Women Empowerment & Health Seeking

Behavior

Date: July 31, 2019

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Masum Billah Ayesha Fardous Jisha

Sr. Lecturer, Dept. of Sociology ID: 2017-2-33-027

East West University East West University

Introduction:

Girls are blessings. Girls have power over everything. They have emotions; they have
abilities to handle a situation. They are not bound to do household work anymore, they are
now taking part in bigger events, they are running countries and they are participating in the
economic growth as well. Like a famous actress Marilyn Monroe said, ‘Give a girl the right
shoes, and she can conquer the world.’ But girls are also facing a lot of problems and
impediments on this journey. And, sometimes, girls meet with mishaps that change their lives
forever.

According to the World Bank, empowerment is the process of increasing the capacity of
individuals or groups that enables making choices and helps in transforming those actions
into outcomes. (In, 2017)

When a woman has sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their
right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have power to control their
own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction of
social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally
that can be defined as her woman empowerment. (Eige, 2019)

Woman empowerment can be dependent upon few components. These can be education,
training, awareness raising, building self-confidence, expansion of choices, increased access
to and control over resources. Often women get discriminated because of poverty, not
knowing about their rights, and being unable to state about their own decisions. Woman
empowerment helps women and girls to claim their rights.

In the past women were not allowed to go out, they were considered as inferior than boys.
They were not allowed to go to school, victim of child marriage, domestic violence, rape,
divorces and so on. Even if some of them could mange their educations they were not
allowed to do jobs. Many women suffered from fertility problems, poverty, improper child
raising, mental issues due to early marriage etc. most of the women are sufferer due to lack of
proper healthcare, knowledge regarding pregnancy, child birth, and menstrual care. It is a
matter of great sorrow that, many women die unnatural death due to early child birth,
improper menstrual care, early marriage and due to domestic violence or rapes.

Recently government of Bangladesh is trying hard to remove barriers for women regarding
women empowerment. Educational institutes, training centres, scholarships, entrepreneurship
skills, etc are provided to the women so that they can be self-employed. The government has
also increased women seat in parliament, appointing women in Army, Navy, and Air force.
Increase in the maternal leave has been made to six months from three. The success rate in
women education has also increased. In 2008 participation of girls in primary schools was
57% and in 2017 it became95.4%.

Background:

Bangladesh current population is 169,019,092. The male population is 50.6% that is

85,530,199 and the female population is 83,488,899 that is 49.4% of the total population. So,
in terms of population the male is dominating women. (Countrymeters, 2019) From the
remote past it has been seen that most of the woman of Bangladesh have struggled a lot to get
their rights.

Statistics of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) show a total of 3,918 women and girls fell
victim to different types of violence, including rape and torture, across the country in 2018.
The number kept increasing into the following manner: 5,235 in 2017, 4,896 in 2016, 4,436
in 2015, 4,654 in 2014 and 4,777 in 2013. The number of victims of rape in the year in 2014 it
was 666, in 2015 was 808, in 2016 it was 840, 2017 was 969, and in 2018 it became 942
women and girls. (Salman, 2019) Another survey data of ActionAid Bangladesh showed that,
88% of the women are mentally harassed by indecent comments from males, while 46% face
sexual innuendos and abusive words. The survey report also shows that, 86% women face
sexual harassment from drivers and their aides while 69% face sexual harassment from
storekeepers and sellers. In most of these cases the victim died a brutal death.

According to recent survey it was observed that, the number of working women increased to
18.6 million in 2016-17 from 16.2 million in 2010. As per The Global Gender Gap Report
Bangladesh has secured the 47th position among 144 countries in 2017. The other country
rankings were India: 108, Sri Lanka: 109, Nepal: 111, Bhutan: 124 and Pakistan: 143.
(Chaity, 2018)

Recently, the government has allocated Tk100 crore for Women Entrepreneurship Fund and
Tk 25 crore for Women Development Special Fund in FY19. The government has also taken
steps to establish clubs to aware women regarding gender basis violence, IT educations, and
entrepreneurships.
 Image: FY19 budget highlight on women empowerment

Methodology:

This report has been prepared on the basis of experience gathered during the period of
studying the course. The study is based on both primary as well as secondary data. The
details of the work plan are furnished below:

Data Collection Techniques:

 Data for this report has been collected primarily by direct investigation

 Data is also collected from different records, papers, reports and documents of women
empowerment.

 No structured questionnaire has been used.

 Information regarding activities of the government has been collected through

different websites.

Data sources method:

Both primary and secondary source of data are used to complete this study. These two
sources are explained below:
Primary sources:

 Careful observation of diverse activities of women in various fields.

Secondary sources:

 Files and documents of newspapers and articles

 Online information

 Different text books.

Discussion

Bangladesh is a country where poverty is very common. The villagers are not aware about
their heath care. Even if they fall sick, they are not willing to go to the doctors thinking about
their expenses. Still now in many villages’ women consider it taboo to visit a male doctor
regarding gynae problems. Whether in city or in the villages half of women reported having
one or more complications during pregnancy that they perceived as life threatening, only one
in three sought treatment from a qualified provider. Another study found reveals that, more
than three-fourths of women suffer due to excessive bleeding either failed to seek any
treatment or sought treatment from an unqualified provider. (Michael A. Koenig, Kanta
Jamil, Peter K. Streatfield, Tulshi Saha, Ahmed Al-Sabir, Shams El Arifeen, Ken Hill and
Yasmin Haque, 2007)

In villages many families depend on inexpert women who work as midwifes during
pregnancy. Often these ladies occur accident while assisting the patient during normal child
birth. Sometimes accidents may occur while pulling out the baby or excessive bleeding of the
patient. Often a patient can die or a handicapper child is given birth due to excessive pressure.

