This paper explores the dilemmas faced by gender justice activists in Bangladesh regarding whether and how to engage with laws that conflict with fundamental freedoms and rights, while acknowledging the importance of a legal framework to regulate cyberspace. […]
Analysis of Voice and Agency in Countering Backlash Against Gender Justice: Synthesis of Three Policy Cases in Bangladesh
This paper consolidates research conducted in Bangladesh on three policy cases to understand how gender justice movements formulate their demands on specific issues in response to the backlash they encounter from anti-rights actors. […]
Let’s seize the opportunity to further gender equity in Bangladesh
The Bangladesh national elections in January 2024 had dashed any hopes for political reform as the Awami League party’s power remained unchallenged and civic space, including the space to seek greater gender equality, was shrinking daily. Now that the Awami League and its leader Sheikh Hasina has been overthrown, is this an opportunity to bring about greater gender justice in Bangladesh?
Our research in Bangladesh with IDS under the Sustaining Power (SUPWR) and Countering Backlash programmes shows that various gender justice struggles seeking to bring about gender-equal changes in policies, laws or the enforcement of existing laws and policies in women’s favour, found the previous government policy makers deprioritised the gender justice agenda. This lack of engagement came out strongly in our new research on the reform of the Hindu family law that disadvantages Hindu women, and on online gender base violence and safety of feminist activists on-line (publications forthcoming).
The student-led Anti-Discrimination Movement, which has led to a new interim government in Bangladesh may have created new opportunities for furthering gender justice, both in the way it is unfolding and as part of its goal to ensure state reform that addresses the structural causes of authoritarianism, centralisation of power, corruption and injustice.
Women’s participation in the Anti-Discrimination Movement
Female high school and university students had a visible and significant presence in the anti-discrimination movement. Without their participation and involvement, the struggle might have failed. In July 2024, during critical points of the movement, the female students in the residential halls of the public universities found it easy to organise and came out en masse to show support for change.
For example, after the brutal attacks on protesting students on 15 July by the ruling party cadres and the police, the female students from Ruqayyah Hall, at Dhaka University led the counter protests, coming out of the dormitory at midnight armed with steel plates, spoons, and ladles making noise and chanting slogans. They were quickly joined students from other female dormitories and then the male students.
Women students were united in their protests across social divides- whether they wore hijabs, traditional Bengali (sari or shalwar kameez) or western attire, were from the capital city or more remote areas. The protests were as safe, or as dangerous, for a young woman to come out as for a young man. Women were seen marching against the police and the armed student cadres, being beaten, carrying sticks, protecting their male and female companions from attacks the police, physically trying to stop police vans and painting graffiti on walls. There were images of women protesters wounded and killed.
It is an established tactic of student politics to put women at the front of marches, feeling that they are less likely to be physically attacked. However, the brutal attacks on female students in 2024 breaks the stereotypes of the ‘delicate frail females’ who would not be beaten and who are too frail to fight back.
Legacy of previous struggles and family support
What increased female participation? At the university level there are almost equal numbers of women and men among students. The frustrations and demands which mobilised the students were felt keenly by both women and men. Women also has support from their peers, family and from society. The legacy of earlier movements also influenced female participation. Earlier protests have has women participating in visible and large numbers at all stages of movements from the Shahbagh movement for punishment for liberation war criminals to the more recent protests for road safety (2018) or movements such as Rage Against Rape (2020). But in July–August 2024 the numbers of women present in the protests seems to have beaten all previous records.
The women involved in the movement were not only students. It included parents, both fathers and mothers of the students who rallied after the violence perpetrated against them. Older women of all backgrounds, many of whom had never protested on the streets before, came out, persuaded to do so by young family members. Female artists, performers, civil society actors, lawyers, teachers were vocal in showing their support for change.
Gender justice in political transitions
While women were fully involved in the movement, once things settle down, would they hold leadership roles? Nusrat Tabassum, one of the female student Coordinators of the movement said in a CPD discussion on August 14 2024 that when one type of discrimination would be addressed, other types would automatically be addressed too. Unfortunately, we know from history that gender discrimination often gets the least priority in political transitions.
In the period between when the former Prime Minister fled and the Interim Government was formed, the male student coordinators appeared to play a leadership role. Many women’s groups and others questioned if the female leadership was overlooked. On 8 August 2024 I attended a protest organised by “Khubdo Nari Samaj” (Angry Women) with the question “what about female representation?”. The interim government has been formed through negotiations with political parties and the student movement, mediated by the army. The interim government includes four women civil society leaders but no female student representatives.
A different future for women of Bangladesh?
The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement has not yet articulated any objectives directly related to gender justice. But the female coordinator’s have articulated demands for ending gender based violence and harassment free campus and society.
The initial demand for quota reform wanted removal of 30 percent quota reserved for freedom fighters and their descendants, so government jobs were available based on merit. This led to abolishing the quota for recruitment of women as well, as the female students felt that they can compete based on merit and did not need preferential treatment. This reading of the situation is yet to be backed by any kind of review of employment statistics. A greater concern is that while women are recruited, retention of women in the service has been difficult; this is where gender biases tend to come in.
The Anti-Discrimination Movement envisages state reform to set in place legal frameworks, structures and processes based on principles of antidiscrimination, accountability to citizens and representation of all interest groups, to be safeguarded. There are discussions on constitutional reforms. The women’s movement has long advocated for the removal of the 8th Amendment which made Islam the State religion. The argument forwarded by the women’s movement was that religion itself is discriminatory towards women, particularly the religious family laws that govern women’s private lives.
