Law event
From patriarchy to empowerment
Gender and law in Bangladesh
Social and economic indicators for developing countries consistently show that women bear the hardship in poor communities. It is now well recognized that life will be better for women if they are empowered both socially and economically. The efforts of developing countries to modernize discriminatory laws and galvanize women's empowerment can be frustrated by the deep-rooted cultural barriers that so often run in parallel with poverty. Keeping that in mind, an International Workshop on “From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Gender and Law in Bangladesh” was organized by Empowerment of Women in the Legal Regime (EWLR) in association with the Department of Law, University of Dhaka at the Nabab Nowab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban, Dhaka University on March 16, 2008. The objective of the workshop was to arrange an interactive discussion on the Gender and law issues in Bangladesh focusing on the economic and social empowerment of women.
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| (In the Picture, From left)- Professor Dr. Werner F. Menski, Professor Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan, Ms. Raiqah Walie Khan, Professor Dr. Taslima Monsoor. |
The workshop started right at 10.00 A.M. by the welcome address of Professor Dr. Taslima Monsoor; Chairman, Department of Law; University of Dhaka. After that, the audience received valuable addresses from Ms. Raiqah Walie Khan, Manager, Education Promotion and Marketing, British Council, Professor Dr. Borhan Uddin Khan, Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka and Professor Dr. Werner F. Menski, School of Law, SOAS, University of London. Respected teachers from the Department of Law, Dhaka University and eminent lawyers of the Supreme Court were also present on the occasion.
The first session of the workshop started with the presentation of paper by Professor Dr. Taslima Monsoor on “Gender, Equity and Economic Empowerment: Women and Family Law in Bangladesh”. On her speech, she particularly highlighted the property rights and economic empowerment of women with reference to the relationship between Sharia and women and also the gender issues in the Legal System of Bangladesh. Professor Taslima observed that Women in Bangladesh are subordinated within an intensely hierarchical system of gender relations which constantly attempts to deny women not only access to social power and control over their own lives, but also granted rights to which they are entitled. She concluded her speech by presenting an analysis on better economic justice to women by enforcement of family law.
Professor Dr. Shahnaz Huda presented a paper on “Gender & Violence against Women: Effects of Patriarchal Socialization Processes.” Professor Huda categorized violence against women in private & public violence and suggested some initiatives to combat violence.
The second session of the workshop began with the paper presentation by Professor Dr. Naima Huq on “Rethinking of Women's Maintenance.” She suggested that a statutory provision can be made binding the husband to provide maintenance to a divorced wife who has been divorced without a reasonable cause. This will restrain indiscriminate & arbitrary divorces. Last of all, Mr. Bishawjit Chanda presented a paper on “Harmonizing the Personal Laws” where he categorically stated that uniform family code is not a solution to the existing problems. Rather, an ideal harmonized code with due respect to all types of religion should be promulgated.
Both the sessions were chaired by Professor Dr. Werner F. Menski. Large number of Law students from Dhaka University and also from some private universities participated in the workshop. Each presentation was followed by an interactive discussion where Professor Menski enlightened the audience with his valuable comments. After the sum up discussion by Professor Menski, the Workshop formally came to an end by the closing address of Professor Taslima Monsoor. The daylong workshop was conducted by Mr. Nazmuzzaman Bhuian; Asst. Professor; Department of Law; University of Dhaka.
--Law Desk.
