Women and Domestic Violence in Bangladesh : Seeking A Way Out of the Cage

After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the country has experienced large-scale transformations owing to national and international migration, urbanization, the development of many national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and economic dynamism. Globalization and economic liberalization have created opportunities to develop sustainable social policies by strengthening the national economy of the country. Major progress has been made in closing the gender gap, and the Constitution of Bangladesh provides equality of status and opportunity to all its citizens irrespective of sex. However, domestic violence perpetuated against women is a common phenomenon in Bangladesh. This book is a study about domestic violence against women in Bangladeshi society. It delineates, in particular, why and how some women become the victims of domestic violence in the changing socio-economic setting of Bangladesh. The author explores the multiple contexts in which domestic violence occurs by focusing on the everyday experience of women subjected to this violence. The book shows how changing socio-economic setting, urbanization and the growing demand for female labor influences the phenomenon and experience of domestic violence. It demonstrates that domestic violence is entangled in a complex web of institutionalized social relations that necessitates a structural and contextual understanding of the production of such violence in family, kinship and gender relations. Finally, it identifies factors that cause, perpetuate, and mitigate domestic violence or give strength to women to struggle and raise their voices or take shelter in the law against the perpetrators of domestic violence. A novel contribution to our understanding of how gender relationships are differently constituted and contested in the everyday lives of Bangladeshi women, both in natal and affinal families, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of Sociology, Gender and Law and South Asian Studies. Cover -- Half Title -- Book Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- List of tables -- Preface -- Introduction -- Research on domestic violence against women in Bangladesh -- Gender relations, domestic violence and practice -- The legal framework of family relations -- Outline of the book -- Notes -- 1 Approaching basti life and a counseling center in Sylhet -- Research methods and the main sources of data -- The experience of fieldwork as a native researcher -- The field research sites -- The bastis -- Pirer Tila basti -- Durga Bari basti -- Migration from village to basti: the causes left behind -- The changing socio-demographic structure in the bastis -- Notes -- 2 Girlhood and marriage: perceptions and experiences of slum women -- Girlhood in a Natal family: mixed feelings -- Getting married: the ultimate destination for women -- Marriage and dowry in the slum life -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 3 Liberating one's own space: in quest of self-identity and agency in everyday life -- Working outside home: women's voices from the bastis -- Work of honor, work of shame -- Case 1 A woman on her own: coping with crisis -- Case 2 No place of her own: too great a risk? -- Toward a new perception on pardah (a veil) and bargaining power -- Conclusion -- Note -- 4 Women's married life and domestic violence in the slum -- The process of responding and coping strategies of domestic violence in the bastis -- Women's views on divorce -- Narratives of violence and different coping strategies -- Case 1 Renu and Parvin - blaming and fighting in the household -- Case 2 Zakia - a blow against patriarchy -- Conclusion -- 5 Unveiling domestic violence from the privacy of home -- Dowry and domestic violence: makes the women helpless -- Driven from husband's house - no place of her own -- Troubles with a love marriage A drug addicted husband and disorganized conjugal life -- The supremacy of the mother-in-law in married life -- Analysis of the case studies -- Conclusion -- Note -- 6 Legal battles at the counseling center: what do the women get? -- The mediations (shalishes) of domestic violence at the counseling center -- Can multiple shalishes stop domestic violence? -- Who benefits from a divorce - a husband or a wife? -- Do shalishes ensure maintenance cost for a wife and children? -- How does a convicted husband escape? -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 7 Conclusions -- References -- Index