Empowerment of Women � The Legislative & Ideological Issues (2) Afroza Begum

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Empowerment of Women � The Legislative & Ideological Issues (2)

Afroza Begum

Published on April 01, 2006

The Ideological Issues:

Although, the advents in mankind of, `God Centric Idealism', `Nature Centric Pragmatism' and `Humanism', have all made great contributions to influence the mindset of the protagonists to undertake reforms or alternative discourses, but never could really free themselves totally from the shackle of status quo with feudalism or other means of exploitation, which captivated Women in the society as commodity of hard labour or commodity of trade for wealth & property, or commodity of sexual abuse. Without undermining the enlightenments and social value of those reforms and discourses, the ontology of the weaknesses impregnated in the inherent contradictions of those Ideals causing failure to overpower feudalism or other means of exploitation, we may still attempt to find within them the right interpretations favouring Women to undertake the social engineering programmes dedicated to the task of the liberation of women from its state of captivation, semi captivation or degraded conditions. But this will definitely lead the society to another form of status quo where Women may find more freedom of opportunity trickled down to them but still remain far away from securing the dignity and rightful partnership in the sphere of the decision or policy making process without having made the appropriate right established irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, class and gender in the sphere of economy of the Society and the State, involving appropriate right to access in the process of acquisition of capital, the means of production, marketing and distribution systems in the national, as well into the determination of policy of the state dealing with the formulation of international strategy of economic relations in relation to the modern dimension of globalisation.

Therefore, the action programme of `Empowerment of Women', in the truthful nature of its commitments, may find its basis in the ideology and partnership that favours the `Empowerment of the Weak', the forces which strive to secure the rightful partnership of all the components of the society in all of the spheres of socio-political and economic policy making process taking place in administrating the affairs of the state, importantly, having made their position clear on the issue of undertaking the task of securing appropriate right established irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, class and gender, particularly in the sphere of economy of the society and the state. Because, this is evident from the societies and states where adult franchise i. e. one-person one vote is already recognized, but this right regarding political decision-making has never been found to be able to be meaningfully excercised irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, class and gender without having their appropriate rights in the sphere of economy achieved.

We have been riddled with arguments and counter arguments on the issue of gender equality. In order to address the issue, first we need to define explicitly, what do we understand by the term of `equality'? Indeed `equality' is a concept founded through representation of imaginary numbers in the school of mathematics. Those imaginary equals are used only to state a particular mode of position, in fact a pre-conceived goal, intending to realize it through implementation of various forces of knowledge. We cannot conceive two different things to be equal unless and until we have set a definite unit of measurement to compare it. Newton said, `All actions have equal and opposite reaction'. There may not be any objection to accept it by its literal meaning, if it is intended to mean that, "All actions `tend' to create an equal and opposite reaction". Static equilibrium is a concept relative to matters in motion, when `dynamic equilibrium' is the real state of position where forces of action and reaction tending to equalize, sets matter in motion, and continues to be in motion deriving the energy from the process of fusions, thus bringing about the transformations through time and space, the ever-changing universe we are living in. Therefore, the debate of gender equality, although has its premises in the agenda of the empowerment of the weak, but has no premises in the universal meaning of existence since the difference made in the sexes have made them already different and unequal from each other.

Religious stasis is a problem and this problem not only being confronted by Women but by the society as a whole, although stasis should not have been the problem inflicting Islam, if Islam would not have been interpreted and mastered by aliens but by the true scholars of Islam and their message would have spread across the Globe and across the Peoples undistorted. I bring this issue here for discussion, because much blame has been unleashed on Islam for bringing about the degraded status of Women prevailing in the present day of Islamic societies, although, much more of degraded position of Women may be as well existing in places where Islam does not prevail but other forms of traditions. In fact Islam is the only religion where the issue of role and status of Women in the society have been addressed to secure at all. All the Semitic religions including Islam are theologically perfect in inducing the ideal of denominating equity of humanity irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, class and gender. In Islam the practice followed in the congregation along with its custom and rituals in performing annual Hajj, demonstrates through practice the intention of Islam in considering equality before Allah of all the followers of Islam irrespective of caste, creed, ethnicity, class and gender.

