1

Index

Acknowledgement 2

Abstract 2

Introduction 3

Objectives 3

Limitation 3

Methodology 3

Research Statement 4

Data collection and analysis 9

Research finding 10

Recommendation 11

Conclusion 12

Reference 13
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Acknowledgement

The success and final outcome of this term paper required a lot of guidance and assistance from
many people and extremely fortunate to have got this all along the completion of our term paper
work. So first of all thanks to Allah for her mercy and also thankful to him for giving full
strength to complete this work. Even facing with some difficulties in completing this task, we
still managed to complete it. After that a lot of thanks to our course teacher and supervisor
Adjunct Faculty Dr.Naima Sultana When the researchers face any kind of problem, she always
helps to us. Her consultation helps us a lot to develop our term paper. By her encouragement we
chose our topic on Women violence in Bangladesh. And tried our best to develop about that
topic. It was so difficult to complete the work. So we are very grateful to her.

Also we are thankful to our other faculty member and my friends who helped us a lot during our
study. It was too tough to complete the task properly. So we are really grateful to them. Also our
parents and sibling for helping us a lot. we are also great full to them. During the task the
friendly women of faridpur in teljuri village who helped us a lot by giving their valuable time
and information. They were so kind and helpful. Otherwise it was quite impossible to do the
work. We are also thankful to them

Abstract

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world and its estimated prevalence
rate of violence against women is extremely high which, in turn, is 'an obstacle to the
achievement of equality, development and peace". Due to a lack of reliable baseline surveys, the
exact number of women affected by violence is unknown. However, non-governmental
organisation (NGO) reports indicate that Bangladesh has one of the highest rates globally despite
advancements of Women`s Rights and a strong history of women's movements. Deeply
embedded in cultural and socio-economic practices, violence against women is sanctioned by
both society and the state, in the name of culture, tradition as well in the name of religion.
Bangladesh has a high prevalence of violence against women and girls, particularly domestic
violence and child marriage. According to the UNFPA/Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics study,
more than 10 million Bangladeshi women experience physical or sexual violence every year. The
Report on Violence against Women (VAW) Survey 2015 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
(BBS) has found that 50 percent of the women said they were physically tortured while 27
percent said they had been sexually abused.
The study of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) was based on interviews of 21,688 women
between Aug 13 and 22 last year. In comparison with the figures of 2011 the rate of sexual abuse
of married women decreased, but in cases of physical torture, it had increased. The study shows
it found that in 15 percent of the cases men abused their wives in efforts to control their
behavior.

Introduction
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Violence against women is a manifestation of unequal power relation between male and
female leading to discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full-
advancement of women . The intentional use of physical force, threatened or actual, against
oneself, another person, or a group or community, either results in or has a high likelihood of
resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal-development or deprivation. Violence against
women is a global issue. Women are neglected, trapped within cultural framework, molded by
dogmatic thoughts of the patriarchal system. As a result, violence against women is viewed as a
normal phenomenon in the light of male attitudes. Still now, women, in Bangladesh, suffer from
violence, domestic violence, rape, dowry death, sexual harassment, suicide, forced marriage,
coerced prostitution, trafficking and other psychological problems. Violence against women has
become one of the most visible social issues in the 21st century. Domestic violence against
women, especially wives beaten by husbands, is a daily affair in any male dominated society.
Domestic reports published in Bangladeshi newspapers show that violence against women has
increased at an alarm rate. The estimate of physical violence against women by husbands or
other family members varies between 30% and 50%. Despite the seriousness of the problem in
terms of violation of human rights and public health consequences, there is a dearth of
knowledge, nature, and the context of Domestic Violence against Women (DVAW) in the
developing countries for various reasons. Actually, the incidence of domestic violence against
women involves husband, wife, and other family members is perpetuated by the societal context,
a family and community-centered approach to alleviate the problem. in this regard, the attempt of
this study is to focus on the domestic violence and its types. The reasons behind domestic
violence in rural Bangladesh. And we select mainly the village of teljuri in Faridpur district. And
also collect 5 women’s interview in this paper.

Objectives

This paper focuses on the empirical evidence and reality of one of the finest study of Linda
Green ‘Fear as A Way of Life”.

Limitation

This study is mainly dependent on primary and secondary data. The interview of five women in
teljuri village and questionnaire is conducted for this study. So we try to visualize the current
scenario in some perspectives. Due to time constraint it is bound to analysis not so briefly. As I
lived in those place in many years , so it is the simple scenery to me, that’s why we interestingly
chosen this great task by trying our best.

