(Hat tip: Shabnam Nadiya)
There is a book on a taboo topic in Bangla Academy Book fair. The Bangla name of the book is Shomokamita – Ekti Boigganik O shomaj monostattik Onushondhan (Homosexuality – A scientific and socio-psychological investigation)- and it is being published by Shuddhashar. It is probably the first book in Bangla providing a detailed overview of the complexity of issues that surrounds the culture and involving the study of homosexuality.
The book attempts to provide a scientific view and accessible account of homosexuality on several grounds. In the first half of the book, the author explores historical and biological facts. There he tries to explain the scientific/biological bases for homosexuality, both from historical perspective and the extent to which modern science has been exploring its area of research. Homosexuality in animal kingdom and in the mankind was being seen as “puzzle” for the evolutionary biologists for a long time. This book, backed by current biological and genetic research, provides a new insight from Darwinian perspective to tackle the complex issue.
In the second part, the author addressed human rights issues and ongoing struggle of the community in Bangladesh and the rest of the world.
More information about the book can be found here:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/avijit/shomokamita/
There are some important discussion going on in some Bangla blogs as well, such as
Mukto-Mona:
http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=4982
and http://mukto-mona.com/banga_blog/?p=4737
The book can be found in shuddhashar stall (stall no. 240) of Bangla academy Book fair in February, 2010.
প্রকাশকঃ শুদ্ধস্বর (আহমেদুর রশীদ চৌধুরী)
৯১ আজিজ সুপার মার্কেট (৩য় তলা)
শাহবাগ, ঢাকা।
ফোন : ০১৭১৬৫২৫৯৩৯
jyoti, February 18th 2010 |
Posted in Faces of Bangladesh, Gender, Society
We are used to negative coverage of Bangladesh in the western media. Many of us take those and add in our very limited exposure and scream ‘nothing happened in 38 years’ etc. Others have a knee-jerk reaction of denying the reports, claiming ‘western conspiracy against our image’ etc. The fact is, of course, that Bangladesh has made steady progress, particularly in the past couple of decades. And even many of its current problems are in fact results of the very growth process the naysayers fail to see.
Couple of recent pieces in the western media that note the positives.
In a piece on the US strategy in Afghanistan, Nick Kristof writes in the NY Times:
Since 9/11, the United States has spent $15 billion in Pakistan, mostly on military support, and today Pakistan is more unstable than ever. In contrast, Bangladesh, which until 1971 was a part of Pakistan, has focused on education in a way that Pakistan never did. Bangladesh now has more girls in high school than boys. (In contrast, only 3 percent of Pakistani women in the tribal areas are literate.)
Those educated Bangladeshi women joined the labor force, laying the foundation for a garment industry and working in civil society groups like BRAC and Grameen Bank. That led to a virtuous spiral of development, jobs, lower birth rates, education and stability. That’s one reason Al Qaeda is holed up in Pakistan, not in Bangladesh, and it’s a reminder that education can transform societies.
After visiting Dhaka recently, Amy Kazmin of the Financial Times writes:
The country, derided soon after its 1971 birth as “an international basket case”, has emerged relatively unscathed from the global financial crisis. Garment exports increased by 15 per cent, to a record $12.3bn, in the 12 months through June and the economy grew by 5.9 per cent last year, barely slowing from its 6.2 per cent rate in 2007.
“Bangladesh can aspire to be a middle-income country in a decade and a half – that doesn’t looks like a fantasy any more,” said Zahid Hussain, a senior economist at the World Bank in Dhaka.
(Hat tip: BD Invest and ATC).
UV_Admin, November 5th 2009 |
Posted in Economy, Foreign Media, Gender, Progress
For those who do not know, Rasu Kha purportedly is a serial killer in Bangladesh whose intention was to kill 101 girls but got nabbed by police after allegedly killing 11 girls. For the right or wrong reason, Rasu Kha story is all over the media lately.
Rasu Kha story ushers a new era in the history of Bangladesh. Again the new era can be viewed in two different perspectives.
First, reading Rasu kha stories in our media, one gets a feeling that our media is very proud to present a khati ‘Made in Bangladesh’ serial killer. There is a silent gesture which seems to boast; look world, like USA/ Europe/ Hollywood, we also now have our own serial killer. Look your serial killer only killed that many but our serial killer killed this much….!
This perspective however is marked by gross inefficiency in crime reporting. All we are hearing are purported Rasu Kha statements via police sources. There has so far been no cross checking of facts in our media. Nobody has ever asked what if Rasu kha is simply making up all the stories for some sort of sick gratification. In criminal investigation, this sort of psychology is extremely common. JonBenet Ramsey was six year old girl who was killed in 1996. Her death still remains a mystery to US society, however every now and then one guy here one guy there will come out claiming to be the murderer.
