A Sociological Perspective in Woman Role on Liberation War of Bangladesh ()
1. Introduction/Background of the Study
The biological trait that separates a man from a woman is sex. Gender, on the other hand, is a social and cultural construct that establishes the obligations and roles that men and women have in society. This viewpoint holds that women are exclusively capable of childrearing, reproduction, and household work (Women in the Civil War, n.d.) . Even society has established what a woman should do during a conflict. Bengal experienced a period of intense intellectual activity in the eighteenth century. As a response to the changes brought about by the imposition of colonial rules, conventional ideals were seriously questioned. Men engaged in passionate discussion over topics including widow burning, child marriage, the status of women, and the benefits and drawbacks of female education. The debate’s intensity and volume distracted attention from questions about how much women, the debate’s primary targets, participated in the process of change and whether or not it had a substantial impact on their lives (Borthwick, 2015) . Women in this area, as well as in Bengal generally, had varying degrees of autonomy before the 20th century, depending on where they lived. In contrast to urban women, who were required to observe purdah by covering up, country women may travel in groups and appear in public. These middle-class and upper-class ladies, who were common in both Hindu and Muslim families at the time, were mostly homemakers who hardly ventured outside; any infrequent movement outside was done inside shrouded carriages. The patriarch of the household saw this as a method to shield women from the unknowable hazards of urban regions. Purdah was uncommon among women from lower social classes, nevertheless (Borthwick, 2015) .
Based on Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s “Two Nations Theory,” Pakistan (East & West) and India were granted independence from the British Raj in 1947 (Riaz, 2016) . Through numerous tactics, the West Pakistanis (now Pakistan) exploited the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and promoted prejudice in the social, political, and economic spheres (Riaz, 2016) . From the moment they set foot in Pakistan, the people of East Pakistan began to demonstrate against this injustice and prejudice. Alongside men, women took part in these protests and campaigns. Women, according to history, did not confine themselves to physical structures. Instead, people protested the regime by going outside and speaking out (Begum, 1990) . They took part in the language movement in 1952, the United Front’s general election in 1954, the 1960 Ayub Khan protests, the Six Points Movement in 1966, the mass uprising in 1969, and Pakistan’s general election in 1970 (DURC, 2014) . It demonstrates Bengali women’s political awareness. They fought for their rights by going to the streets with men from a far earlier time in Pakistan’s history. On March 7, 1971, Bengali ladies also flocked to Racecourse Field to listen to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the unquestioned head of Bangladesh (Begum, 1990) . They had the desire to do something for their country, which they demonstrated in 1971 by actively and covertly participating in battle.
The idea that battle is a manly activity has persisted throughout human history (Pettman, 2005) . Many other academics, like Morgenthau, Kenneth Waltz, and others, have written about the function of men on the battlefield. They contended that there are parallels between masculinity and conflict (Pettman, 2005) . Many people in society still believe that women are too frail and helpless to carry weapons, ammo, and other supplies on the battlefield. They should stay at home and look after their loved ones during the conflict, instead. Women must carry out economic tasks when male family members are still engaged in combat. Even though some of them are quite anxious to participate, they are therefore discouraged from going to combat.
Despite these challenges, many women are shown taking part in the fight from their positions and contributing greatly. However, our conventional society is not eager to recognize their bravery or pain. The women who took part in the Bangladeshi liberation war also experienced it. Only two of the 676 gallantry medals have been given to women, Dr. Setara Begum and Taramon Bibi (Fifty Years of Independent Bangladesh, 2021) .
2. Objective
2.1. Primary Objective
To examine and conduct analysis of women’s participation in the liberation war as progressive warriors and highlighting the contributions of women throughout the entire history during, before and after liberation war.
2.2. Specific Objective
1) To explore and identify woman’s engagement in development of Bangladesh during and after liberation war in historical perspective.
2) Critical analysis of women’s role in the history of Bangladesh and mainstreaming of their contribution under gender lens.