Methodology

This paper has used secondary and primary data and information to understand the concerning
issue. The relevant secondary data were collected from various institutes such as VAW (violence
against women in Bangladesh). The literature explored for the paper includes different
government and non government reports, web side, published official statistics, Newspaper etc.
 4

Research Statement
Fear as A way of Life: An Empirical Evidence of History

Violence against women

Violence against women is a common picture in male dominated social system whether it is
physical or mental. In Bangladesh, it is a daily fact of life for millions of women and girls.
Women are viewed as a product of sexual enjoyment to the male attitudes. As a result, violence
is considered as a normal phenomenon from men’s perspective. Women suffer from domestic
violence, rape, dowry death, sexual harassment, suicide, forced marriage, trafficking,
psychological trauma, and financial oppression. Here are some sorts of violence against women
throughout their Life Cycle as follows.

It begins with pre birth by Sex-selective abortion; effects of battering during pregnancy on birth
outcomes. In the time of infancy infanticide; physical, sexual and psychological abuse are seen in
 5

daily life. Child marriage; female genital mutilation; physical, sexual and psychological abuse;
incest; child prostitution and pornography. Forced suicide or homicide of widows for economic
reasons; sexual, physical and psychological abuse.

The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN Resolution 48/104 defines
violence against women as a gender biased violence resulting in physical, sexual, psychological
harm, or suffering to women, including threats of acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty.

Stories of the women who are victim in this heinous cancer

Taslima

Taslima, a women who was born in teljuri village (a southern district of Bangladesh) . When she
was 12 years old her parents organised an arranged marriage for her. Her husband Abul mia
continuously pressurised and tortured her for the dowry, it seems a common scenery that a
woman is compel to give a vast amount of monry to the bride house, and if she fails , she will be
tortured as per as she die. After three years she was divorced by his husband not to giving the
promised money. So she returned to her father’s family.

After a while her parents arranged another marriage to an older man; she was the second wife of
this man. During this time taslima gave birth two daughters; her husband was not happy with
this as he wanted her to have a boy. As a punishment for only having daughters he regularly
physically assaulted her. After six years of this marriage, the ex-wife of her husband returned.
Now she was being tortured by both of them: they ran her over with a steamroller and they kept
her unfed for two to three days at a time. After two months, her husband eventually divorced
her. Helplessly she came back to her father’s family but it’s not easy to stay with two children in
a poverty stricken family.The problem is although she is tortured by everyone , but she feel silent
, She is like a bird who sees the murderer but cant”t express it without having the men’s toungs.

It is quiet heinous scenery of the women like Taslima, there are a vast number of Taslima lives in
our country who are victim like these kinds of violence.Who will save them, No one comes into
field because of fear, what kind of fear it is? It is a fear of silence. It is time to solve the problem
and give the actual right of women in there daily life.

Jahanara

Jahanara was a girl of teljuri village in Faridpur district. Was a very genious girl in the in the
village,, but unfortunately was married when she was only 14. Her husband Saddam bepari was a
rich man in the village and also a greedy person . Although it was taken by his previous
 6

generation, his father gofur bepari was also a misery preson, people called him “Adha gofur”.
When jahanara came to his house her grandfather (shoshur) thought that her father give them
vast money or land for their daughter, but it’s a matter of sorrow that jahanar”s father died and
couldn’t give any money to his daughter. Jahanara”s brother shihab ail refused to give any
money to her husband hose, and from them the tortured was taken place on her. Everyday her
husband tortured her by physically or mentally. But she was nothing to say for fear. She thought
that if she tells anything her husband will divorce her and it would be a shame scene for her, She
took these kinds of tortured easily.

Time doesn’t wait for her, not to pass after 2 years after marriage she was died. I will not tell that
it is die, but I must be tell that it is a murder. Jahanara was killed by her husband house. It not a
story, or not a muvi scene scenery, it is a real story of teljuri village. Jahanara, only an example
of our visible scenery. There are a thousand of jahanara are found in our country who face these
types of family violence. When it will be stoped.we think that it is the problem of silence of fear.

Hena

Hena a 23 years girl also a friend of mine who was born in Teljuri village in Faridpur district.
Her father was a farmer and maintaining her family in a measurable way. Hena was also a good
student. But unfortunately she was married when she was only 12. Her husband kashem mia
was a shopkeeper. Beging time after marriage, it was continuing vary finely but the problems
rise after six month. Her husband’s mother (Shashuri) tortured her vehemently because they
thought that her parents will give them vast amount of money. Although it was not contracted in
time of marriage. After marriage Henna’s father died and her elder brother refused to give any
money to her husband house. It is the beginning term of torturing.

