Gender and Development

BDS – 2416

Term Paper

Submitted To:
Faria Ahmed
Lecturer
Department of Development Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals

Submitted By:
Pranto Kumar Saha
Roll: 2012961058

Submission Date:
04.11.2021
Introduction: I am Pranto Kumar Saha, a student studying in the Department of Development
Studies, Bangladesh University of Professionals. I am studying Gender and Development course
in this semester. From this course I have got ideas on various subjects, Ideology has been
developed on many subjects, I have been able to know and learn a lot about historical gender. As
a Term paper for this course, I need to create a project proposal. For this, I select a specific area;
I want to work with lower class women in that area.
First of all, I have to create a group with four or five people. I am the main person of this group.
This group will help in all kinds of work of my project proposal. My project proposal is with the
women of the fishing community in Balasighat of Gaibandha district. Our team has to physically
visit this area three or four times to survey their social, economic and family problems. As a
result, we can easily know their problems and solve the problems very easily. North Bengal of
Bangladesh lags far behind all other areas in various sectors. In a word, North Bengal of
Bangladesh is much neglected.Gaibandha district is a riverine area of North Bengal. Government
grants and facilities allocated for lower class people in this area are not properly distributed. As a
result, the people of this area can not lead a better life. The people of the fishing community at
Balasighat in Gaibandha lead their lives very badly.The mothers and sisters in their families
cannot move like the women in the developed areas of Bangladesh.They have many obligations
in various matters. My team and I physically talked to the women of the fishing community in
the Balasighat area of Gaibandha and spend a few days and noted their social, family, political,
economic problems.To solve these problems, my team and I want to create a project proposal
that will be through Gender Measuring women's empowerment.This is known as Giele's six fold
framework.

Gender Measuring Women’s Empowerment

●Political Expression: In our country, the government provides many facilities for the lower
class people. The government is creating a chain to distribute those facilities through different
levels of government officials. In this chain there are some government officials and some
politicians.But due to the corruption of the politicians of Bangladesh, the government grants are
not distributed properly. As a result, the fishing community is not able to lead a better life.
Besides, the women of the fishing community are also affected in various ways.With this in
mind, my team has come to the conclusion that political figures will contact the government
directly through an NGO for government grants.As a result, we will distribute government grants
with politicians in the fishing community and also to see if the women in the fishing community
are getting the benefits as per their needs.As a result, there will be no chance of any corruption in
government grant distribution and women will not be deprived of their equal opportunities.
Women in this area are lagging behind due to political reasons. It is possible to improve their
living standards by ignoring political adversities through NGOs.
●Work and Mobility: In rural areas, women lag far behind men. Similarly, women in the
fishing community lag behind men. There is a bad practice in rural areas,if a girl child is born in
a family it is considered a curse because they think that the girl child will not be able to earn any
money for the family. But they have no idea that a girl child can be established in the society
through proper education and can be a blessing for the family.In the family of the fishing
community of Balasighat in Gaibandha, there is a similar idea about the girl child.So a positive
mindset needs to be created among the families of the fishing community with various facilities.
If a girl child is born, our NGO will provide 2000 taka per month for mother and daughter for the
first one year from the government. Besides, free education will be provided for girls from first
class to tenth class. It will also empower the women of the fishing community through technical
education. As a result, they and their families will be economically prosperous through their
skills.
●Family: Formation, Duration and Size: Different facilities will benefit the fishing community.
As a result, some of their thinking will change. Their tendency to have children will increase.
That is, the number of members in the family will increase.This will lead to financial problems
of the family. It will also create chaos in the society.The density of population in the society will
increase.To counteract these problems, families in the fishing community need to understand the
negative aspects of having more children. In addition, the facilities for women and children
should be limited. If a family has more than two daughters, the girl child will be deprived of the
benefits. In addition, a family of five members will get the benefits for the girl child.