Further gender equity needed
Article 28 (2) of the Bangladesh constitution states that “Women shall have equal rights with men in all spheres of the State and of public life”, but therefore by implication, not equality in private life. Women’s groups have long demanded changes in the electoral system for fair representation. Discussion on changes to the electoral system stressed that the first-past-the-post system should be replaced by proportional representation. This could also mean mandatory inclusion of women in the electoral lists for positions where there is a fair chance of their being elected. These are just few examples of what changes are needed to further gender equity in Bangladesh.
Unless women of all generations can make their voices heard and have a seat at the table there is a risk that the opportunities offered by the present critical juncture will be lost. The gender dimension of every single reform needs to be identified, debated and addressed. There is an urgent need to bring together women’s rights activists’ past experience of analysis and advocacy in each of these areas with the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement’s energy and determination, so that we can bring about systemic and sustainable change.
This blog was originally posted on the Institute of Development Studies’ website.
Resource Pack: Online Safety For Activists
Resource Pack: Online Safety for Activists aims to share knowledge and learning about online gender-based violence (OGBV). It provides a comprehensive list of strategies and existing protection mechanisms to create safety for online activists and others. […]
Countering Backlash panels at the DSA Conference 2024
Countering Backlash researcher Sohela Nazneen (IDS), Nay El Rahi (AIW), Maheen Sultan, Md Mohaiminul Islam and Shamsad Navia Novelly (BIGD) took part in the Development Studies Association’s 2024 annual conference.
The hybrid conference was organised and hosted by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and was convened by Michael Jennings, Professor of Global Development, with the theme of ‘Social Justice and Development in a Polarising World’. The Countering Backlash team delivered a number of exciting sessions, designed to engage attendees on key research from the programme. Two of these were part of a larger panel, organised by Deepta Chopra and Samreen Mushtaq (IDS) titled ‘Seeking Gender Justice and Rights Amidst Backlash: Challenges and Responses by Women’s Struggles‘:
- Deconstructing Anti-Feminist Backlash: The Lebanese Context
Nay El Rahi, from the Arab Institute for Women, delivered a novel and nuanced understanding of the context specific challenges of women’s groups in Lebanon, as they try to further their demands in a constricted ‘sextarian’ political system. - Countering Backlash Through Coalition Building: Compromises, Contentions and Sustaining Struggles in Bangladesh
Sohela Nazneen, along with BIGD colleagues, explored how women’s struggles in Bangladesh use coalition building strategies to counter backlash and how impact of this strategy varies by the coalition’s focus, and space it engages in, leadership composition, and form, and what lessons it entails for building sustainable movements.
Feminist Foreign Policy vs Development: Which Way to Social and Gender Justice?
Sohela Nazneen participated as a discussant on a panel for this additional session, which explored whether and how feminist principles and social justice concepts can help countries with feminist foreign and development policies, such as Germany or Chile, to address developmental challenges and transforming unequal global systems in times of polycrisis.
Countering Backlash researcher Sohela Nazneen contributes to new book ‘Fifty Years of Bangladesh’
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised a launching programme for the book titled “Fifty Years of Bangladesh: Economy, Politics, Society and Culture”, on Thursday, 18 April 2024. The volume has been published by Routledge and co-edited by Professor Rehman Sobhan, Founding Chairman, CPD and Professor Rounaq Jahan, Distinguished Fellow, CPD.
The book portrays the multi-faceted dimensions of Bangladesh’s development journey, its economic and social transformation and political and cultural contestations. It presents new empirical data supplemented with critical analysis of processes, actors and actions that have been the drivers of Bangladesh’s transformation and offers new ways of understanding Bangladesh. This book should be viewed as a successor publication to a similar volume prepared on the occasion of Bangladesh’s 25th anniversary, ‘Bangladesh: Promise and Performance’ edited by Professor Rounaq Jahan, and published by Zed Books, London.
Countering Backlash researcher and IDS Senior Fellow, Dr Sohela Nazneen, produced a chapter for this book entitled ‘Contentious Empowerment?: Women, Development and Change in Bangladesh‘. Dr Nazneen presented her work during the official launch of the book, and underscored that ‘despite advancements, restrictive social norms still limit women’s mobility, sexual autonomy, and presence as a collective group’.
Find out more about the book and the launch event by reading CPD’s summary.
De-democratisation in South Asia weakens gender equality
This year, millions of people in South Asia head to the polls. Potential outcomes of elections in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, however, do not bode well for women’s rights or gender equality, says Countering Backlash researcher, Sohela Nazneen. The road ahead is difficult for women’s and LGBTQ+ struggles, as autocratic leaders consolidate power, and right-wing populists, digital repression, and violence against women and sexual minorities are all on the rise
Repression of civic space
CIVICUS is a global alliance of civil society organisations that aims to strengthen citizen action. After the Bangladesh government’s repression of opposition politicians and independent critics in the run-up to the country’s January elections, CIVICUS downgraded Bangladesh’s civic space, rating it as ‘closed’. India and Pakistan it ranked as ‘repressed’.
All three countries recently passed cybersecurity laws and foreign funding regulations that obstruct women’s rights, and feminist and LGBTQ+ organising. In Bangladesh, the ruling Awami League – in power since 2008 – boycotted by the main opposition party during the most recent elections. In India, Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), in power since 2014, has systematically undermined democratic institutions and built a Hindu-nationalist base. Pakistan has experienced multiple military forays into elections and politics that effectively limited competition between parties.