When she was pregnant, she also does heavy work because of the order of her husband’s mother.
She didn’t take normal delivery and her husband’s family refused to take her hospital, by the
way her first child was died. From them other types of torturing was imposed upon on her. When
she came her house I met with her and listened her torturing story. It is a story of caring, I can’t
take it easily. I also asked “why she did not raise her voice?” She remained silent. And told me
she was not treat like a women and if she raise voice her husband will divorce her it’s a kind of
fear. Fear is only thing that’s why we take this discrimination normally. But the questions is, Is it
a matter of silence? Why not we take our voice?

Types of violence

Custodial violence: The imbalance of power is a result of prisoners’ dependence on correctional

officers’ and guards’ ability is manifest in physical force and abuse. Because incarcerated
women are not visible to the public eye, little is done when the punishment of imprisonment is
 7

compounded with rape, sexual assault, and shackling during child-birth. There is a psychological
care available to inmates. Though crimes in prison such as rape are prevalent, few perpetrators of
violence inmates are held accountable.

Acid burning and dowry death: Women’s subjugation pervasive in political, civil, social,
cultural, and economic spheres in many countries of the world. A woman who turns down a
suitor along with her in-laws becomes a victim of a violent form of revenge: acid burning. Acid
is thrown in her face or on her body and can blind her in addition to fatal third-degree burns.
Brides are unable to pay the high price to marry, who are punished by violence and often death at
the hands of their in-laws or their husbands

Honor killing: Women are looked upon as representatives of the honor of the family. When
women are suspected of extra-marital sexual relations, they can be subjected to the cruel form of
indignity and violence by their fathers or brothers. Women, who are raped, are accused of crime
of unlawful sexual relations. Such laws serve as an obstacle inhibiting women from pursuing
cases against those who rape them

Domestic violence: Domestic violence is a violation of a woman’s right to physical integrity, to

liberty, and to her right to life itself. When a state fails to take proper steps needed to protect
women from domestic violence or allow these crimes to be committed with impunity, states fail
in their obligation to protect women from torture.

Reasons of violence

The social and economic status of women can be a dire result of violence. Gender violence
represents an expression of human behaviors and it is rooted in society. Traditional attitudes by
which women are regarded as subordinate to men involving violence, such as family violence
and abuse, forced marriage, dowry death, acid attack and female circumcision. Such prejudices
may justify gender-based violence as a form of protection of women. The effect of such violence
on physical and mental integrity of women is to deprive them of an equal enjoyment and
knowledge of human right and fundamental freedom

Dowry: Despite the Dowry Prohibition Act (1980) dowry transactions continue to become a
socially legitimate part of marriage negotiations. Maleka Begum in her book Dowry says that
dowry is a major factor in violence, starting from verbal abuse, battering, torture and ending in
death.

Lack of education: Lack of education makes women more vulnerable. Statistics shows that a
year of schooling is associated with prevalence of violence; no statement could be made how and
why education has a role in reducing violence. Greater years of schooling may provide women
with an opportunity to gain knowledge and information which they lack and as a result, they
become less vulnerable. When Khan was trying to assess the impact of education, he found that
although education did not give them power to change the traditional division of labor within
household, the most educated women had more equal power relationship with their husbands,
 8

who were less dependent upon husband’s approval for self-esteem. Though education does have
a role on women’s power and autonomy, education cannot overcome the power of the patriarchy.

Lack of security: There is a lack of security for women’s travelling from workplace, no transport
facilities are provided for them travelling at night, no housing facilities for migrant workers from
rural areas and no institutionalized codes of conduct to enable the workplace to overcome some
of the negative cultural perceptions of women.

Poverty: General economic causes of family violence are increasing landlessness, pauperization,
unemployment which has increased tension in poor households and give rise to desertion,
divorce and violence. Kabeer also states “Violence, including systematic and random is a part of
the condition of poverty is associated with relative powerlessness, and the poor are least able to
defend themselves or to remove themselves from threatening situations.” Lack of resource,
especially food in the poor rural households and women’s failure to accomplish traditional
gender roles lead to gender violence.

Child marriage: Child marriage continues to be widespread despite the existence of the Child
Marriage Restraint Act since 1983. A girl child is regarded as a burden to the poor parents. In the
marriage market, the younger the bride, lesser the dowry demand. Parents’ fear for their
daughters’ security, especially when she is an adolescent and is capable of conceiving a child out
of wedlock, she becomes a reason to marry them off early. When a young single girl becomes
pregnant not only does she stand to be condemned by her community, her parents are also
punished with social isolation and shaming. Cultural stigmatization of sex outside of marriage
puts the family honor at stake. Female Supporter Pilot Study (Azim, et al, 2002) found that the
age of first marriage is associated with violence in marital life. Marriage at twenty-five or more
years is a protective factor. Women activists believe that early marriage of girls usually starts
between 12-19 years old, along with a wide age gap between spouse’s results in unequal
relationship and invites marital disharmony. Lack of knowledge about sexual health aggravates
the situation of violence within spousal relationship.