●Education: There is a negative perception of education in lower class families in rural areas.
This idea is more evident in the case of girl children. They think that if they enter the workplace
sooner than studying, they will develop financially. But their idea is wrong.Because it is possible
to be financially self-sufficient through studying. Besides, if the girls go to the educational
institution, that is, if they study, they will be given 1000 taka per month. As a result, they will
send their children to study in the educational institution. In case of good results especially for
women, stipends will be provided. Educational materials for women will be provided free of
cost. As a result, the women of the fishing community will get a good education and establish
themselves and their families in the society.

●Health and Sexual Control: People in these areas are not so worried about their physical and
sexual education. Because their main problem is that they are not financially self-sufficient. The
same situation exists among the fishing community. They eat less nutritious food due to lack of
money. In particular, women serve good food to the men of their family and they eat the rest. For
this, women have to campaign one day a week.Where women can eat nutritious and good food
three times a day. There is also a lack of sex education among women in this community. They
are inexperienced in sexual control. They have to campaign for it and give them the right
direction. Through which they will benefit.

●Cultural Expression: People of different cultures and traditions live in the fishing community.
They hold and practice their own culture. For this we need to adopt ideas about their culture. As
a result, we can manage our activities according to them. As a result, they will benefit.Women
are neglected in our society. There is a reason behind the attitude of the society. Because the
lower classes of the society think only about women in a worldly way. Don't think about women
outside of it. The same problem exists among these fishing communities. In their culture there is
no thought of giving women the same opportunities as men. As a result, women lag behind men.
For this, we need to campaign for the families of this fishing community and develop their
vision. As a result, women will benefit and represent society.
Limitations: My team and I have thought hypothetically for the development of women in this
community. But there are many barriers to implementing these ideas.

●Political Expression: At present there is a bad influence of political personalities in

Bangladesh. Most of the politicians are corrupted. Their corruption has become an addiction. For
this, it is very difficult to develop the women of this fishing community in present day
Bangladesh without any political pressure. As a result, we have to face dangers to implement our
ideas.

●Work and Mobility: If we arrange a monthly payment after the birth of a woman child, then a
positive thought will develop among them. But managing this amount of money from the
government is a little difficult. Families can also make bad decisions in the lure of this money.
For this, families need to be well motivated about women children.

●Family: Formation, Duration and Size: As a result of giving opportunities to women children,
there will be a tendency among them to have more children. For this, there should be a limit of
having more than two children. If a woman gives birth to a child after having more children, the
family will be deprived of this opportunity. There is also a chance of increasing the population
density in the society. For this, the real experience of all the facilities should be clearly presented
among them. Otherwise, there will be chaos in the society.

●Education: The benefits of paying a monthly stipend for sending women children to
educational institutions without sending them to work should be clearly understood. Otherwise,
they will look for ways to earn money by doing other work in their spare time by women
children in the greed of money. For this, education should be established as their main goal.

●Health and Sexual Control: Lower class families suffer from malnutrition due to lack of food.
Providing nutritious food for women three days a month will benefit them physically. But if this
food is distributed among families, it will be seen that they will abuse it. So they have to give
nutritious food three days a month by campaigning. This will reduce abuse.Women are exposed
to different forms of violence in society. They may be hesitant to campaign for sex education.
For this we need to present a realistic picture of the sex education of women in this community
and the risk of having more children by our female staff.

●Cultural Expression: People of different cultures live in the society. The community has
mostly Hindu and some Muslim families. For this we have to look at some things to make a
decision. As if, women of both religions do not have to rush to make our decisions.

Conclusion: In third world countries, women and men are still deprived of equal rights.
Similarly, women in Bangladesh lag far behind men. This trend is widely seen among lower
class women like the fishing community. Despite the government's will, women in the fishing
community are deprived of various opportunities for various reasons.For this, our team want to
ensure equal rights for the women of the fishing community of Balasighat in Gaibandha through
Measuring Women's Empowerment.
References:

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