While debating on the issue of gender equality, discussion forums have been found to be gravely inflictive putting Islam as religion in respondent position. I find no reason for doing so. The subject of gender equality may however be discussed in the premises of the various `Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence' which were initially introduced during the 8th century by the `Mujtahid-e-Imams'. The intention of those schools were to formulate and document; law, rules, practice, code of conducts, procedures and guidelines for the various institutions of the machinery of state, the society and the individuals embraced Islam or in future should come to embrace Islam having in them the influences of various backgrounds of socio- cultural and political traditions, and in which the society will also have to contain individuals from other disciplines of faith. Therefore, with unique clarity of vision `Mujtahid-e-Imams' of Islam considered to establish the judiciary to function as the sovereign and independent institution in the state with the dynamics of a definite methodology of working based on the principles of, (a) Exegesis of the `Quo'ran', (b) Exegesis of `Sunnah', (c) Qiyas i.e. analogy, (d) Ijtihad i. e. rational opinion, and (d) Ijma i.e. universal consensus of Ulemas through dialogue. The methodology clearly established a process of dynamic relation among the components for the synthesis of knowledge so considered according to the order of precedence set above for the "School of Jurisprudence" to function.

But, the Muslim rulers due to their ambition to act as the sovereign power of the state shifted their power base to feudalism, and thus usurped the era of political malpractice in the name of Islam. Those forces not only created impediments on the evolutionary process of the Islamic school of Jurisprudence but also distorted the very basis of it to meet their own ends of misappropriation of power and wealth of the state to build their own Empire to lead a coercive life. Eventually, that became the root cause in destruction of the inner cohesion of the societies under the Muslim World as a whole, while on the other hand Islam's real message was to establish and develop a modern society adhering to the principles of social equity and justice, ending the period of pre-Islamic Pagan period of Jehalat. Evidence in this respect is clear from the history that the foremost Mujtahid-e-Imam Abu Hanifa had to die in the dungeon of Khalifa Mansoor when he was forced to take poison for his death. Therefore, the existence of the ` New Jehalat' indeed viewed as tools of oppression unleashed in the name of Islam by the feudal Islamite to continue feudal oppression using the unholy alliance with the dogmatic Islamism propagated in the present day in the so called pseudo Islamic States.

I would like to point out that, in the Holy Quo'ran, references have been made time and again, in the chapters followed by chapters, cautioning mankind from the evils of those brought to human society for not having followed the principles directed by God through His messengers. Exegesis of the Holy Quoran blesses us with the understanding of the divine revelation, for mankind to identify themselves to be though created from the product from nature but uniquely given with the power and insight of the highest level of intelligence, and this position of human being indeed is not a `self- assumed' position but an acquired position attained through exercise of the unique power of the intellectual capabilities and, therefore, in effect, this position of the mankind shall continue to exist until it will be denied by an unequivocal discovery, yet to come.

I find with dismay that, Science has been applied by many to interpret and sometimes to negate the meaning and necessity of the God-centric-idealism and at times, the religion, the belief systems of mankind as a whole. As I see it, the domains of Science and Religion and their premises of working are totally different from each other. In this respect the defensive and at times the pitiful meaningless position taken by the Neu-mod Muslim scholars attempting to interpret Islam as a scientific Religion could not also hold premises because Religion is never Science and Science can never and will never succeed to infringe upon and take the position of metaphysics of Religion founding the basis of ethics and morality of mankind.