( Photo: Shafiq Alam)
Read more…
rumi, October 24th 2009 |
Tags: Crime
Posted in Faces of Bangladesh, Gender, News and events, Society, Women
The beautiful housewife and other stereotypes
by Hana Shams Ahmed
(Published in One World South Asia)
Anwara Begum’s new book takes a look at women in the Bangladesh media. She argues that TV ads don’t only sell products but also attitudes and in the process set standards of beauty and mannerism, as defined by men. This piece reflects on the stereotyping of women.
Read more…
hana, October 18th 2009 |
Posted in Gender
Girlhood Interrupted
by Hana Shams Ahmed
(Published in the Star Weekend Magazine on 9 October)
When Samia arrived at the lawyer’s office with her friend she was hoping to get advice on how to file for a divorce. The lawyer asked her some obvious questions about what was wrong with the relationship and whether she had children etc. When she told the lawyer that her husband had molested two teenage maids in the house, Samia expected the lawyer to be in full solidarity with her decision. The lawyer did not display much emotion, what she said in response shocked Samia instead. “This is quite normal for men of our country,” she said. Instead of pointing out to Samia that her husband had committed a punishable crime which she was an eye-witness to, the lawyer was showing her commiseration and in a meandering way saying that this was not serious enough for the dissolution of a marriage.
In another incident in a corporate office, a woman — involved in among other things, human rights activism — was complaining to her colleagues about how shoitan (evil) her young maid was. When asked what were among her greatest ’sins’, she replied that the maid lapsed from her work regularly when she went out of the house and watched TV and received phone calls from her boyfriend!
The attitude and choice of words of the female lawyer and ‘human right defender’ points to how deeply embedded this acceptance of abuse of the underprivileged is. The discrimination and complete disregard of a domestic worker’s right to live like a human being has been discussed in the media in small columns, but has had little effect on societal outlook. The middle-aged approach of treating domestic workers as a human punching bag (sometimes literally) of everyone’s anger and frustration stays on, and is still the most exposed, yet invisible, form of human rights violation.
Read more…
hana, October 17th 2009 |
Posted in Gender, Society, child labour
HIGH COURT DIRECTS GOVERNMENT TO SHOW CAUSE WHY EDUCATION BOARD’S REFUSAL TO GIVE ADMIT CARDS FOR SSC/HSC EXAMS FOR FAILURE TO STATE FATHER’S NAME NOT UNCONSTITUTIONAL
The High Court today issued a Rule Nisi today on the Government and on seven Boards of Education to show cause as to why
a) the refusal to issue registration cards for SSC and HSC examinations to any candidate who does not complete fields for both ‘father’s name’ and ‘mother’s name’ in the Student Information Form, should not be declared arbitrary, discriminatory and/or in violation of the fundamental rights to equality, to be treated in accordance with law and to access to education and
b) why they should not be directed to amend the SIF to include identification information regarding the name of the father, or mother, or guardian. Read more…
naeem, August 4th 2009 |
Posted in Gender
Distinction needs to be made – between fatwa (as in opinion) and fatwa: people still connect the issue of fatwa with religion/faith. That no one but the state has the power to “punish” needs to be “messaged”. Read more…
nadiya, June 25th 2009 |
Posted in Gender
On May 14th, the High Court, in a landmark declaration, laid down guidelines defining sexual harassment. Compliance to these guidelines is compulsory till a law is made to protect women against sexual harassment.
Every institution, organization, workplace will now has to have a committee, headed by women, to investigate allegations of harassment. Some details of this ruling are available here.
For every woman who has to go to work in a man’s world and is forced to prove her worth by silently dealing with abuse and exploitation, while conserving whatever is left of her dignity this has been a small leap towards attaining justice. There are more difficult battles ahead of us. Read more…
Fariha, May 16th 2009 |
Posted in Gender
Last December, I attended the first event organised by a newly created Bangladesh Government agency whose creation was long demanded by progressive activists. Not unexpectedly, the programme started a bit later than the scheduled time. A fellow Drishtipat writer -and I were sipping tea in one corner when an elderly gentleman walked up to us and introduced himself. I greeted him and introduced myself. He returned my salaam, and completely ignoring my friend, walked away.
I was totally taken aback. My friend has extensive experience in the field, with field experience in places like Gaza, Afghanistan, and Nepal. I was there only because another friend got me a pass. But the gentleman completely ignored HER, as if SHE wasn’t even present. My friend saw the reaction in my face, and said how this was nothing new to her.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, that male chauvinism is deep rooted in Bangladeshi society was nothing new to me. Imagine my surprise then to see the gentleman sitting in the stage, as the chairman of the agency that is supposed to fight precisely this sort of disdain for half the humanity!
(More at Mukti)
jyoti, March 30th 2009 |
Posted in Gender, Human Rights, Women