In an explorative way the study goal is by eschewing the prior broad method of introducing them as war victims, the main goal of this inquiry is to examine women’s participation in the liberation war as warriors. It also entails highlighting the contributions of women freedom fighters throughout the entire liberation war’s history. The departure from the former conventional approach is anticipated to reveal numerous female freedom warriors who fought alongside men in the conflict but remain a little-known aspect of the nation’s history. On the way, efforts will be made to elucidate the contribution played by women as active participants in Bangladesh’s independence struggle. The specific roles played by each of those warriors, though, are outside the purview of this essay. Since the research is secondary in nature, it is anticipated that it will provide background information for future research on the subject.
3. Literature Review
The background of the liberation war and its history was enormous. Women’s lead role reflected from language movement during 1952. Women were heavily involved in the 1952 Language Movement. They were the first to disobey curfew and take to the streets. When everyone else was passing beneath a roadblock during a protest, a woman broke through it, and she was also the one who requested legal justice for the February 21 victims during a parliamentary session (Kaiser, 1991) . It was common for female students to create posters, organize activists across schools, participate in Processions, yell slogans in the face of police assault, and persevere even while serving time in prison during The Language Movement. Women from all around the nation demonstrated in support of their freedom to speak Bangla (Bhuiyan & Dipu, 2020) . Following the Language Movement, both men and women ran for the United Front in the 1954 elections in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. They joined with the men as did Halima Khatun, Jannatul Ferdous, Latika N. Marak, Ranila Banawari, Yadumani Hajong, Roshan Hasina, Rokeya Mahbub, Hossein Ara Baby, Aftabun Nahar, Mojiren Nesha, and Fatema Chowdhury (Kabir et al., 2012) . In 1969, both women and students actively participated in the general movement. The students were involved in all of the processions at that time. Every day, the East Pakistan Mahila Prishad has participated in the liberation movement, mass movement, and march under the leadership of renowned poet Sufiya Kamal. Nearly a thousand women rallied and marched to Bahadur Shah Park on February 8 at 8 am, led by Sufia Kamal at the Central Shaheed Minar (Bhuiyan & Dipu, 2020) . On March 7, 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made an announcement at the current Suhrawardy Udyan racetrack. The women banded together and agreed with their leader, Bangabandhu, using some bamboo sticks. There were protests, meetings, and marches in all the districts, including Dhaka, Chittagong, Noakhali, Barisal, Faridpur, Khulna, Ishwardi, Pabna, Sylhet, Narayanganj, and Mymensingh (Rahman, 1984) . The background history of the liberation war was also leaded by the woman active participation.
The history of liberation war and its impact on the future generation has mixed in writings and even description of the total freedom fighting was also reflected a few books and maintained in a shadow portfolio. Some legendary books had included the warmanship but failed to correctly displayed woman involvement at the primary level to highest level. It was quite embergo among the politicians and particularly exploration in gender role.
4. Methodology
4.1. Study Methodology
For social science, there have different methods. Sociologists employ content analysis to examine the mass media’s content. A written piece of work is codified or thematically analyzed as part of a content analysis research process. By generating quantitative data from the qualitative data being analyzed, this tries to provide a trustworthy interpretation of the data (e.g., the use of certain words or phrases in media reports). Researchers that want to examine sociological topics including gender issues, business strategy and policy, human resources, and organizational theory may find content analysis to be helpful (Crossman, 2020) . It has been extensively utilized to investigate how women fit into society. For instance, women are frequently portrayed as inferior in advertising due to their smaller physical stature in comparison to men or the passive character of their poses and gestures. The author applied three types of content analysis like conventional, directive and summative. Coding categories are derived directly from the text data in traditional content analysis. With a directed method, first codes are created using a theory or pertinent research findings as direction. Summative content analysis entails comparing and counting certain keywords or pieces of information, then interpreting the results in light of the context.