Religious dogmatism: Community violence occurs when community members collectively

perpetrate violence on the individuals of the same community. It is the outcome of a community
decision to punish a member of the community. The violence is directed to women for sexually
inappropriate behavior in the name of so-called religious edicts. Precisely speaking religiously
recognized persons have the authority to give any religious edicts which are the pronouncements
of opinions based on religious texts. However, the practice of religious edicts is often abused as a
tool of torturing women. It is not fundamental religious leaders but also influential people of the
community who often issue religious edicts. Thus religious edicts are used to control subordinate
women’s self determination, sexuality and bodies. Even when both man and woman are involved
in a case of sex outside of wedlock; the woman and her families are punished more heavily than
their male counterparts.
 9

Subordination of women: The basic cause of violence is reinforced by religion and culture is the
subordination compared to men. Violence is a means of reinforcing subordination. The General
Assembly Resolution 48/104 states “violence is a manifestation of unequal power relation
between men and women, which have led to domination over women by men and to the
prevention of full advancement, and that violence is a crucial social mechanism by which women
are forced into a subordinate position compared with men

Data collection and analysis

There have been a vast number of data that we find by collecting.

Table 1.

Number of respondence Percentage

Husband 101 86.5
Wife 17 14.4
Total 118 100.0
VAW report in Bangladesh 2016

shows that among the 118 respondents, 85.6% families are male dominated whereas only 14.4%
families are female headed which means only a small portion of families are controlled by
female and a large portion of families are controlled by males.

Table 2. Quarrel for decision making in Bangladesh

Number of respondences Percentage

Yes 100 84.7
No 18 15.3
Total 118 100.0
VAW Report in Field survey 2016

It is seen that there is a quarrel in 84.7% husband wives in the decision related matters of the
family. There are several causes behind these quarrels, and consequently, women become the
sufferers of violence. The table represents a little portion of husbands (15.3) who do not discuss
with their wives for any decision making.

Table 3. Demand to husbands in laws family.

Yes 94 79.7
No 24 20.3
Total 118 100.0
Field survey of VAW 2016
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Reveals that among 118 respondents 79.7% of women admitted that their husband demanded
dowry to be in cash or any familial belongings. Only 20.3% of husbands are free from dowry
demand.

What we find

From the research-work, we have found that domestic violence is caused mainly by dowry,
addiction, social, cultural as well as political aspects, sexual behavior of the husband, making
familial decisions, giving birth to female children and so on. Though the literacy rate of our
country is increasing day by day, the extremeness of domestic violence remains the same. Most
of the families face disorganization among the family for violence; most children are being
dropped out from school as they face quarrelsome behavior of their parents. In some cases, wives
are being beaten severely, sometimes being raped by turns, sometimes being hung and tried to
prove it as a suicide. Again, in most of the families, women are tortured for any simple reason, as
they fail to bring money demanded by their husbands. In some situations we have found that the
inability of husband to impregnate their wives or sterility is imposed on wives. Actually, most
violence is caused by the patriarchal role. Moreover, domestic violence is caused by dowry
demand by family authority, decision making, and wife’s appearance, existence of 7.6% for co-
wives, addictions, first female child, or having a greater number of female children. Furthermore,
-women are being tortured by their husbands in the home because of sterility, inauspicious
treatment, unwanted sexual union, and religious and cultural values. Finally, we can realize that
patriarchal social values are responsible for most of the domestic violence against women in
rural areas.

Research finding

A British author named Linda green wrote about social and political life of Guatemalan people in
his article “Fear as A Way of Life”. This work provides a powerful context for understanding
how historical processes and material forces have combined to shape contemporary Mayan
culture. Readers are presented an analysis of the stakes of everyday life through an exploration of
the relationship between material conditions and lived experience. Central to this relationship in
Guatemala is the role of violence. Linda green clearly presented the way we look at Guatemala,
challenging revisionist accounts that minimize the centrality of state violence in Guatemala. She
also argues against those who discount anthropological works focusing on the operations of fear
or terror.

