Perceived
legitimacy of men’s violence against women
In
general, the women in the study acknowledged that men are their
guardians and have the right to beat them if they behave
unacceptably. Many think this right is grounded in Islamic
religious doctrine .
The ethnographers in one village noted,
Women
learn from religious sermons that the parts of their bodies
beaten by their husbands will go to heaven that they should
endure their husband’s beatings without protest, that they
should not complain to each other about this.
In
addition, many women are acutely aware of the socio-economic
realities that make it difficult for them to resist violence.
One woman explained,
"My husband gets short-tempered when his
fish business is down and there isn’t enough money. During
that
Season
he scolds me a lot and beats me for this or that or that reason.
I always keep quiet. What else can someone like me do?
My
husband is all I have. He decides what clothes to buy me, and
when. I’ve never asked him ... he buys me a sari when the one
I’m wearing is torn to shreds...He brings medicine when the
children or I got sick, but I never ask him for medicine. I’m a
woman.
"
When asked what they
thought about wife – beating many of the men who were
interviewed made it clear that they saw it as justified and
men’s right. Some said that it was condoned in the religious
texts (Hadith) and others described it as a normal way to keep
women’s unruly natures in check and make the household run
smoothly.
One
respondent told the ethnographer,
"Sister,
if you don’t beat them they’ll stop being good. And if
they’ll stay that way. "
With
regard to husbands’ physical violence against their wives, the
only real lack of consensus in the study villages had to do with
the degree of violence that was justified or appropriate under
various circumstances.
One woman in the ethnographic study got
suspicious and started weighing their remaining store of rice
because she suspected that her husband was secretly selling it.
When he caught her at it he beat her so hard that she couldn’t
get up for two days. Her cousin brothers told her husband:
"You
can control M. if she is at fault. But if beat her too much the
problem will be yours. You should control her less.
"
Modern
And Traditional Institutions Supporting Violence Against Women:
Violence
of modern institution
The
state machinery, in the form of the police and courts, is
probably the greatest source of instability and violence in
rural Bangladesh. Sometimes this violence is directed
deliberately against women, as when police harass, beat or even
rape women when they go to village homes to arrest suspects or
make investigations .For example, in
January, 1992,a murder was committed in one of the study
villages. The police came to arrest M.who was accused of the
crime, but M. had fled the village. The police kicked M.'s wife
and severely beat her with a stick to forcer her to tell them
where M. had fled to. For weeks after this incident men and
women would leave the village in panic when the police came to
conduct further investigations.
In
situations when police set up temporary camps in villages to
maintain law and order, local residents often complain that the
police confiscate their poultry and livestock,
forcibly take away food, extort money, beat people
indiscriminately and sexually harass women. During these
periods many people leave their homes. In 1991, a police camp was
set up for 20 days in a district adjacent to one of the study
areas following a clash between villagers and commercial shrimp
cultivators. Perhaps because the shrimp cultivators were
known to have close ties with powerful government officials, the
police were particularly harsh in dealing with the villagers.
Many, including women, left the village, among those who were
left behind; several men were beaten and obscene comments. Two
women were reported to have been raped.
Violence
of traditional institutions
Fatwa
and shalish are two traditional institutions controlled by men
that are often used to reaffirm patriarchal norms and enforce
male authority.
Fatwa are infrequent interpretations of Islami law, which
generally are issued by a prominent religious authority. Shalish
is the traditional adjudicating body of rural society.
It
is composed of male elders who meet to arbitrate
conflicts, pass
judgment and establish punishments for individuals
accused of breaking social rules.
While men may be called
before a shalish
in connection with various types of misdeeds and
conflicts, when women are called the issue of men’s control
over women is usually involved. Women may be summoned
to a shalish for relatively minor matters such as daring
to defy their husbands by not cooking for them, failing to
prevail upon their parents to hand over dowry money, or for more
serious social
violations such as failing to observe purdah
restrictions by making
themselves visible to men or engaging in pre-marital or
extra-marital sexual relationships.
In
recent years, with the expansion of micro-credit schemes,
nonformal
schools, and other community-based
programs for women run by non-governmental organizations
(NGOs ), as well as paid employment opportunities outside
the home, increasing
numbers of women
have been coming out in public. Women’s presence in the
public sphere is often perceived as a direct challenge to the
patriarchal system .In reaction, fundamentalist groups across
the country have issued fatwa
against women working, or participating in credit
programs and other organized groups outside of the home.
Local landlords, money lenders and power brokers, who see in
women’s increased mobility a limit to their own control over
them, have used such fatwa
as a basis to intimidate women . A recent report compiled
by Amnesty International (1994) cites examples in which fatwa
were used to discourage families from sending their daughters to
nonformal primary schools and allowing women to engage in
income- generating schemes and other activities organized by
NGOs, The report
also cites cases in which women were deserted by their
husbands
after fatwa
were issued against them for associating with NGOs.It also mentions many incidents in
which fatwa
were issued
to prevent women from receiving prenatal and other types
of health care from NGO facilities.
The
role of the shalish
in upholding men’s domination of women is illustrated
in an incident that took place in 1994 in one of the study
villages . After her father gave his 23 years old daughter a
small piece of land as a gift, R.’s husband
insisted that she sell it, along with the only cow she
had , because he needed money. R. refused and was beaten. The
arguments and beating continued for a period of time, and
finally a shalish was called. At the shalish the elders told R,.
“you
are a woman and he is your husband . It is your duty to
listen to your husband .” R. was forced to sell
the land and the cow and give the money to her husband.
This incident illustrates the function of the shalish in
enforcing men’s right to dominate women and to use domestic
violence to maintain control over women and
property. Less commonly, violent and degrading public
punishments are actually imposed on women by a shalish – e.g.
public whipping, beating of women who are accused of engaging
in premarital or extramarital sex.
As
noted earlier, violence against women outside the home is much
less frequent in rural Bangladesh than domestic violence. In
most cases it is the
threat of public violence rather than the experience of
it that keeps women in the home and ensures their compliance
with patriarchal
norms. Except for men beating their wives in public,
during the four years since the ethnographic study began there
have been very few cases of
physical violence against women in public however there
have many cases
in which violence against women was
executed at home in response
to public disapproval of women’s
violations of patriarchal norms.
Violence
against women plays
a large part in maintaining patriarchal norms . It
prevents women from exercising their legal rights to
property inheritance, constrains their ability to take advantage
of economic opportunities, and keeps them
in the home. Their
isolation within the private sphere makes them
particularly
vulnerable to domestic violence. The
extent
of domestic violence that women are subjected to,
however, is not the same in all families, nor for all types
of women and some women are more able than others to find
ways to control men’s violence.
more
in next issue.........