To learn how specific issues are presented, it is used to investigate the content of various media (books, periodicals, TV, cinema, etc.). Gender relations, for example, are a particularly complex topic that can benefit from content analysis. It does, however, have some drawbacks: it takes a lot of time and effort, and when creating a study project, researchers may introduce inherent bias into the mix. The data during the liberation was not correctly kept in records. As based on the basic definition of the content analysis, it is a statistical exercise that involves classifying some aspect or quality of people’s behavior and counting the instances where that behavior appears key influencing role and made an instances impact on the community and the peoples’ voice. In this approach, we use different sorts of content belongs to the pre and post liberations documents, media, papers and books which supports in the development of a mental model of the behavioral patterns. We have collected 87 kinds of contents from the mass media like TV, Newspaper, Online Journal/history, collected relevant 16 books from the library and liberation museum, conducted 8 in depth interview from the famous freedom fighters and among them 4 were the woman who were directly involved in liberation war. Through the study, we have also reviewed nearly 5 important books which were written by woman freedom fighters. We have defined the term “content analysis” and gone over each of its key ideas individually. After that, we looked at the fundamental steps required in carrying out a content analysis. The several sorts of content analysis that can be performed in the social sciences have also been examined. Finally, after weighing the benefits and drawbacks of the content analysis method, we have the explanation.
4.2. Study Period
The Study was conducted from January 2013 to December 2016.
4.3. Ethical Consideration
Before conducting the research, the author received ethical clearance from the Sociology department of the University of Dhaka. In line with that during content collection, the authors checked the most authentic historical books, validate the media and publish consent and as well as filled up the consent form during interview of the freedom fighters. The authors also followed internal privacy acts on the in-depth interview.
5. Results & Analysis
From 1947 until 1971, a nation that valued independence endured bloody opposition, sacrifices, and agreements that led to 16 December 1971 being its final ceremonial day. We had to sacrifice the dignity of 200,000 women as well as the blood of 200,000 martyrs in order to obtain the national flag. By converting a province into a state, this historical accomplishment caused a “transformation” that allowed the map to be included in world atlases. This acknowledgement highlights the enormous contribution of the Bangladeshi people. Any conflict in a patriarchal society like ours signifies a valiant male struggle. Men are always praised for their courage and renowned for their unbreakable spirits. Sadly, the contributions made by women are still present. Women’s performance is typically treated as an unpublished chapter. The way women are portrayed is inaccurate. The majority of the photographs of them show them to be helpless and war victims. Their valiant actions go unnoticed. During liberation war, women were more victimized and rudely portrayed as sexually affected or raped which were common in nature at most of the books. But the vigor, the courage and the most tactical war winning strategies by the woman was not described. The contribution of women in the liberation fight was not sufficiently highlighted by either electronic or print media. Men are frequently portrayed as achievers in news reporting, anecdotal writing, movies, etc., while women are portrayed as helpless, innocent victims (Mookherjee, 2012) . The analysis found that women were actively engaged as:
As a Guerilla fighter: There have several books identified that several women were directly engaged in freedom fighting. They received training from cobra Camp. About 400 female independence fighters were trained at the Cobra camp near Kolkata in preparation for the frontal war. The camp was managed by Sajeda Chowdhury, the female leader of the Awami League. There, female liberation fighters including Shirin Banu, Farquan Begum, Alamtaj Begum, Karuna Begum, Shobha Rani, Bithika Biswas, Meherunnesa, and numerous more received training to defend the nation. But it was found that their achievements, vagor and heroism were not properly portrayed. After a great sacrifice and heroism, no woman fighter was portrayed and awarded as Birshreshtho by the Govt.
Freedom of expression inside and outside the country:
Women who fought for freedom helped shape public opinion both inside and outside of Bangladesh in favor of the liberation war. Women from different organizations, both domestic and international, held open forums where they told everyone about the slaughter committed by Pakistani military. Through mobilizing inside and outside, woman played key pivotal role for the safety of the nations. The memorandum was written by immigrant Bengali women in London and presented to the British Prime Minister on behalf of Bangladesh. In addition, Bengali women migrants in the UK helped win support for the 1971 Bangladesh War. Many of these ladies also participated in various activities, such as gathering cash and items.
Women take on the squealer’s role:
During the war, providing intelligence was a crucial and dangerous activity that was performed by both men and women. The printing and distribution of the leaflets and the newspaper had involved both men and women. Then, female sex workers also conducted vital data collection among Pakistanis and Razakars. They later provided liberation fighters with that information.