When it comes to gender equality concerns, however, these three South Asian countries feature contradictory trends. All have, or had, powerful women heads of government. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and current PM Sheikh Hasina have led Bangladesh; in Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto governed from 1993–1996. Indira Gandhi governed India from 1966 to 1977, and there have been many other regional party heads. During this period, things have improved for ordinary women. Women live longer, more women receive greater education, and they are increasingly active and visible in the economy.
India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all been governed by women leaders. But these countries still experience strong pushback against women’s rights from conservative forces
But persistent gender inequalities remain. Violence against women in public places and within the home is high. Women’s sexuality is subject to heavy policing, and there is strong pushback against women’s rights and gender equality from conservative right-wing-populist forces.
At the Institute of Development Studies, we have been tracking backlash and rollback on rights in the region through two programmes: Sustaining Power and Countering Backlash. Our exploration of the links between a rollback in women’s rights and autocratisation shows specific manifestations of gender backlash.
Bodies as battlegrounds: direct assaults and hollowing-out policies
Women’s bodies have always been policed, and the rights of sexual minorities are highly contested in South Asia. Recent years have seen an increase in direct assaults against feminist and LGBTQ+ activists in online and physical spaces. In all three countries, right-wing political parties and religious groups have mobilised a strong anti-rights rhetoric to oppose critical women’ rights, feminists, and LGBTQ+ activists.
But the battle over women’s bodies is also visible in policymaking. In Bangladesh, for example, sexual and reproductive health, previously framed in terms of rights, have become more technical. In 2011, the government introduced a National Women’s Development Policy, which gave women equal control over acquired property. But mass protests by Islamist groups claiming this clause violated Shariah laws forced the government to backtrack.
Islamist protests against a proposed new policy giving women equal control over acquired property forced the government to backtrack
Women’s rights groups lost their relevance to the ruling elites as the country shifted towards a dominant party state and their support was not needed keep the elites in power. These elites now seek to contain opposition from religious and conservative political groups, whose support is crucial to remain in power. To consolidate its power, the authoritarian Awami League – one of the biggest parties in Bangladesh – needs to appease conservative forces. This limits the avenues for feminist activists to engage in policy spaces, as they have done since Bangladesh’s democratic transition in 1991.
State patronage, gender, and de-democratisation
The pushback against gender equality is not limited to sexuality or the policing of women’s bodies. Populist right-wing political parties have framed women’s economic empowerment in ways that promote the traditional role of women as carers and nurturers, in line with conservative cultural traditions.
Populist right-wingers frame women’s economic empowerment in ways that promote their traditional role as carers and nurturers
In India, the Modi government rolled out various development schemes targeting women. These included free stoves and natural gas cylinders for women, and maternity benefit schemes. Of course, these succeeded in attracting the female vote – but they also helped tie women to their traditional social roles. India heads to the polls in April and May. Election fever is intensifying. At the same time, the BJP’s paternalistic empowerment rhetoric is focusing increasingly on the role of women as nation builders.
In Bangladesh, women workers dominate the country’s main foreign exchange earning industry: ready-made garments. Before the elections, garment workers were engaged in negotiations demanding higher wages. When negotiations failed, police made violent clampdowns on the resulting protests. To consolidate its power in a hotly contested election, the ruling Awami League chose to back the garment factory owners, who hold a majority in parliament.
Protests, politics and repression
The introduction of cybersecurity laws and tightened regulations over NGO funding leave limited space for dissent. Activists and rights-based organisations risk fines, arrests, imprisonment, judicial and online harassment.
Nevertheless, we are still seeing a surge in women-led protests and feminist and LGBTQ+ activism. Protesters are using innovative strategies that disrupt everyday order. These include roadblocks, sit-ins, and theatre performance, graffiti, poetry, and songs to reclaim notions of citizenship and national belonging. The Aurat March is a feminist collective that organises annual International Women’s Day rallies to protest misogyny in Pakistan. Last year, it captured the imagination of a new generation to dream of a more equitable society.
In 2019–2020, Indians rose up against proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act that would offer an accelerated path to citizenship for non-Muslims. The Shaheen Bagh protests, led by Muslim women, saw diverse groups coming together to reclaim the notion of a secular India. Anti-rape protests in Bangladesh led by young feminist groups drew attention to archaic laws, and demanded safety for all types of bodies and genders. These are only a few examples. Yet despite their effort to reclaim public spaces, activists had no sustainable effect on countering state power.
These protests are vital spaces in which citizens can begin to imagine different kinds of polity, and to cherish ideals of democracy. They also help to re-examine intersectional fault lines within protest movements, and find new forms of solidarity.
This article was first published on ECPR’s political science blog site, The Loop.
Understanding gender backlash through Southern perspectives
Global progress on gender justice is under threat. We are living in an age where major political and social shifts are resulting in new forces that are visibly pushing back to reverse the many gains made for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and to shrink civic space.
The focus of this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) calls for ‘accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls…’. This ‘acceleration’ would be welcome indeed. We are not so much worried about slow progress but rather by the regress in a tidal wave of patriarchal – or gender – backlash, with major rollbacks of earlier advances for women’s equality and rights, as well as by a plethora of attacks on feminist, social justice and LGBTQ+ activists, civic space and vulnerable groups of many stripes.