I think, we may try to understand that the mankind emphasizes its dual existence, one in the material World through the exercise of the power of Science and the other in the intellectual world curiously intermingled with the belief systems. When Leonardo-da-Vinci made the sketch of the flying machine, he just believed it, but science pursuing the belief brought it into existence in the material world for the benefit of mankind. We may therefore try to realize that, while the Animal Kingdom is victim of nature, the human world qualified, strengthened and driven by the belief systems acquired knowledge from the nature and applied those to upgrade the quality of life dynamically exercising the tools of knowledge acquired through science. Divine injunctions are unequivocal directing mankind to acquire knowledge from the persistent pursuit from within and without one self, to analyze and synthesize those pieces of knowledge to enrich the domain of intelligence incessantly.

The knowledge gathered through study of the animal science may have some useful applications in the field of health and medicine, but application of it in social science involving human beings to depict its nature, cannot give us the real picture to formulate the programmes of the social engineering projects meant towards empowerment of the women, because the science of nature has already given us the knowledge that the laws of nature favours the empowerment of the powerful, the survival of the fittest, and not to the empowerment of the weak. Through the ages of intellectual practices endeavouring unique characteristics derived from the belief systems of religion, doctrines of love and beauty of humanism, through the collective concepts comprising the intellectual properties, mankind arrived in to a position taking the role of the empowerment of the weak, to construct a harmonious and just society living with equity, justice and peace. Hence, in this process of evolution, the ideologies those conceived equity of distribution of power and wealth irrespective of caste, creed, race, class, faith or gender, became the appropriate tools to identify the paradigms of the social engineering projects comprising the empowerment of the weak, in the task of formulating the policy options and strategy for socio- economic development.

Coming back to the agenda, adult franchise in electing people's representatives through votes has been recognized in our society. This right regarding political decision-making is never meaningful or real without appropriate rights in the sphere of economy. If appropriate rights and opportunities are absent regarding resource, employment, education, health, shelter etc., an imbalance in the society is created which puts some curb on the exercise of political rights of the people. If minimum education for all which makes a person conscious about society and economy, and if the weaker forces which comprises vast majority in the World population are not recognized as the important agents in the development programmes by making them able partners in all productive enterprises, organizations, decision and policy making spheres, then the very idea of improving quality of the social life of mankind gets frustrated.

The Society, which is controlled and dominated by patriarchal values, recognizing the legitimacy of male domination over social resources, means of production, land and labour etc., turns gender relation into a scenario of domination and sub-ordination, authority and dependence. Such relation determined on the basis of unfounded, false, artificial values, make women suffer from deprivation, oppression, and exploitation. The society which carries the burden of the deprived, oppressed and exploited mass of in-ordinate proportion, fails to bring about an effective combination of land, water, natural and human resources to establish necessary pre-condition for socio- economic development. That is why, in spite of having huge natural resources, countries in Middle-east, Africa, and some other have not been able to ensure any commendable development, on the other hand, having the least per capita land and natural resources, countries like Holland, Japan, China and South Korea undertaking the strategy of combining the available resources and effectively engaging the over all population, could ensure development.

The objective of empowering women in society is to create consciousness about women's problems related to education, health, employment, legal and environmental issues, so that women can improve their position to secure the respect and recognition of the individual personhood and be able to make positive contribution through active participation in the social transformation and decision-making activity. Since, politics and state policies are closely inter-related, women's participation in politics is crucial. The marginal position of women's participation in politics is an over- all indicator of the over-all sub-ordinated position of women in the World.

In context of formulating the development strategy of Bangladesh, sub- ordination of women accepted in all spheres of society, environment of lack of bold and positive attitude to women's problems have been identified as impediments towards potential opportunities for women to get involved in politics, and possibilities for them to ameliorate their position to influence the decision making position in formulating state policies. Therefore, side by side with other policy options considered to formulate the paradigms of strategy for development, the empowerment of women in particular has been identified as one of the several course of programme of action.