Women in healthcare:
Although some women were unable to fight in the war, they helped the injured. They were able to help the injured people despite not having any nursing training because of their patriotism. Captain Setara joined the field hospitals at Bhishramganj. Along with Nivedita, Sayeda Kamal, Sultana Kamal, Padma, Gita Kar, Ira, Anila, Lakshmi, Shobha, Shefali, Ranjita, Yuthika, and others, she also trained female nurses.
Give the freedom fighters food and shelter:
A few charitable Bangladeshi women gave the freedom fighters food and shelter. Women who are highly known in this regard include Najia Osman Chowdhury, Laila Samad, Nilufar Ahmed Doli, Rokeya Mahbub, Pushpa Guha, journalist Selina Parvin, Jayanti Rani, and Basonti Rani. In addition, we don’t even know the names of many other women.
Ethnic Women’s role in liberation war:
Latika N. Marek and Princa Khey, two ethnic women, were crucial in delivering news, leaflets, and letters to the Mukti Bahini from a different camp. Numerous other known and unidentified ethnic women also contributed in various ways to the freedom struggle. There had many ethnic women who directly engaged in freedom fighting and support the muktibahini in different way.
MSM & transgender role: We had identified that some documents portrayed that third gender or other diversified gender collected information from the razakar and Pakistani bahini and share the information to the muktibahini .Some are directly involved at the fighting and killed. We did not portrait their contribution and even recognize the hidden vigor or heroism of them.
Abuse:
Our mother and sister suffered sexual and physical torture during the independence struggle. According to a survey, there were roughly 70% of incidents of spot rape, 18% of rape and torture incidents took place in camps, and the remaining 12% occurred in other locations. But still we deprived them to get their rights, honors and achievements which they achieved and intended to get. Even writing the correct history, we always eyes on the male but the real fighters who fought for the country, who were died for the country, who are suffered for the country were neglected and underestimated. Some of the movies on clearly portrayed their role in developing and shaping the country as a current state.
Key Findings:
We had identified that woman had diversified role for getting the freedom from the oppression. But the history always male dominated. The role of woman always oppressed to the history, their contribution were diverted, even after the war, No woman received the highest honor from the government (United News of Bangladesh, 2022) . History needs to be rewritten. Regarding women’s emancipation, the 21st century has been opening up many formerly closed spheres of thinking and belief. The truth will be revealed. Women struggled as half of the population in society, the family, the nation, refugee camps, battlefields, bunkers, and prison camps during the independence war of Bangladesh in 1971 (Voice of International Affairs, 2019) . Patriotism, self-love, survival instinct, organizational work ethic, and merit are the culmination of all these qualities that led someone to join the freedom fighting movement. One needs to grasp the backdrop of the state, society, and politics of that era in order to comprehend the battling nature of women in that particular historical period of 1971. Bangladesh’s educational policy has changed over the last few decades, and girls now have more access to education. Girls’ enrollment in primary school has rapidly expanded since the 1990s. Although enrollment in primary and lower secondary schools is now balanced on a gender basis, the proportion of girls falls off in the later secondary years. Woman are now involved in different livelihood program and engaged in key leadership roles, progression is increased after the liberation was and shifted massive with reducing poverty, inequality and contributed massive in MDG. NOW they are continuing to achieve SDG goal throughout the entire nations. Woman as well as men contributed major as like as before (UNICEF, 2022) . But we need to portray and give them the correct rights not only in the current evaluation and need to be changed the historical perspective in better and privilege way. The involvement of women in leadership positions further highlighted their capabilities and leadership qualities. Their courage and strategic thinking helped shape the resistance movement and contribute to the ultimate victory. The participation of women in the Liberation War of 1971 left a lasting impact, not only on the outcome of the war but also on society as a whole. It paved the way for a more inclusive and progressive Bangladesh, recognizing and empowering women as equal stakeholders in the nation-building process.