The Countering Backlash programme explores this backlash against rights in a timely and important IDS Bulletin titled ‘Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives’. In it, we ask ‘how can we better understand the contemporary swell of anti-feminist (or patriarchal) backlash across diverse settings?’. We present a range of perspectives and emerging evidence from our programme partners from Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
Here’s what you can find in our special issue of the IDS Bulletin.
Why we need to understand gender backlash
‘Anti-gender backlash’, at its simplest, it refers to strong negative reactions against gender justice and those seeking it. Two widely known contemporary examples, from different contexts, are Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill (passed in 2023), and the United States Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs Wade (which gave women the constitutional right to abortion) in 2022.
The term ‘backlash’ was first used in Susan Faludi’s (1991) analysis of the pushback against feminist ideas in 1980s in the United States, and historically, understandings of anti-gender backlash have been predominantly based on experiences and theorising about developments in the global north. More recent scholarship has afforded insights on and from Latin America and Eastern Europe.
Much explanatory work to date, if it does not implicitly generalise from global north experience, often fails to adequately engage with the ways these locally specific phenomena operate transnationally, including across the global south, and with its complex imbrication in a broader dismantling of democracy.
New ways of analysing gender backlash
The Issue presents new ways of analysing backlash relevant to diverse development contexts, grounded examples, and evidence of anti-gender dynamics. It aims to push this topic out of the ‘gender corner’ to connect it to contemporary shifts in relationships between faith, identity and state, governance, and the broader politics of democracy and economics, as seen from across the global south.
The articles in this special issue are grouped into three themes: one, on ‘voice and tactics’, including whose voices are being heard, and what tactics are being used?; two, on ‘framings and direction’, including how are ideologies spread, and how can we understand attitudes to change? and; three, on ‘temporality and structure’, including what is ‘back’ about backlash? What and who drives it, and how is it imbricated in broader trends and crises? Additionally, most articles proffer some thoughts and recommendations on the implications for directions to counter backlash, whether specifically for feminist movements, for other gender and social justice defenders, or for researchers and students.
Southern Perspectives
This Issue fundamentally challenges simple and reductive understandings of gender backlash. Diverse examples of politicised backlash are ‘mapped’ across geographies and viewpoints. This can help to build a more granular and multi-perspectival understanding of backlash, of its more subtle processes of co-optation and division, its connected across borders, regions, and continents, and the contextual and different strategies of resistance.
Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives
The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, and the 10th anniversary of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are fast approaching. And with global progress on gender justice being attacked around the world, we must find ways to combat gender backlash now.
The Countering Backlash programme has produced timely research and analysis on gender backlash, presenting a range of perspectives and emerging evidence on backlash against gender justice and equality, as such phenomena manifest locally, nationally, and internationally.
‘Understanding Gender Backlash: Southern Perspectives’ is our iteration of the IDS Bulletin, including contributions, insights, expert knowledge from a range of actors in diverse locations across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil, Lebanon and the UK – and all part of the Countering Backlash programme.
The IDS Bulletin addresses the urgent question of how we can better understand the recent swell of anti-gender backlash across different regions, exploring different types of actors, interests, narratives, and tactics for backlash in different places, policy areas, and processes.
The IDS Bulletin will be launched by a hybrid event on 07 March 2024, ahead of the programme’s attendance at UN Women’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2024.
Articles
Jerker Edström; Jennifer Edwards; Chloe Skinner; Tessa Lewin; Sohela Nazneen
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Sohela Nazneen
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Cecília Sardenberg; Teresa Sacchet; Maíra Kubík Mano; Luire Campelo; Camila Daltro; Talita Melgaço Fernandes; Heloisa Bandeira;
Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies of the Federal University of Bahia (NEIM)
Maheen Sultan; Pragyna Mahpara
BRAC BIGD
Adeepto Intisar Ahmed; Ishrat Jahan; Israr Hasan; Sabina Faiz Rashid; Sharin Shajahan Naomi
BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health
Jerker Edström
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Abhijit Das; Jashodhara Dasgupta; Maitrayee Mukhopadhyay; Sana Contractor; Satish Kumar Singh
Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ)
Shraddha Chigateri; Sudarsana Kundu
Gender at Work Consulting – India
Phil Erick Otieno; Alfred Makabira
Advocates for Social Change Kenya (ADSOCK)
Amon A. Mwiine; Josephine Ahikire
Centre for Basic Research
Tessa Lewin
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Nay El Rahi; Fatima Antar
Arab Institute for Women (AIW)
Jerker Edström, Jenny Edwards, Tessa Lewin, Rosie McGee, Sohela Nazneen, Chloe Skinner
Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Event: How is backlash weakening institutional contexts for gender justice globally?
Gender backlash is continually gaining momentum across the globe, and social and political institutions and policies are being dismantled. Gender justice activists and women’s rights organisations are having to mobilise quickly to counter these attacks.
With speakers from Bangladesh, Uganda, Lebanon, Serbia and India, in this official NGO CSW68 event we asked, ‘how is gender backlash weakening institutional contexts for gender justice globally?’ Speakers discussed: stalling and lack of implementation of the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act (2010) in Bangladesh; the infiltration of conservative religious and political actors in democratic institutions in the context of Serbia and neighbouring countries; anti-feminist backlash as institutional by default in Lebanon; and the legislative weakening of institutional contexts in Uganda, examining Acts which exert control over Civil Society Organisations.
