Bengali Women

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You must tell Kedarnath to beware of Madrasi women, he spends so much time there, they are very fierce,” the neighbour advises. “I hear that they don’t even wash their silk saris gently, they just go dhup! dhup! dhup! like washerwomen under the tap.” Faroqi, Gofran (2012). "Kabadi". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Onlineed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M . Retrieved 26 November 2023. Within Bangladesh, widespread stigma led to the women being ostracised by their communities, and their horrifying accounts were often suppressed by shame. Today, a plaque on the wall of the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka says it all: “There are not many records of this hidden suffering.” Yet in every corner of Bangladesh, there are survivors with terrifying testimonies.

Parida, Bastab K. (5 July 2019). "Greatest all-rounder of 21st century debate – where does Shakib Al Hasan stand?". SportsCafe.in. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021 . Retrieved 23 March 2021. The status of women in Bangladesh has been subject to many important changes over the past few centuries. Bangladeshi women have made significant progress since the country's independence in 1971, where women in the region experienced increased political empowerment for women, better job prospects, increased opportunities of education and the adoption of new laws to protect their rights through Bangladesh's policies in the last four decades. Still, women in Bangladesh continue to struggle to achieve equal status to men due to societal norms that enforce restrictive gender roles as well as poor implementation of laws that were set to protect women. Zaman, Jaki (10 May 2013). "Jabbarer Boli Khela: Better Than WWE". The Independent. Dhaka. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013 . Retrieved 8 June 2013. Maleka Khan, then secretary of the Bangladesh Girl Guides Association, was tasked with mobilising female volunteers to help with war recovery efforts. But after learning about the discovery of women who had been raped and held captive in underground bunkers near Jahangir Gate in Dhaka, Khan decided to lead the rescue mission herself.Maleka Khan: ‘There was an air of disbelief about the whole thing. It was all so horrific.’ Photograph: Courtesy of Khalid Hussain Ayon In rural areas, older women wear the shari with hijab while the younger generation wear the selwar kamiz with hijab, both with simple designs. In urban areas, the selwar kamiz and the combination of niqab- burqa- chador is more popular, and has distinct fashionable designs. Traditionally urban Bengali men wore the jama, though costumes such as the panjabi [9] with selwar or pyjama have become more popular within the past three centuries. The popularity of the fotua, a shorter upper garment, is undeniable among Bengalis in casual environments. The lungi and gamcha are a common combination for rural Bengali men. During special occasions, Bengali women commonly wear either sharis, selwar kamizes or abayas, covering their hair with hijab or orna; and men wear a panjabi, also covering their hair with a tupi, toqi, pagri or rumal. At Jorashanko ( Rabindranath Tagore's home in Kolkata) different drapes of sari were improvised on so that women could step out of the andarmahal (inner house) where they were relegated. This had Tagore's sister-in-law, Jnanadanandini Devi, bringing the Parsi way of draping the sari from Mumbai to Bengal. [10] Chitra Deb, in her book 'Thakurbarir Andarmahal', describes the entire process of how the Parsi sari was adapted into Bengali culture. [11] Before Devi's invention, Bengali women used to wear sari without a blouse underneath and stay in "Andarmahal" to follow " purdah", a concept of modesty bought by Muslims native to Bengal and was followed by both Hindus and Bengali Muslims. Dhakai is another attire of women unique to Bengal. There are several variations of Shari (Bengali Sari) such as Jamdani, Tant, Muslin, Tangail, Kantha, Rajshahi Silk, Dhakai reshom, Baluchari etc. Bengali women also wear Fotua, Bengali Kurti and Kapor which are also unique to Bangladesh. Men wear Gamucha, Panjabi, Lungi, Mujib Coat, Genji and Kaabli which are unique to the men of Bangladesh.

