It is fair to say that before coming to Bangladesh I'd never given women's rights any real thought. I mean, back in France or the UK, if a chap wanted to wind up a female friend he'd make some comment about her rightful place being the kitchen. A similar comment to a Western woman out here might well necessitate considerably more medical attention with a subsequent inability to ensure the survival of the family name.

So what are we really talking about? In the UK women earn on average around 60-65% of what men do, and in Ireland it's apparently nearer 40%. As shocking as those figures are they are nothing compared to what I hear about a woman's lot around these parts. Let me put is this way: Domestic violence is apparently the norm with wife beating a national sport, especially in the country. I don't have exact figures but many many women are murdered by their husbands. An interesting local speciality is throwing acid into a woman's face to basically ruin her life, often after disputes about dowries. Nice huh? This doesn't really compare to our problems of equal pay but these are all issues on the same scale but at different ends I suppose.

If I'm writing about this it's for 2 reasons really. The first is not specific to this week but a general raising of awareness thanks to female VSO volunteers and how their experience of life here differs to mine. The most noticable difference relates to how we dress, and to a certain extent this is related to the muslim culture. According to Islamic law a man must be covered from the waist to the knees while a woman should only expose her face and hands. If that wasn't strict enough by Western standards there is also something about not being able to distinguish a woman's shape i.e. her curves. From what I can make out there is an underlying assumption that the female form is just too exciting for men to bear, and so must be covered and disguised to protect all concerned. Apart from painting a rather sad picture of a man's ability to control himself when faced with a member of the fairer sex, the whole thing strikes me as actually being counter-productive. Surely forcing women to cover themselves in shapeless garments will only heighten a man's interest in what lies underneath, not to mention putting the blame on women for a man's inability to cope? At the other end of the scale I understand we have Newcastle-upon-Tyne where women certainly don't feel any social pressure to cover themselves (nor the cold one presumes...) which in some cases is regretable given the dimensions of some the specimens on display. I digress.

"Big deal - women have to dress differently" I hear the lads cry. Well, this change goes to the heart of the problem as it removes a woman's feeling of femininity, of what makes her different from men. On top of this women are generally excluded from social and political life despite statements to the contrary in the Bangladesh constitution. To add insult to injury the 2 main and opposing political figures in this land are women! When you go into town during the day or night you will not see many women out at all, particularly outside the capital. At first you don't notice this as there's so much else to take in, but then you slowly start to feel that something's not quite right. This distancing of women from social situations is a remarkably effective tactic in keeping them, dare I say, "at bay", as they can't mix with or make friends and hear news about what's going on locally and elsewhere. Anyway, enough of this negativity - I think you get the picture. I certainly am beginning to see things in a different light and how it affects my volunteer friends daily and in very profound ways.

Soooo, what's being done about all this then? Well, funny you should ask as only this week I went to visit a project run by another NGO where a couple of VSO volunteers are working. It's goal is to empower women by forming groups within a federation. Basically, a local community forms a group to discuss and address social issues. This group elects a representative who then sits on a village committee with other group reps. But it doesn't stop there as these village groups also each elect someone to stand at the next level up (Union) and these groups in turn elect 1 person to stand at the highest level which is the central committee. This last level roughly corresponds to where local government begins. All the project is attempting to do is get people to come together and structure their approach to be better at lobbying local government bodies and other service providers for solutions to their daily problems.

From what I saw it's been very successful though those results can't happen overnight. There are now 3 women from the project's groups sitting as elected members of 2 different local government bodies. More important than that though is the change in attitude and confidence of the women involved. As someone from the NGO put it, in the beginning they were quite shy and didn't say much, now you can't shut them up! What I find intersting is that the rise in these women's status has made men respect them more causing a drop in domestic violence. These women say that they now play an active role in managing the family which wasn't the case before. In particular, the oppression they often felt from mothers in law has lessened (wives traditionally join the husband's household and family which can create considerable tension with the mother).

At the end of my visit I was asked by the women's group if I was married. Next up they asked if I'd like a Bangladeshi wife. Errr no, and you can judge for yourselves from the photo.