Economic downturns, closures of schools and houses of worship, and lockdown orders reduce women's mobility, exposing them to domestic violence (DV) or increased early and forced marriages. This links to the gap between development, humanitarian action and peacebuilding on the one hand and worlds of faith on the other, which is particularly wide in issues affecting women's rights. In Bangladesh, this suspicion is deeply rooted in the historical struggle for women's empowerment in the face of strongly conservative religious attitudes.
While Muslim traditions have historically presented many barriers to women's advancement, Bangladesh's emergence as an independent nation-state is deeply intertwined with women's empowerment; women's education, dress and cultural self-expression were symbols of Bengali. This put them on a path of direct conflict with Islamic religious leaders, whose fatwas often opposed women's rights. While the views shared in these spaces are primarily shaped by traditional notions of gender roles in Islam, women's agency is also central to a discourse woven in the language of rights and entitlements. public domain on women's issues that was previously exclusive to secular feminists.
This group has a strict anti-women's rights agenda that has pushed it forward to limit opportunities for dialogue to counter gender inequality. Across 120 countries, the initiative brought together women's experiences and took a feminist approach to this work, bringing the realities of GBV to the fore. BLAST, a women's rights organization, noted that many legal avenues of empowerment for women and family courts were closed due to the pandemic, so domestic violence situations could not be addressed.
Rokeya Kabir of the Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS), a women's activist NGO, was one of the few with a positive view of the effects of COVID-19 on the condition of women.73 Kabir noted rising levels of gender-based violence and fewer avenues for justice and protection. nevertheless asserted that the pandemic laid the groundwork for more progressive views on gender. For example, under lockdown conditions, when women and men are confined to the house, BNPS used telecommunications to spread awareness about COVID-19 and gender issues in general, as well as to call on men to rethink the division of labor in the household based on on gender, and encouraged them to participate in child-rearing and household chores, and to revise their views of women's contributions and plight. They're great, but the thing is, we've turned them into a gender and women's issue; it was not about men and women."
In the organization's work, they find religious actors who propagate views of women that don't even uphold the basic principles of human rights and objectify women's bodies in a way that denies women freedom of choice and dignity. MJF has a decidedly negative view of the role of religion in Bangladeshi society.89 During COVID-19, MJF noted that religious leaders used social media platforms such as Facebook to propagate extremely derogatory views of women, reflecting the general attitudes of religious people. leaders and views of religious institutions that systematically undermine women's empowerment and anti-GBV efforts. Sara Hossain, honorary executive director of BLAST, expressed her strong opinion about secular women's rights organizations that work with religious groups.
A secular space to work in for women's empowerment is needed, and she sees few advantages in interacting with religious leaders; it is "a huge waste of time and resources". The intractability of religion on charged issues such as women's inheritance rights, and fierce opponents of women's rights such as the infamous 'Tamarind Hujur'. During COVID-19, MJF noted that religious leaders are using social media platforms such as Facebook to propagate extremely derogatory views about women, reflecting common attitudes of religious leaders and views of religious institutions that systematically undermine women's empowerment.
Caritas, a Catholic humanitarian organization, has been on the frontline of women's issues since the late 1980s and over the years has adapted and changed their policies and agendas to strengthen women's empowerment.
PROPOSALS ON WAYS FORWARD
Caritas noted that religion is often interpreted in a negative way, especially with regard to women's rights; they pursue approaches to their work that involve context scientists, have open Q&As with leaders and communities, and challenge leaders on particular topics. Moderate faith leaders are often underfunded because they are not part of established conservative hierarchies. Organizations providing assistance to victims should include religious leaders in the permanent team or at least as advisors, so that the assistance is focused on the victim's religious identity, perceptions and expectations.
While poor framing can push people away, framing anti-GBV language in terms of the Qur'an and its teachings or within a family-oriented argument can help. The more receptive faith leaders must seek platforms and resources to reach their communities and present. More coalition building among progressive faith-inspired organizations and similar collective action on the part of moderate faith leaders is also needed.