The menstrual care is not much improved in the villages. Many girls aware not aware about
their puberty, period, and sex educations. They suffer when their period happens suddenly
and they stop going to their schools out of fear. In many cases their education gets hampered.

Many girls are married off as soon as they cross their teen age. This trend happens due to
poverty and dowry systems in the villages. Parents often marry off their children to get a
good amount of dowry from them. The age gap between the bride and the groom causes them
mental problem. Raise of domestic violence increases due to mutual understanding issues.
Both in city slums and villages unprotected sex, multiple marriages, and multiple sex partners
are occurring diseases like cancer, AIDS, STD, and hepatitis. A shocking survey shows that,
only one among the 6 adults knew about AIDS while asked. (Khan, 2002) As a result of
Rohingya issues, numerous rape incidents the number of HIV patients might get increased in
the country.

Due to lack of proper nutrition, education knowledge and shyness many women are
becoming a victim of breast cancer and uterus cancer. Surprisingly, it has been estimated by
The World Health Organisation (WHO) that, approximately 1.38 million new breast cancer
cases are occurring each year, resulting in 458,000 deaths annually. (Shahnewaz, 2017) In
Bangladesh every year12,764 new breast cancer patients are detected while the number of
deaths from breast cancer is 6,846. (Hasan, 2018) Normally Bangladeshi women are
conservative regarding their sexual organs and they are unwilling to expose them even if they
facing trouble in it. Due to social and religious sentiments, 65.5% of breast cancer patients
delayed their diagnosis by more than six months, although 83% of them found lumps in their
breast or had other symptoms of breast cancer.

Another problem is the earning status of the women of Bangladesh. It is a matter of great
sorrow that, while performing the same task and duties, or equal amount of labour women are
paid less than the men. Getting less payment hampers their day to day lives as well as affects
in taking heath care. They are also discriminated while getting hired in their jobs, job
progression and promotions.

Bangladeshi women are also victims of domestic violence. In recent survey it was found that,
around 66% of women, have been victims of domestic violence—and 72.7% of them have
never disclosed their experience to others. (Dhaka Tribune, 2018) Often they are beaten to
death due to hiding the matter due to social status and respect. Many patients do not go to the
doctor after the violence and suffers their whole life with their deformities. The victims are
often dominated by the abusers so, only 2.1% of women victims inform local leaders of their
experience, while 1.1% of women seek help from the police.
Result:

Image: current marital status among male and female

This image clearly shows that the number of married girls aged 15-19 is 44.2% which is very
high. The age of 20 to 24 is only 15%. The data also shows that the number of respondents
was only 4485 so in the whole country this rate will be higher.

Image: Earning of female

The above image shows the hiring of woman and the continuity of their employments. Many
women take cash while performing agricultural works. In agricultural works most of the
women get appointed by the family members. The number of women garment workers are
also impressive in Bangladesh. They get bonus in the special occasions too. Their income
effects to maintain their lifestyle, educations and healthcare.

Image: HIV cases in BANGLADESH

This data shows that in 1996 there was only 29 HIV cases, in 2002 it became 60, in 2003 it
became 115, in 2006 it was 216 among the 874 respondents, and in 2007 it increased into
333.
 Image: No of male HIV patients

HIV is not only spread by sexual transmission but also as a result of drug addictions. In the
city slums and villages, it was observed that not only male but also females are getting
addicted to the drugs. A data collected by www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, reveals that,16.5% of
female was infected with HCV, and 9.1% had syphilis. In the next survey, conducted six
months later, one female IDU was detected with HIV. The rate of syphilis among female
IDUs was higher than among male IDUs and similar to that of female sex workers. When
injection risk-behaviours were compared for female IDUs with male IDUs in the different
cohorts, female IDUs reported even higher needle-sharing rates than men. The majority
63.1%, of female IDUs also reported selling sex in the last year, suggesting that this group is
able to link the injection and sexual networks. (NCBI, 2008)
 Image: cancer image

The above image shows that, among all other cancers, breast cancer patient graph is higher. It
is because of the hesitance for check-ups, social taboo and expense related dilemmas.

Image: cancer cases in Bangladesh

According to the image of 2018 graph it was observed that, breast cancer patient was 8.5% of
the whole population. The uterus cancer rate was also alarming. It was 5.4% than other
cancers. The data clearly portrays the negligence of female regarding their own health.
 Image: Domestic violence

The statistics of domestic violence show that, the number of domestic violence has also
increased. The number was 298 in 2015 regarding dowry issues, and 373 in others. The
number became 303 and 442 in 2017.

Image: Domestic violence

As per the data of BMP the number of victims varies. Despite that, both the statistics show
that the domestic violence has increased into an alarming rate.
 Conclusion:

Only awareness, education and women empowerment can help to avoid these problems in
Bangladesh. The government is also trying hard to improvise laws and regulations to
establish woman rights. The recent updates and digitalization have been made so that women
can complain easily if they ae being harassed, molested or raped. Numerous mobile apps,
NGOs ae also working to make women aware about their rights, education, and
empowerment. Constant infrastructure and educational development are made to flourish the
women power of this country.

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