It should be mentioned in this regard that, the constitution of Bangladesh in Article 10, embodies the participation of women in all spheres of national life, and in Article 28(2) recognizes equal right for men and women in all spheres of public and state life. The constitution thus implied the possibility of progress through affirmative action by the state in favour of integrating women in the mainstream of development rather than creating a separate channel for them. But, the process of mainstreaming women requires a strong commitment of gender equity supported by careful operational plans to ensure women's participation in all sectors, and reforms of the laws which infringe women's rights to provide the necessary framework of formal equality within which this process can occur. The emphasis on law as a tool for empowerment of women is made in full realization that law reform cannot in itself solve problems of inequality and discrimination, but still the recommendation and demand in this respect for legislative and law reforms are made in recognition that the law as an institution can critically intervene in sectors such as education, employment, health, and most importantly, personal life. Legislation should be passed to at least ensure formal equality in all these spheres, underpinned by procedural reforms particularly aimed at the administrative and enforcement levels to ensure access to justice and the translation of formal to real equality.

The legislative guarantees provided in the constitution of Bangladesh providing equal rights and nondiscrimination of women are further supported by the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (UNCEDAW). However, a close analysis of the text of the Constitution of Bangladesh and many democratic countries enacting adult franchise reveals a significant omission: the guarantee of equal rights between men and women does not extend to the private sphere, i.e. to matters concerning the family or inheritance to property. The failure to underwrite paper promises of equality is further revealed by the ratification UNCEDAW made by the Government of Bangladesh having been made subject to reservations regarding the Convention provisions dealing with equal rights, particularly within the family, hence such ratification made with reservations would make those Governments liable, within a specified period, to amend its laws in conformity with the Convention. This sharp disjuncture made between paper promises of equality and the reality of legally justified discrimination on the ground of sex is contradiction to the commitment of democracy.

Women's demand for equality before the law is a demand to be recognized as an individual able to determine her own individual physical existences within society, within the community and within the Family, on the basis of equity and nondiscrimination. Individual rights cannot be subsumed within the rights of any group and community. Stasis religious schools of law which could not see the lights of reforms when reforms were sought to happen within them through the methodology established by themselves within those schools of jurisprudences but perpetuating now the discrimination between sexes continued to be justified on the grounds that they are an essential component of a community's self identity, and any encroachment on these laws is an attack on the community or religion, cannot be sustained within a society traditionally committed to reasonable and rational exercise of religious values and politically committed through decades of the people's movements and sacrifice of countless martyrs, to undertake democratic process and protection of right of individual's own religious faith. It is, therefore, intended that, women's rights receive prior protection over undefined "community' rights perpetuating imbalance of power between sexes in the private and family life.

In the backdrop of all those social, ideological, political, economical and legal issues, the relevance of undertaking intervention strategy through legislative action to provide reserved seat in the political representative offices on the basis of universal franchise and direct election got its ground in Bangladesh. The socio-economic and political realities dictates the need for special representation of women, but it is necessary to ground such representation on direct contact with grassroots, not on elite contact with party and government. It is therefore necessary to bring about a constitutional amendment of article 65(3) of Bangladesh specifying the number of reserved seats for women and modality of direct election. The area of constituencies under previous provision of 30 nominated reserved seats are too large to serve as direct territorial constituencies, therefore, the number of reserved seats need to be essentially increased from 30 to 64 to correspond with the existing administrative districts.

Keeping it in mind that, empowerment of women through legislative action in Bangladesh or a country facing similar situations is not a goal in itself, but is an instrument to set in motion necessary reforms and discourses for a balanced and harmonious process of participation of women in the affairs of the state indeed to bring about the much needed socio-economic and democratic development of the society, and once the balance in the society is achieved liberating women from the abuses of discriminated gender relation and integrating women in to their rightful position within the mainstream of all the activities of the family, society and the state, the necessity of maintaining reserved seats in the political representative offices and the public service sectors should undergo natural process of elimination.

Afroza Begum is Professor of Economics at Dr. Malika University College, Dhaka. She is attached to a number of voluntary and professional organizations in different capacities.

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