When
- 11 March 2024
Speakers
- Pragyna Mahpara, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD)
- Sandra Aceng, Executive Director, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET)
- Nay El Rahi, Activist and Researcher, Arab Institute for Women (AIW)
- Nađa Bobičić, Researcher, Center for Women’s Studies Belgrade (CWS)
- Santosh Kumar Giri, Director, Kolkata Rista
-
Jerker Edström, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)
Chair
- Chloe Skinner, Research Fellow, IDS
Partner Event: BRAC JPGSPH and BIGD hosts Stakeholder Roundtable on Online Anti-Feminist Backlash
Countering Backlash partner BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (BRAC JPGSPH) held a roundtable discussion on ‘Anti-feminist Backlash in Online Spaces and Creating Counter-Moves’ in collaboration with BRAC Institue of Governance and Development (BIGD) in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 28th November, 2023.
The roundtable was moderated by Nazia Zebin, and the event featured research presentations by Raiyaan Mahbub and Israr Hasan from BRAC JPGSPH and Iffat Jahan Antara from BIGD which set the context for the discussion. The discussions focused on the current challenges of navigating gender justice agendas in the face of rising organised backlash and the delegitimisation of feminism in the consciousness of the mass populace on social media platforms.
Critical insights were shared by experts and lawyers working on issues of digital safety and justice, seasoned NGO personnel, activists, and young movement organisers who are at the forefront of experiencing online backlash as they work on ensuring democratise, safe and gender-friendly digital environments.
Online violence against women is real violence
The campaign for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence this year encourages citizens to share the actions they are taking to create a world free from violence towards women. But what is being done about the online misogyny and violence encountered by gender justice activists, individuals, and organisations fighting for women’s rights and creating awareness online? Do our laws, the state, and its citizens consider an action to be gender-based violence only when it results in physical harm, rape, sexual assault, murder, or something severe?
Every day, women of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds become victims of online harassment and abuse in the form of trolling, bullying, hacking, cyber pornography, etc. Although there is no nationally representative data on victims of online gender-based violence, according to Police Cyber Support for Women, 8,715 women reported being subjected to hacking, impersonation, and online sexual harassment from January to November 2022.
Read the full op-ed by Countering Backlash partner BRAC BIGD on ‘The Daily Star’ website.
বাংলাদেশের পারিবারিক সহিংসতা আইন বাস্তবায়নে নেতিবাচক প্রতিক্রিয়া (ব্যাকল্যাশ) প্রতিরোধ
নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন আইন এবং পারিবারিক সহিংসতা (প্রতিরোধ ও সুরক্ষা) আইন ২০১০- এর মতো আইন থাকা সত্ত্বেও বাংলাদেশে পারিবারিক সহিংসতার হার অনেক বেশি। বাংলাদেশ পরিসংখ্যান ব্যুরোর তথ্য অনুযায়ী, প্রতি পাঁচজন নারীর মধ্যে প্রায় তিনজন (৫৭.৭%) তাদের জীবদ্দশায় কোনো না কোনো ধরনের শারীরিক, যৌন বা মানসিক সহিংসতার শিকার হয়েছেন। […]
Countering Backlash in the Implementation of Bangladesh’s Domestic Violence Act
Domestic violence rates are high in Bangladesh in spite of laws such as the Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Domon Ain and the DVPPA 2010. According to data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, almost three in every five women (57.7%) have experienced some form of physical, sexual, or emotional violence in their lifetime. […]
Event: Counting the cost: funding flows, gender backlash and counter backlash
Major political and social shifts are stifling the possibility of gender justice across the world. Analysing this backlash as operating on global, regional and local scales in this webinar, we ask, where is the money?
While predominant anti-gender backlash movements and actors appear well financed, those countering backlash face significant financial challenges, heightened in the context of rising authoritarianism and shrinking civic space.
In this event, we were joined by leading experts and partners from Countering Backlash and beyond. Isabel Marler from the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) presented a mapping of sources of funding for anti-rights actors, and interrogate what is effective in countering anti-rights trends, while Lisa VeneKlasen (Independent Strategist, Founder and Former Executive Director of JASS), explored ‘where is philanthropy on anti-gender backlash’? Turning to national restrictions, Sudarsana Kundu and Arundhati Sridhar from our partner organisation Gender at Work Consulting – India focused on the impacts of funding laws for women’s rights organising in India.
When
- 12 December 2023
- 13:00 – 14:30 UK time
Speakers
- Lisa VeneKlassen, Independent Strategist, Founder and Former Executive Director of JASS (Just Associates)
- Isabel Marler, Lead, Advancing Universal Rights and Justice, Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
- Sudarsana Kundu, Executive Director, Gender at Work Consulting – India
- Arundhati Sridhar, Gender at Work Consulting – India
Discussant
- Rosie McGee, Research Fellow, IDS
Chair
- Chloe Skinner, Research Fellow, IDS
Watch the recording
Patriarchal (Dis)orders: Backlash as Crisis Management
This article examines more global dynamics of backlash, exploring the question of why and how it has emerged with greater intensity in recent years, and how we can better understand it. […]
Partner event: BIGD discuss the implementation of Bangladesh’s Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act
Countering Backlash partner BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) hosted an engaging and important workshop with representatives of the Bangladesh Government and advocates. The workshop was hosted by BIGD in partnership with the Citizen’s Initiative against Domestic Violence (CIDV) at the BIGD offices in Dhaka’s Azimur Rahman Conference Hall.
