Women's reality: critical issues for program design

Abstract

The following article looks at social controls on the behavior of rural women in Bangladesh that need to be considered in project designs if women are to be able to respond to development programs. Rural women in many countries are constrained by analogous social pressures, which usually have an economic basis favoring the more powerful and therefore are resistant to change. Since these pressures on rural women often have a negative effect on the goals of rural development, they need to be understood and addressed.

PIP: Social controls on the behavior of rural women in Bangladesh are examined, with a view to designing development projects which can benefit these women. The concept of social status or prestige is more important than economic status for these rural women. The status of women, and their families in turn, has traditionally relied on the keeping of purdah (i.e., the veil and the strict seclusion of women from the world of men), complete sexual division of labor, and relative freedom from menial work. This concept is so revered that even poor women will not consent to work outside the home and, thereby, reduce their status. The Islamic ideal stresses that males will provide completely for females. Women only seek employment as laborers when they can no longer be concerned about status. Poor rural women have traditionally been able to do quiet bartering types of activities without risking their status. Recent interviews with women in Bangladesh yielded unsolicited comments regarding social change in the country, i.e., increased age at marriage for girls, the relaxing of the purdah system, and increasing education for girls. Development and modernization in Bangladesh will affect the situation of women. Integration of women into rural development programs must deal with the issue of status. Pilot rural development projects now being developed aim at increasing the economic resources of families without risking the respectability of women.