Bangladesh's leading Islamist Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has scored what many believe is a self-goal just a fortnight before the February 12 parliament elections. Women outnumber men in the electoral rolls in Bangladesh, a country whose dominant liberal language-driven Bengali culture has historically placed much emphasis on gender empowerment, keeping alive the legacy of the great reformer Begum Rokeya.
It is this liberal social tradition that has kept Islamist radicalism in check until it started getting a free run after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the assumption of power by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
'Women Unfit For Leadership'
So, when Jamaat-e-Islami chief Dr Shafiqur Rahman ruled out women in leadership positions and denounced working women as 'morally decadent', he not only opened a can of worms but also landed the Islamist coalition led by his party in an unusually tight spot.
In a recent interview with Al Jazeera, Rahman was unapologetic about what his party thought of women in public life and employment. "On the question of women, Jamaat's position is neither confused nor apologetic - it is principled. We do not think women should come into leadership. In Jamaat, it is impossible. Allah did not permit this," he said, adding, “We believe that when women are pushed out of the home in the name of modernity, they are exposed to exploitation, moral decay and insecurity. It is nothing but another form of prostitution...Commodification of women is not a sign of progress - they are symptoms of moral collapse."
This is the worst attack by any political leader on women's empowerment in Bangladesh since it achieved independence in a bitter war against Pakistani armed forces in 1971. Powerful women activists in Bangladesh have launched vitriolic attacks on Jamaat-e-Islami, describing it as "medieval and barbaric" and an "enemy of social progress".
'Snake Reveals Poison Again'
"Don't forget how Jamaat supplied Bengali women to satisfy the desires of their Pakistani masters in 1971. Bangladesh will never forgive them for their role in 1971. And now the snake has revealed its poison again," said actress-activist Rokeya Prachy, whose role in Tarique Masud-directed Matir Moyna won global acclaim. She said Shafiqur Rahman's anti-women rant was a " timely warning" for Bangladeshis, especially the women, about the "devils eyeing our vote”.
Unnerved by the furious reaction not only from women leaders cutting across party lines but also from political rivals such as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jamaat chief tried to backtrack by alleging that his X handle had been hacked. However, that did not work because the Al Jazeera interview had already been extensively circulated on social media by then.
Not One Woman Candidate Fielded By Jamaat
That the Jamaat-e-Islami continues to hold a regressive anti-women standpoint has been further reinforced by its poll nominations. The Jamaat is contesting 179 seats in the 300-member parliament, leaving the rest to allies, which include the National Citizens Party (NCP) formed by leaders of the 2024 uprising that ousted the Awami League government from power. Not a single woman has been given a nomination by the outfit, reinforcing Shafiqur Rahman's stand. The BNP, too, though, has not done much better, giving just nine seats to women. The Awami League, which traditionally gave more seats to women compared to other parties, is barred from contesting the polls this time.
Jamaat's ally NCP has also been rocked by a gender revolt of sorts when some of its top women leaders, such as the UK-educated medical practitioner Tasnim Jarra, left the party and decided to contest the polls as Independents.
Yunus Backs Off
These women, who played a major role in bringing down the Hasina government, are perhaps upset with the Yunus government's hypocritical stand on the gender issue, which many attribute to the Nobel laureate's unconcealed proximity to the Jamaat-e-Islami and other radical Islamist groups. When he took charge, Yunus had made a big pitch for reforms and set up several Independent commissions, one of them led by Shireen Huq, to address the gender issue. The Huq Commission was the first to come up with a detailed report containing comprehensive recommendations such as gender equality in matters of inheritance, property, marriage and divorce.
That provoked the Islamist radicals to organise a huge protest rally, in which the effigy of a saree-clad woman was repeatedly disrobed and slammed with slippers. They were perhaps emboldened by the release of several top jihadis from prison, threatening to bring down the Yunus government. The Nobel laureate quietly chickened out and swept the Huq Commission report under the carpet, not to raise it again in public discourse.
The Jamaat-e-Islami never crossed double digits in terms of vote share in previous Bangladesh elections. So far, they have contested polls as a junior partner of the BNP. This is the first time in independent Bangladesh that Jamaat-e-Islami is projected as a major contender for power.
The Hasina-Khaleda Legacy
In a country where two powerful women leaders - Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed - have alternated as Prime Ministers since 1991 and where competent women have left their mark in bureaucracy, law, culture and education, the Jamaat-e-Islami chief has opened a Pandora's Box. The votes of the women of Bangladesh will surely count in the February 12 elections. And after Rehman's derogatory remarks, it may not be difficult to guess which way they will go.
(Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC and Reuters correspondent who has served as Senior Editor in Bangladesh's leading news portal bdnews24.com. He is a former Oxford and Frankfurt University Fellow and an author on Bangladesh and India's Northeast)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