The session discussed the implementation of the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act (DVPPA) 2010, and shared key findings and recommendations from BIGD’s Countering Backlash policy brief ‘Backlash in Action? Or Inaction? Stalled Implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 in Bangladesh‘. Despite being approved in 2010, the Act remains underutilized and commitment to its implementation has been low, often treating domestic violence as a family matter. There is an immediate need for changed norms and attitudes among those who are implementing the Act, along with better victim support, procedural revisions for effective implementation of the DVPPA.
The session featured a presentation by Maheen Sultan, Senior Research Fellow, and Pragyna Mahpara, Senior Research Associate, both from BIGD. Expert insights were provided by Dr Shahnaz Huda, Professor of Law at the University of Dhaka.
The event offered crucial insights and perspectives, emphasizing the ongoing effort to combat domestic violence and create a safer environment for all.
Countering gender backlash in Africa and Asia
Countering Backlash partner, Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), recently participated in the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum (DRIF) in Nairobi, Kenya and RightsCon in Costa Rica. During the two events, WOUGNET led discussions on the challenges faced by women’s rights advocates and the broader gender justice movement in the face of increasing online gender-based violence and shrinking civic space.
Joined by Countering Backlash partners BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD – Bangladesh) and NEIM (Brazil), along with a representative from the Ugandan police force, sessions highlighted the emergence of new forces and alliances that are actively pushing back against the progress made in achieving gender equality and justice, both globally and in Africa.
Participants discussed the various manifestations of gender backlash, such as the formulation of restrictive laws and legal frameworks, attacks on human rights and defenders, and the use of digital technology to propagate misogynist narratives.
WOUGNET spoke about the continuous attacks on gender activists and human rights defenders in Uganda, where laws and policies are enacted that restrict their activities, such as the recent Anti-homosexuality Act 2023 and amended Computer Misuse Act 2022. The blocking of online platforms also further erodes gender justice, minimising the potential for collective action and the amplification of marginalised voices.
Countering Backlash partner BIGD reported on their recently published research on online gender-based violence and backlash against women gender justice actors in Bangladesh. Currently, the south-Asian country is seeing a rapid increase in internet usage, particularly on Facebook, though evidence shows that almost 68% of Facebook users are men. According to Iffat Antara (Senior Researcher at BIGD), digital space has become an essential medium for activists and individuals to reach global audiences with messages on human rights, gender justice, and other critical social issues. They also addressed opposition from religious leaders towards comprehensive sexuality education policies and the push for discriminatory legislation such as the Anti-homosexuality Act 2023 of Uganda which argues that children’s understanding of their sexual rights makes them ‘pro-sexual’.
WOUGNET’S role in Countering Backlash
Sandra Aceng, Executive Director of WOUGNET, introduced the organisation’s work. WOUGNET has focused much of its research on online gender-based violence, and is currently implementing a project supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) called Our Voices, Our Futures, which aims to improve civic space online in Uganda for the women human rights defenders and feminists. WOUGNET’s goal through this project is to enhance its research on online gender-based violence and empower women actively to actively participate in shaping inclusive policies.
Efforts by the Ugandan Police Force
Francis Ogweng, Assistant Superintendent of Police in Uganda, shared the initiatives undertaken by the Uganda Police Force to promote gender justice. He said that the police are making progress towards promoting gender equality, thanks to the establishment of several directorates and departments that have an objective of reporting, analysing and tackling online gender-based violence, including the Gender Policy 2018. Besides these, there has been increased engagement with men on gender equality work as a strategy to reduce gender backlash in policing. Ogweng reported that senior officers have been promoted to higher ranks as a strategy to promote gender equality.
Ogweng is a He-For-She champion of UN Women and Uganda Police where he has promoted positive masculinity within the police. His role as champion resulted from the Uganda Police’s negative image when it comes to working with women and girls.
Despite the recent Anti-Homosexuality Act, Ogweng noted that there are a number of male-led organisations and Government initiatives promoting gender equality and ministries and other non-governmental organisations have programmes targeting male involvement in gender equality work.
Professor Maira Kubik, a Countering Backlash research partner NEIM in Brazil, defined gender backlash as a setback on rights that have not yet been achieved.
What are the trends in online gender backlash?
Antara’s research in Bangladesh explored online hate and threats of violence towards advocates for gender justice, and women in general, causing them to lose confidence and an interest in speaking out. The findings indicate that the violence women experience online has some common forms. These mainly focus on sexually explicit hate comments labelling women as sex workers, and particularly targeting women feminist activists, lawyers, and journalists. She then suggested the need to identify the severity of online gender-based violence against women on gender backlash and to improve the legal frameworks.
What are some of the achievements in gender justice?
Some of WOUGNET’s work on gender backlash is conducting research to understand the challenges that the communities we work with face. This research has shaped the capacity building work done over the years for women, and our community of practice around laws such as Uganda’s Computer Misuse Act 2011 as amended 2022, Data Protection and Privacy Act 2019, and the Anti-Pornography Act 2014 – three policies that significantly affect the meaningful participation of women in online spaces. WOUGNET also has a toll-free line 0800 200510 in place for the public to report cases of online harassment against female journalists.
Recommendations
In order to reduce gender backlash in digital spaces, laws and policies, panellists recommended conducting evidence-based research on gender backlash, building the capacity of men as anti-backlash actors, and training police officers on online gender-based violence so they can respond effectively to cases reported to their desk for investigation. Additionally, they recommended that the communities should know about some of the existing laws/policies so as to be able to fight for their rights, and to counter backlash.