With the beginning of the article traces the legacy of violence in Guatemala. Green describes
how both structural and political violence conspire to constrain agency, induce silence and
maintain fear. If the result of violence and fear were simply compliance then the question of
Mayan resilience and will could easily be ignored. Yet Green's treatment of violence, particularly
in the second section of the article, reveals the impressive capacity for survival and resistance of
the Mayan people. The mixing of violence and survival has structured how the Maya exist and
 11

operate in a world that remains eternally uncertain and ambiguous. Fear as a Way of Life should
be read as a primer on the subtle and insidious ways power and violence operate. Regardless of
whether the violence exercised is direct, as in military bombings, or indirect, as in the fear of
being wrongly accused, violence has shaped the structure of everyday life and limited the range
of options individuals and communities can exercise. The absence of war does not mean that
peace reigns as long as the institutions of violence and impunity remain intact. As long as this is
the case, and it has been for some 500 years in Guatemala, fear will continue to be a way of life.

The circumstances’ mostly similar to the village women of Bangladesh to the one in
Guatemalan, sometimes it is worse. We tried these papers to show the construction of fear of
Bangladeshi women Sometimes it is the fear of death by bombing, by bullets or being oppressed,
sometimes it is the fear of losing self respect and dignity, sometimes it is the fear of losing
family members or sometimes it is the fear of losing own property seeing them destroyed before
his/her own eyes. The basic rights of those people have been violated so vigorously. The
condition is becoming worse day by day. People have become so helpless that they now actually
don’t care who are in the power holder whether it is Bangladesh women than some foods and
water.

Recommendation:

From the discussion above, it is true that the main reasons of domestic violence against women
take place due to the lack of proper knowledge and the violation of law. Moreover, the traditional
authority has been dominating women for ages. However, the following recommendations can be
suggested as proper steps to ensure fair environment of women’s full-participation in the socio-
economic activities in Bangladesh:

➢ Greater economic opportunities for women, ensured through access to credit, awareness
increasing activities and skill training, would ensure self-esteem and status of women within
households; improve spousal relationship to reduce domestic violence.

➢ Awareness can be brought among community members and family members: VAW is an
extreme violation of women’s human rights, which is a criminal offense under law. Also, it has
serious psychological consequences for both women and children.

➢ The primary responsibility to conduct a study of violence against women should rest on the
government and the conscious citizen per year.

➢ The role of state inaction in the perpetuation of violence connected with the gender-specific
nature of domestic violence being classified as a human rights concern rather than as a domestic
criminal justice concern.

➢ A gender sensitization module should be incorporated in all training program for police,
prosecutors, magistrates, and legal personnel and judiciary.
 12

➢ The roles of courts in case of domestic violence play a significant role. The courts deal with
such cases in a realistic manner to the objects of social legislation, more attitudinal changes on
the part of the judges is essential to make gender justice a reality.

Research question: For this research there are some research questions and research
statements. As the topic is that some questions and statement were asked a review of Linda
Green's article " fear as a way of life related with the women violence in Bangladesh For
example-

 Why these women are victim with this violence?

 Is it only for physically or mentally?
 Why these women do not raise their voice?
 Why they chose only silence? Is there any hidden problem or hindrance to tell something
to others?
 What their present situation? Is they are capable to continue their life in a easy way?
 Main who r divorced, how the way they support their children?
 Is the society taking them easily or is they hindrance to freely move their life as a flexible
way or not and why?
 We also raise the questions why they are not marrying to cope with their normal life
basically who are divorced?
 Some of the regular questions to understand their psychological condition, social, health
and economical condition like ask about their present family, their occupation, work
place, income and job satisfaction etc.
 Their planning and measures to face the any kind of natural disaster and cope up the
difficulties when they faced with these problem.
 We also keep question about the help provided by the local government and their
accessibility to the help

Conclusion

Domestic violence against is a violation of fundamental human rights. One of the most effective
measurements in identifying violence is to assess official compliance with international
standards relating to human rights’ abuse. In Bangladesh, it is a major concern. Although
globally women’s rights are human rights, violence against women remains a pervasive issue.
Recognizing domestic violence against women as a violation of human rights is a significant
 13

turning point in the struggle to end violence all over the globe. To promote human rights and
prevent domestic violence, the conscious people must undertake effective steps to ensure gender
equality. Government as well as citizens must be more conscious and sensitive to provide access
to immediate means of redress to the victims of violence.

As a democratic country like Bangladesh, the government ought to maintain the policy of zero
tolerance in bringing the perpetrators of domestic violence to justice. In fact, to make a good
nation, domestic violence against women should be not only lessened but also stopped.
Moreover, the conscious community should unite to achieve a world free from violence against
woman to ensure a healthy, happy, and decent life for us all.

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