Women in Bangladesh follow a distinct colour code on national red-letter days. On Poila Baisakh, 15 April, the lal paar shada shari—white with a red border—is donned to usher in the Bengali New Year. On Bijoy Dibas, December 16, marking the 1971 surrender of the Pakistan Army in Dhaka, the palette turns green. On February 21, black is worn as homage to those killed in Dhaka in 1952 for seeking national language status for Bengali as well as Urdu.
Today, too, has its own special colour: bright yellow in a range of hues. Across Bangladesh, women in sunshine sarees, flowers woven into their hair, are celebrating basanta utsav, the advent of spring. They are also celebrating the verdict in the just-concluded election. The fact that the BNP has won a landslide victory with 212 seats and the Jamaat-e-Islami was held at 77 is, for many women, a big relief.
"Though I am traditionally an Awami League voter, I voted BNP this time," said a 42-year-old woman in Dhaka's upmarket Banani who works in the social sector. "Anything to keep the Jamaat out. Because of them I had packed away my track suits and sleeveless blouses. Now I can use them again. This is not frivolous. The Jamaat had cast a long shadow on women."
Ordinary women who ventured out in trousers instead of traditional attire were heckled, even assaulted, for the way they dressed. Often, the hecklers were women supporters of the Jamaat. Daily-wage earners were equally alarmed when the Jamaat manifesto proposed women work five hours during maternity instead of eight. For women paid by the hour, fewer hours meant one thing: lower wages.
In its manifesto, the Jamaat promised to increase the representation of women in the cabinet if elected to power. Ironically, the Jamaat did not field a single woman candidate and was possibly the only political party in Bangladesh to have that distinction.
Though Bangladesh has produced two powerful women prime ministers in its political history, the representation and participation of women in Bangladesh politics is poor.
Of 12.7 crore voters, nearly half are women and male voters outnumber them by just 20-odd lakh. And yet the number of women who contested the elections this time was a mere 85 out of over 2034 candidates. The number who won was a shocking seven. Of the winners, six belong to the BNP. The seventh is an independent who was earlier with the BNP but walked out after she was denied a ticket.
Granular data on women's turnout and voting pattern is awaited, but they had queued up in conspicuously large numbers at the polling stations on February 12 and may have had a significant role in keeping the Jamaat-e-Islami to 77 seats.
The BNP's secret voter
Besides the women's vote, another reason for the BNP's strong performance could be the secret vote of staunch Awami Leaguers, particularly women, who went out and voted in numbers for the BNP—not because they switched loyalty but to keep the Jamaat out.
No one would speak on the record. But a 37-year-old male Dhaka resident whose family is traditionally pro-Awami League said he was stunned when a number of his "fufis and mamis and a variety of aunts" went and voted for the BNP.
"I did not go to vote. But my aunts took a very firm and considered decision to vote BNP. They said it would be a kalanka—a disgrace—if their non-participation in the election enabled the Jamaat come to power," he said.
The BNP may have also benefited from the floating electorate called "fleeting" or "sceptic" voters in Bangladesh, which accounts for around 15 per cent of votes. Not ideologically committed to any political party, they chose BNP this time since they did not have the Awami League option. Those who did not wish to waste their vote chose BNP as it is a "known devil" that the Awami League has defeated in the past. The Jamaat in power is an unknown quantity.
BNP on "probationary contract"
The Daily Star, a popular English newspaper in Dhaka, carried a "message" to the newly-elected government from Naziba Bas, well-known actor, dancer and a journalist at the paper. It was a message—poignant but steely—from a woman voter to the new party in power.
"On one side stood a politics that openly imagines a future where women shrink, where our public lives are conditional, negotiated, permitted in moderation. On the other side stood a party whose history carries the smell of muscle, patronage and street power, a past heavy with intimidation and extortion…
"Many of us voted against fear more than for ideology. We voted to prevent our lives from being negotiated in theological committees. We voted so our ambitions would not require permission slips…" she wrote.
"You were not handed a mandate of love. You were handed a probationary contract. And women were central to that contract."
Bangladesh's women have put the new government on notice.