During the war, Bengali nationalists also committed mass rape of ethnic Bihari Muslim women, since the Bihari Muslim community supported Pakistan. [15] Yasmin Saikia, a scholar, was informed repeatedly in Bangladesh that Pakistani, Bengali, and Bihari men raped Hindu women during the war. [16]Ahmed, Wakil (2012). "Folk Dances". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Seconded.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

They were in a prison in Comilla and in pretty miserable circumstances and they were saying: ‘What are they going on about? What were we supposed to have done? It was a war!’” said Davis. “The really disgraceful thing is that all these officers were trained in Sandhurst [Royal Military Academy] in England – and that was just not acceptable.” The term Biragona was first introduced in 1971 by Sheikh Mujib to refer to victims of rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War, in an attempt to prevent them from being outcast by the society. [17] Since 1972, victims of rape during the war have been recognized as Birangona, or "war heroines", by the government of Bangladesh. [17] [18] Bangladesh has already succeeded in getting genocide recognition from the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Genocide Watch, and US Congress recently introduced a historic resolution recognising that a genocide occurred in 1971. The government is now lobbying for the UN and international community to recognise that a genocide was committed during the liberation war. The recorded history of art in Bengal can be traced to the 3rd century BCE, when terracotta sculptures were made in the region. In antiquity, Bengal was a pioneer of painting in Asia under the Pala Empire.

Jessica Lee Rehman calls rape in 1971 an instance of religious terrorism. She said "The Pakistan Army is an Islamic institution, its soldiers are warriors of God and ...they rape in God's name. Therefore the raping of girls and women, the forced bodily transgressions, and the mutilations are considered to be a triumph for good." [44] Bengalis were dehumanised and Bengali women were perceived as prostitutes inviting sex. They were thought to have Hindu features which deleted any thought for their "Muslim" status that might prevent a perpetrator's savage activities. Faisal, a Pakistani officer who had been in East Pakistan, portrays Bengali culture in terms of the differences between East and West Pakistani ladies, pushing the open discrimination against Bengali women: "The women bathe openly so that men walking by can see them, and they wear saris that with one pull fall off their body, like Indians. They are very attached to music, like Hindus, and they have their daughters dance for guests, they take pride in this dancing and music, like prostitutes. My daughter does not dance, neither does my wife. This music and dancing isn't Islamic. Our ladies are not prostitutes like Bengalis." [45] A Bengali Muslim lady Ferdousi Priyabhashini says the soldiers raping her said to her, "You are a Hindu! You are a spy," because she wore a sari and bindi. [46] After the reopening of European trade with medieval India, Mughal Bengal became the world's foremost muslin exporter in the 17th century. Mughal-era Dhaka was a center of the worldwide muslin trade. In 2010, Bangladesh enacted the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2010. [25] Domestic violence (DV) is accepted by a significant percentage of the population: in the 2011 DHS survey, 32.5% of women said that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife for specific reasons (the most common reason given was if the wife "argues with him" – at 22.4%). [26] In recent years violence towards women, committed by men, has decreased significantly and is considerably low compared to south Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India. [27] This is a great way to show love and to make a Bangladeshi lady happy. Bangladeshi women highly appreciate even small gifts and consider them to be the best expression of love. FAQ Can the Language Barrier Prevent Foreigners from Meeting Bangladeshi Women?

In many ways, cultural expressions of the Bihar-Bengal encounter can be seen in multiple strands of historical evolution, particularly those emanating from the more recent colonial past. It’s in such a context that the anxieties expressed by Bihari women through folk music can be better understood in their actual as well as metaphorical shades. That would be a crucial exercise in historical understanding. The more immediate concern, however, is the use of regional stereotypes in the Bhojpuri pop for creating risqué themes and titillation. From Bideshiya to Kajri genres of folk songs in Bhojpuri, including the song that Jyoti Yadav cites in her piece in the Print, there are historical reasons for the evocation of Calcutta – now Kolkata – and Bengal. They are relevant to understanding the lyrical apprehensions of wives waiting for their migrant husbands in Bhojpuri-speaking western and northwestern Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh. (It should be noted that apart from Bhojpuri, Bihar is home to such dialects and languages as Maithili, Magahi, Bajjika, and Angika.)

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Available data on health, nutrition, education, and economic performance indicated that in the 1980s the status of women in Bangladesh remained considerably inferior to that of men. Women, in custom and practice, remained subordinate to men in almost all aspects of their lives; greater autonomy was the privilege of the rich or the necessity of the very poor. Female Hindu captives were raped in Pakistani Army camps. [78] The Pakistani Army committed mass rape of Hindu women because they were Hindus and the Army intended to destroy their faith, social position and self-esteem. [79] The policy of raping Hindu captives intended to change the community's bloodline. [78] The total effect of mass sexual violence against Hindu women demonstrated the existence of the genocidal actus reas. [80] In the Akayesu case the Bangladeshi Tribunal emphasised that the violence against Hindu women was committed not just against them individually but because of their membership of their community. [80]