Faith leaders sometimes limit discussions of gender issues to their peers, as part of an academic/. Faith communities must develop female scholars who can speak authoritatively on religion and bring much-needed women's perspectives to critical issues of gender and GBV. Taleem groups (though not all) and women's informal religious gatherings offer an obvious way to start consultations on the specific range and design of appropriate measures.
Women's voices must come from women's collectives, not overseen by men in their communities. Policy approaches to address child marriage and permissive attitudes to domestic violence must begin with community-level consultation involving faith actors, both leaders and organizations, who can contribute to understanding causes, perceived justifications and consequences of the practice. The foundation's most recent progress report notes that its women's branch has organized 240 events to spread the teachings and values of Islam to women, but notes that no Islam-based women's empowerment or anti-GBV activities have been undertaken. work.113 Given the institution's tremendous potential for promoting faith efforts to counter GBV, this agenda is disappointing and would benefit from the insights and expertise of other government bodies working on gender and GBV issues, including the Department of Women's and Children's Affairs.
Online advocacy programs with partnerships with respected faith leaders and faith-inspired organizations can be helpful. Foreign aid workers should specify involvement with religious actors in grants for anti-GBV work and gender work more broadly, as they play a key role in this context. The details depend on the nature of the project, but where appropriate such strategies should be anticipated, monitored and developed.
As organizations such as UNICEF have experienced, efforts to counter harmful community practices are multiplied when faith leaders are involved and trained to join the efforts.115 UN bodies and other foreign actors must build on relationships formed during this emergency and resources invest in their networks with faith actors, design capacity building programs, and include these actors in addressing GBV. Local news in remote and rural parts of the country is rarely part of national-level surveillance and capacity-building efforts, but can play crucial roles in transmitting and perpetuating harmful gender norms and attitudes in specific communities.
CONCLUSION
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Domestic Violence. Legal Aid Association MLAA Madaripur Sustainable Development Goals SRH SRH Sexual and Reproductive Health UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund VAW Violence against Women.
ENDNOTES
33 Lucia Hanmar and Jeni Klugman, "Exploring Women's Agency and Empowerment in Developing Countries: Where Do We Stand?". 38 A Karam, "Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Address the Social Determinants of Child Marriage," The Review of Faith & International Affairs 13, no. Hage, "The Role of Counseling Psychology in the Prevention of Male Violence Against Female Intimates," The Counseling Psychologist.
41 MN Pillay, "The Church of England and feminism: Challenging the 'patriarchy of faith'", Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa 19, no. 44 Regina Gemignani & Quentin Wodon, “Child Marriage and Faith Affiliation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Stylized Facts and Heterogeneity,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 13, no. Jahan, "Men in Purdah and Women in Public: Rokeya's Dreams and Women's Struggles in Bangladesh," in A.
Basu (ed.), The challenges of local feminism: women's movement in a global perspective, (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995). 47 A Banu, “Global-Local Interactions: First Three Decades of Women's Movement in Bangladesh,” The Journal of Asiatic Society 60, No. Jahan, “Men in Purdah and Women in Public: Rokeya's Dreams and Women's Struggles in Bangladesh.”.
54 Mohammad Mazher Idriss, “The mosques are the biggest problem we have right now”: key figures and survivors' stories of entering into mosques with domestic and honor-based violence in the United Kingdom, Journal of Interpersonal Violence 35, no. 55 E Petersen, “Women's Colored Experiences of Domestic Violence in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” Faith Trust Institute (2010), http://www.faithtrustinstitute.org/resources/articles/DV-in-Post-Apartheid-South- Africa.pdf. Brick, “The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Preventing and Responding to Sexual, Intimate Partner, and Gender-Based Violence in Conflict Situations: A Modified Critical Interpretative Synthesis,” Sexual Violence Research Initiative, University of Otago (2015), https:/ / jliflc.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/.
Faith-Inspired Health Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction to the Spring 2014 Issue,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 12, no. Judith-Ann Walker, “Engaging Islamic Opinion Leaders on Child Marriage: Preliminary Results of Pilot Projects in Nigeria,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 13, no. 64 Azza Karam, “Faith-Inspired Initiatives to Tackle the Social Determinants of Child Marriage,” The Review of Faith & International Affairs 13, no.
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