Summary Findings:
The participation of women in the Liberation War of 1971 challenged traditional gender roles and shattered societal norms. Their active involvement and contributions played a crucial role in the eventual victory and the establishment of an independent Bangladesh. Women actively participated in the war effort, joining the armed forces, guerrilla groups, and paramilitary organizations. They fought alongside men in battles, displaying courage and determination. Women played a significant role in providing nursing and medical support during the war. They worked as nurses in field hospitals, providing care to wounded soldiers and civilians. Some women even set up makeshift hospitals in their homes to treat the injured. Women played a vital role in intelligence gathering and espionage activities. They collected information about Pakistani military movements and communicated it to the freedom fighters. Some women acted as spies, infiltrating enemy territories and reporting back critical details. Women provided aid and support to the millions of refugees who fled to neighboring India to escape the violence. They set up relief camps, distributed food and clothing, and worked tirelessly to provide care and assistance to the displaced people. Some women held leadership positions within the resistance movement. They led groups of fighters, made strategic decisions, and played key roles in organizing and coordinating various aspects of the war effort.
The women who took part in the war became symbols of inspiration and empowerment, serving as role models for future generations. Their contributions deserve to be acknowledged, celebrated, and remembered as a testament to the indomitable spirit and resilience of women in the face of adversity.
The Liberation War of 1971 stands as a significant milestone in the history of women’s participation in armed conflicts, showcasing their strength, determination, and invaluable contributions. It serves as a reminder that women are capable of shaping history and should be recognized and valued for their immense role in the pursuit of freedom, justice, and equality.
6. Discussion
Social phenomena, social structures, and complicated human behaviors are all explained by sociological theories. Let’s use the gender wage gap as an example and think about how each theoretical viewpoint might account for it. The gender wage gap in 2017 was 19.5 percent, with full-time working women earning 80.5 cents for every $1 earned by males (Lips, 2013) . Functionalists contend that gender roles were established long before the pre-industrial era, when males were typically responsible for tasks outside the home, such hunting, and women were typically responsible for those tasks inside or close to the home. Since women were frequently constrained physically during pregnancy and nursing and were unable to leave the house for extended periods of time, these roles were seen as functional. Since they were an efficient way to keep the family system in place, these positions were passed down to succeeding generations. The unpaid work by woman was progressively transmitted dynasty after dynasty and did not properly evaluate in the wages theory and a conflict were happened at social gender roles. In different social theory including conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and other theoretical perspective, it was identified that we behave and respond to symbols depending on the current assigned meaning, which is socially constructed and not naturally occurring, fluid, and not static. The idea of what men and women should appear like and act like in society is referred to as a “gender role.” These jobs are founded on social norms or standards (OpenStax, 2015) . From the ancient history at the south Asian countries, women were shown to be sometimes softness, sometimes very brave and leading role at the family. Within time, the role had been changes and shifted. We had seen at the different books that during colonial rules, sub-continent have different oppressed like child marriage, brutal killings of widow and some other rituals were unhealthy. After that we saw woman is connecting with different ways. Women have always been viewed as embodiments of beauty, gentleness, innocence, and grandeur. They are also regarded as innocent, mild, and passive. However, it is scarcely thought that they are brave combatants. Although it is practically impossible for general women to serve on the front lines of battle, they made significant contributions to the 1971 Liberation War.
Rather it goes without saying that the majority of general literature on the subject is either on the history of the war or about war tactics and tactical issues in the majority of the military character (Myers, 2006) . Many crucial issues, including the nature and objectives of the Liberation War, the function of various political parties, and the collaborative and large power response within the domestic structure, are still being discussed in relation to the need to develop theories and methodologies for studying the history of the Liberation War. Even the role played by foreigners in Bangladesh’s battle for independence did not escape their notice.
Ironically, they don’t say anything in a crucial situation (Hossain, 2007) . None of these studies made any reference to the involvement or experience of female freedom fighters. Once more, several of these works were deliberately written from the viewpoint of uniformed troops. It is not surprising that there is little written about how women fought in Bangladesh’s liberation war. Once more, the majority of these articles are authored by journalists and place more emphasis on anecdotes than analysis. Additionally, the issue of women’s oppression predominates in study on the role of women in the liberation war (Firdaus, 2012) .