Authored by: Isaac Amuku, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, and Irene Marunga, Communications associate, WOUGNET
Backlash in Action? Or Inaction? Stalled Implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act 2010 in Bangladesh
This paper explores the lax implementation of the Domestic Violence Act, and how it is effecting gender backlash in Bangladesh. It also examines how women’s rights organisations have articulated feminist voices in terms of agenda and framing and used collective agency to counter the pushback. […]
Conference: Anti-feminist backlash in the Global South
Anti-feminist backlash is gaining momentum. It is essential for feminist organisers, activists, and researchers to collaborate to effectively counter this backlash.
The eruption of feminist responses to this backlash is evidence of just how important the concept of backlash is to feminist theorising and mobilising. Around the world, journals have devoted entire issues to the study of backlash. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Working Group on discrimination against women and girls released a paper on gender equality and gender backlash, arguing that in light of the ‘increasing misuse of the concept of gender [and] attacks on gender (equality) and women’s rights,’ it is ‘important to take stock of these developments, to counter the anti-gender attacks, and to clarify the use of the concept in relation to [OHCHR’s] mandate’.
In 2019, the European Parliament adopted a resolution ‘on experiencing a backlash in women’s rights and gender equality,’, and The New York Times published an article on backlash with the following tagline: ‘The rise of authoritarianism has catalyzed a rollback of gender violence protections and support systems’.
But it is essential that we do not overlook local specificities of backlash. In Lebanon, anti-feminist backlash extends beyond its normative definition as a hostile reaction or response to progress made within or by the women’s movement. Instead, anti-feminist backlash is embedded across institutions and social structures in Lebanon. This makes anti-feminist backlash less of a targeted response to a singular event; rather, anti-feminist backlash is systemic and diffusive in several contexts in the Global South.
This timely and important three-day hybrid conference, live from Beirut, Lebanon, and hosted by Countering Backlash partner Arab Institute for Women (AIW), will bring together feminist and gender experts to share, produce, and build knowledge on anti-feminist backlash. They will compare counter backlash strategies and build cross-sectoral and transnational alliances among anti-backlash actors in the Global South.
The sessions will be led by leading organisations, researchers, and activists from Countering Backlash, the Middle East region and beyond, including: the Lebanese American University, BRAC BIGD, the California State University, the Institute of Development Studies, Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies of the Federal University of Bahia (NEIM), Sakeena, University of Belgrade, and more.
Date and time
20 – 22 June
Location
In-person: LAU Beirut Campus, Arab Institute for Women, Beirut, Lebanon
Online: WebEx
Languages
The sessions will be conducted in English.
Find out more about each day of the conference below.
20 June
Join us on 20 June for the Anti-feminist backlash in the Global South conference. You can sign up to exciting sessions and hear from leading gender-progressive researchers and activists from Lebanon, Brazil, Inida, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, the UK, and the USA.
All times are UTC+3.
Register to attend the 20 June sessions
- Keynote Speech / 09:30 – 10:30 (UTC+3)
- Maya Mikdashi
- Panel 1: Backlash: Understanding Power Dynamics / 11:00 12:30 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Lydia Both – Program Director at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)
- Speakers:
- Elif Savas: “Gendering the Far-Right: A Comparative Perspective” – Ph.D. Student, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Hasina Khan: “Muslim Women’s Rights in the Context of Muslim Personal Laws in India: Between State Repression and Patriarchy” – Founder and Member of the Bebaak Collective
- Isis Nusair: “Anti-Feminist Backlash, Counter Strategies for Resistance and Modes of Building Transnational Alliances” – Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies & International Studies, Denison University
- Caroline Ramos: “Redpill Movement in Brazil: Straining a Re-thinking of Identity Politics Under Neoliberalism” – Researcher in Gender and Women’s Studies, American University in Cairo (AUC)
- Panel 2: Backlash Against Gender Rights: Exploring Global and Regional Perspectives / 13:30 – 15:00 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Lina Kreidie – Academic Director of the Tomorrow’s Leaders Gender Scholars (TLS) Program, LAU
- Speakers:
- Amel Grami: “Learning from the Anti-Feminist Backlash in Tunisia” – Professor of Gender Studies, University of Manouba
- Nurseli Yeşim Sünbüloğlu: “Masculinist Backlash and KADEM” – Visiting Faculty Member in the Core Program and the Director of the Women’s Studies Research Centre, Kadir Has University
- Islah Jad: “The Backlash Against the CEDAWISTS: The Case of Palestine” – Associate Professor and Lecturer on Gender Issues and Politics, Women’s Studies Institute and Cultural Studies Department, Birzeit University
- Abir Chebaro: “Misogynistic Discourse and Other Types of VAWP as Tools for Backlash on Feminism in Lebanon” – Gender Consultant and Activist
- Panel 3: Linking Backlash and Crises: Why Now, Why Here, There and (Almost) Everywhere? / 15:30 – 17:00 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Sohela Nazneen – Research Fellow, IDS
- Speakers:
- Nay El Rahi – Researcher and Activist, AiW-LAU
- Jerker Edstrom – Research Fellow, IDS
- Nurseli Yeşim Sünbüloğlu – Visiting Faculty Member in the Core Program and the Director of the Women’s Studies Research Centre, Kadir Has University
- Teresa Sacchet: “How Far is the Concept of Backlash Helpful in Analyzing Gender-Based Political Violence? Reflections from Brazil” – Professor and Researcher of the Graduation Program in Interdisciplinary Studies on Women, Gender, and Feminism, Federal University of Bahia
21 June
Join us on 21 June for the Anti-feminist backlash in the Global South conference. You can sign up to exciting sessions and hear from leading gender-progressive researchers and activists from Lebanon, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Tunisia, and more.
