners of a family.

This thesis has attempted to highlight and analyse the reasons why women in Bangladesh are discriminated against by society and in the eyes of the law. It also tries to analyse the reason why, after twenty-seven years of independence, the country is still poverty-stricken, despite the amount of international funds being poured into it to help finance development programmes. It emphasises the fact that to improve women's social, legal and even economic status in the country it is necessary to change the way society regards them.