Women marched in Dhaka at midnight<\/span><\/figcaption>Yet for swathes of women in the country, including those who were at the forefront of the revolution, the hope of the election has become tinged with disappointment and fear amid a resurgence of regressive Islamist politics that it is feared will impinge upon women\u2019s rights in society and the workplace, and a dearth of female candidates in the running.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was meant to be an election representing change and reform. Instead, we are seeing women being systematically erased and their rights threatened,\u201d said Sabiha Sharmin, 25, as she took part in the midnight march. \u201cWe worry this election will throw the country back 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the most oppressed political movements of the Hasina era, when elections were rigged and opponents persecuted, was Jamaat e-Islami, an Islamist party that believes in bringing sharia law to Bangladesh. It was banned and its leaders jailed, disappeared or sentenced to death.<\/p>\n
Since Hasina\u2019s fall, Jamaat e-Islami has mobilised with unprecedented gusto, positioning itself as a rival to the veteran Bangladesh National party (BNP) that was previously expected to make a clean sweep of the elections \u2013 and it appears as if it will be a significant force after the election, probably earning an unprecedented share of the vote.<\/p>\n
Limited polling still suggests BNP will win the election but as Thomas Kean, Crisis Group\u2019s senior consultant on Bangladesh, stated: \u201cWhether it\u2019s as a sizeable opposition or a government in power, the future of Bangladesh\u2019s politics looks like a heavily Islamist party will be at its centre.\u201d<\/p>\nPeople board an overcrowded train in Dhaka to travel home to vote in the national election.<\/span> Photograph: Fatima Tuj Johora\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCritics say the resurgence of conservative Islamist politics has already begun to seep into society. In rural areas, girls were prevented from playing football by religious leaders who termed it indecent, and women have reported mounting harassment if they do not cover their hair or dress modestly.<\/p>\n
While Jamaat e-Islami has put forward a manifesto focusing on reform, women\u2019s safety from harassment and clean politics, the party is not running a single female candidate. Rhetoric from the party\u2019s leader, Shafiqur Rahman, has had a chilling effect.<\/p>\n
In an incendiary interview with Al Jazeera, he said a woman could never lead the party as it was un-Islamic. Comments he made last year then resurfaced, denying the existence of marital rape and describing rape as \u201cimmoral women and men coming together outside marriage\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the kinds of views and policies you hear in Iran and Afghanistan,\u201d said Zayba Tahzeeb, 21, a physics student who attended the Dhaka midnight march. \u201cWomen\u2019s sovereignty, our freedoms, our independence: all are at stake in this election.\u201d<\/p>\nTaslima Akhter (fourth from right) of the Ganosamhati Andolon party at a campaign rally in Dhaka.<\/span> Photograph: Munir Uz Zaman\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAmong the policies proposed by the party is reducing women\u2019s working hours from eight hours to five, with the government subsidising the lost income, so women can spend more time at home. Women make up 44% of the country\u2019s workforce, according to the International Labour Organization, the highest proportion in south Asia, and paid work is a right fiercely guarded by women across economic strata.<\/p>\n
The sense of frustration grew after the National Citizen party (NCP), which was formed by the student leaders who toppled Hasina and positioned itself as the party of progress, announced in December it would join the Jamaat e-Islami alliance in the election. The party that had forged itself as a political alternative with women at the forefront is now fielding just two female candidates.<\/p>\n
Tajnuva Zabeen, a doctor and founder member of NCP, was one of a wave of women who left after the Jamaat e-Islami alliance was announced \u2013 a decision made without consultation by a few select men at the top of the party.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a clear betrayal,\u201d Zabeen said. \u201cThis was a historic opportunity to create a third political force, to represent the change that so many people died for in the July uprising. Instead, they failed the people and silenced the women who led this movement. I\u2019m sorry to say, this election will not represent the spirit of the revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
She emphasised the failures towards women in this election were not Jamaat e-Islami and NCP\u2019s alone \u2013 less than 5% of the BNP\u2019s candidates are women.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh, which is 91% Muslim, has had a chequered history with secularism since its independence from Pakistan in 1971. Religion-based politics were outlawed on the country\u2019s formation but dominant during military rule after 1975, before secularism was restored to the constitution in 2011.<\/p>\n
Analysts emphasise that many now supporting Jamaat e-Islami are simply disenchanted with the political old guard. Since 1971, the country has swung between two parties, Awami League and the BNP, both of which have been accused of indulging in dynastic politics and rampant corruption.<\/p>\nJamaat-e-Islami\u2019s leader, Shafiqur Rahman, centre, and colleagues at an election rally in Dhaka.<\/span> Photograph: Anupam Nath\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nJamaat e-Islami appears particularly popular among young, first-time voters, who make up 42% of the electorate and are hungry for change. The authoritarian nature of Hasina\u2019s regime somewhat discredited secularism and made voters more open to Islamist politics this time around.<\/p>\n
One of the fresh faces of Jamaat e-Islami is Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, a barrister up for election in Dhaka. The son of an executed Jamaat e-Islami leader, he was abducted under the Hasina regime and spent eight years imprisoned and tortured in one of her notorious underground facilities. He emerged from his cell the day after Hasina was toppled, initially believing he was being dragged out to finally be executed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was systematic torture for eight years, worse than death,\u201d he said, his voice breaking. \u201cIt felt like I was buried alive. But God gave me a second life. I am here to represent all those who were taken to the dark cells and never came out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pushing a message of reform and anti-corruption, he insisted the fears of women towards his party were unfounded and part of a political smear campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you talk to urban elites, their talking points are whether women can be in the top position of the government, whether women can wear whatever they want,\u201d Arman said. \u201cThese are \u2013 I\u2019m sorry to use the word \u2013 feminist demands. The ground level is very different. The primary requirement of the women on the ground, the working class, is safety and that\u2019s our prime concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe in the near future you will see women running on our ticket too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
<\/gu-island>Female supporters of Jamaat e-Islami take part in a march in Dhaka <\/span><\/figcaption>In an attempt to demonstrate the party\u2019s commitment to women, thousands of female Jamaat e-Islami supporters took to the streets of Arman\u2019s constituency in Dhaka to deny that the party would restrict their freedoms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe policies they are proposing will improve women\u2019s lives and their safety,\u201d said Sirajim Munira, 27. \u201cI think it will be good for the country to bring in Islamic law because it will make us honest and corruption-free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ainum Nahar, 58, said Jamaat\u2019s grassroots were driven by women. \u201cJamaat empowers us,\u201d she said. Yet she agreed that women should never head the party. \u201cAs an Islamic party, it is prohibited for women to be leaders,\u201d Nahar said. \u201cBut we will stand behind, to inspire them, to encourage them and to move the country forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Womens #freedoms #stake #concern #rise #Islamist #party #Bangladesh #election #Bangladesh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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