All times are UTC+3.
Register to attend the 21 June sessions
- Panel 4: Countering Backlash Against Gender Rights: Innovative Practices and Lessons Learned / 09:00 – 10:30 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Zina Sawwaf – Assistant Professor of Gender Studies, Social & Education Sciences Department, LAU
- Speakers:
- Deepta Chopra: “Innovative Strategies to Counter ‘Cyclical Backlash’: Women Protestors in Shaheen Bagh” – Senior Research Fellow, IDS
- Diana Ishaqat: “Lessons and Experiences: The Anti-Feminist Backlash at the Protection of Orphan Women in Jordan” – Communications and Fundraising Manager, Sakeena
- Faten Mbarek: “Can Intersectional Movements be a Solution to Counter Anti-Feminist Backlash – Case Study from Tunisia” – Assistant Professor, University of Gafsa, and the Head of Department of Sociology, Higher Institute of Applied Studies in Humanity
- Sriya Satuluri: “10 Steps Forward And 3 Steps Backwards: A Journey Towards Creating a Gender Just & Violence Free World” – Social Worker and Mental Health Professional, Swayam
- Panel 5: Misogyny, Morality, and State Repression: Anti-Feminist Backlash in Pakistan, Malaysia, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh / 11:00 – 13:00 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Jennifer Skulte-Ouaiss – Director of the Title IX Office, LAU
- Speakers:
- Azza Basarudin: “Anti-Feminist Backlash: The Case of Malaysia” – Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, California State University, Long Beach
- Tina Beyene: “Anti-Feminist Backlash: The Case of Ethiopia” – Assistant Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies, California State University, Northridge
- Khanum Shaykh: Anti-Feminist Backlash: The Case of Pakistan – California State University, Northridge
- Maheen Sultan & Shravasti Roy Nathan: “Reform of the Hindu Family Law under a Muslim Majority State: Intersectional Backlash Dynamics: The Case of Bangladesh” – Senior Fellow of Practice and Co-Founder of the Centre for Gender and Social Transformation, BRAC University / Research Associate, Gender and Social Transformation Cluster, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development
- Panel 6: Workshop: Grasping Patriarchal Backlash: Briefing and Interactive Gameplay – Chess / 14:00 – 16:30 (UTC+3)
- Facilitator: Jerker Edstrom – Research Fellow, IDS
22 June
Join us on 22 June for the Anti-feminist backlash in the Global South conference. You can sign up to exciting sessions and hear from leading gender-progressive researchers and activists from Lebanon, Bangladesh, Morocco, Serbia, UN Women, and more.
All times are UTC+3.
Register to attend the 22 June sessions
- Panel 7: Backlash in the Media: Analyzing the Role of Traditional, Digital, and Alternative Media Outlets / 09:00 – 10:30 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Diana Mukalled – Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Daraj
- Speakers:
- Omar Khaled: “Voices of Change: Exploring the Impact of Alternative Media Platforms in Combating Hate Speech Against Feminism in Lebanon” – General Manager, Spot Cast in Lebanon
- Nađa Bobičić: “Anti-Gender Discourse in Serbian Mainstream Media” – Research Associate, University of Belgrade
- Israr Hasan & Sharin Shajahan Naomi: “Online Misogyny in Bangladesh: Facebook as a Site of Anti-Feminist Backlash” – Research Associate, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University / Gender Expert, BRAC James P. Grant School of Public Health
- Panel 8: Breaking Barriers: The Struggle for Gender Rights and Freedoms / 11:00 – 12:30 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Gretchen King – Assistant Professor of Multimedia Journalism and Communication, Department of Communication, Arts & Languages, LAU
- Speakers:
- Sanae Ansar Ech-Chotbi: “Anti-Feminist Cyberviolence as Perceived by Activists: The Case of Morocco” – Ph.D. Candidate at the Centre for Communication and Digital Media, University of Erfurt
- Nastaran Saremy: “Woman, Life, Freedom Movement in Iran and its Regional Connections” – Ph.D. Student in Media and Communication Studies, Simon Fraser University
- Iffat Jahan Antara & Pragyna Mahpara: “Silencing Dissent: How ‘Piety Policing’ and ‘Cancel Culture’ are Undermining Gender Justice Activism Online in Bangladesh” – Senior Research Associate, Gender and Social Transformation Cluster, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development / Researcher, Gender and Social Transformation Cluster, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development
- Panel 9: Case Study on the Feminist Civil Society Platform in Lebanon / 12:30 – 13:00 (UTC+3)
- Speakers:
- Representative from the Feminist Platform (TBD)
- Marianne Touma & Rima Al Mokdad: “Presentation of the Study Findings on Backlash in Lebanon” – UN Women
- 12:30 – 13:00 (UTC+3)
- Speakers:
- Panel 10: Reflections on Backlash: A Conversation / 14:00 – 15:30 (UTC+3)
- Moderator: Nay El-Rahi – Researcher and Activist, AiW-LAU
- Speakers:
- Sohela Nazneen: Research Fellow, IDS
- Tessa Lewin: Research Fellow, IDS
- Jerker Edstrom: Research Fellow, IDS