On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh won its 9-month independence battle after many costly battles, sacrifices, and agreements. Through the sacrifice of the lives of 30 million martyrs and the dignity of 200,000 women, the country now has freedom and a flag (Roy, 2017) . Women made numerous contributions to the liberation struggle. Bangladeshi women supported the valiant liberation fighters by giving them money, shelter, and food. Many women worked as spies during the war to gather and transmit information. In addition to them, several bold women actively took part in the struggle as liberation fighters. But regrettably, the courageous role that women played in Bangladesh’s freedom struggle is still unknown and unrecognized (Liton, n.d.) . Undermining women’s involvement in Bangladesh’s independence war has a number of causes. The following is where they are mentioned:
● Our patriarchal culture is still uninterested in honoring the bravery and sacrifices made by women in the struggle for equality with males. As a result of the occurrences involving the rape of approximately 200,000 women by Pakistani soldiers, the majority of us find it hard to acknowledge the heroic role of women alongside men on the battlefield.
● Most of the women who took part in the freedom struggle were from lower castes, uneducated, and poor. Therefore, in many cases, the researchers were unaware of their brave acts after the conflict.
● Men have done the majority of the academic writing and research on the Bangladesh Liberation War, both in books and papers. In female works, they simply served to highlight the brilliance of the male liberation fighters.
● After the conflict was finished, neither the government nor non-governmental organizations took any action to keep track of the women who had served.
● Women are typically solely depicted as war victims in the movies and plays that are based on the events of the independence fight. For the general public, these two are the main sources of amusement and information. They (particularly the younger generation) have been conditioned to believe that men alone fought for the country because the role of women is not depicted.
● After a considerable amount of time, efforts were made at the individual level to highlight the role that women played in Bangladesh’s liberation struggle. It was already quite late, and many people had created their own imaginary worlds using the history of the independence battle. Since they cannot connect the stories of strong women on the battlefield to the history, they were taught earlier, they find it difficult to believe when they are told about them.
In addition to gendered hierarchies, Bengali nationalism has shaped women’s history and their participation in the liberation movement. However, due of the evident ignorance of the caste, class, ethnicity, and religion dynamics, the pain of Bengali women as taken by nationalist discourses cannot be recognized as the sole experience of women (Nair, 2013) . The emphasis placed on the suffering of Bengali women coincides with the omission of other oppressed women’s experiences, struggles, and resistance, particularly the Urdu-speaking women who are thought to represent a group that was hostile to the idea of emancipation (Prothom Alo, 2017) . The prevailing narratives in Bangladesh recall the diverse roles that men and women have performed. It’s a fascinating case given the dramatic differences in how the actors remembered their experiences and roles based on their gender. The women are only remembered in their victimized state, devastated by the conflict and lamenting the loss of “honor,” on the other side, while narratives describe the muktijoddhas’ heroic roles. Strong male categories distinguish even their direct involvement in the battle (Deb, 2021) .
7. Conclusion
The liberation war’s historiography, archival data, memorials honoring the sacrifices made by the populace, and war literature have generally generalized women’s experiences. It takes more than just reflecting on the past to recall the past. Placing those stories into the historical cultural, social, religious, and political contexts is a difficult process. Women were unexpectedly branded as “war-ravaged women” and thrown into the public front (Deb, 2021) . The role of woman in the liberation war had a profound impact on the developing or shaping of the country. But the way they were evaluated was not significant and configured them as a traditional view. But the fact was different, their role was into the heart of the liberation war and without them, it was quite difficult to think about the country to be built. The enormous loss and sufferings like raped, killed and sexual harassment during the war by the woman only have been memorized. The study revealed that their role needs to be rewritten and placed them the honor which was their real earnings. Consequently, it would be assumed that pre-war women’s struggles were minor and therefore not deserving of being recognized. Therefore, despite their emphasis on the past, big tales of the battle fall short of capturing the memories that women would wish to recall. The nation as a whole has forgotten the commonplace memories of the common ladies.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the department of sociology of under the faculty of social sciences, university of Dhaka. The author also acknowledged and remembered all woman freedom fighters who contributed in different role to establish the woman leadership and development in Bangladesh.