Fresh light on gender issues
Fahmina Ahmed is appreciative of a work on women
Professor Rashida A. Khanum's Contemporary Gender Issues presents some gender related issues with reference to Bangladesh. Gender issues have received worldwide attention, particularly during the last century with the growing awareness of women regarding their rights and status in society. These issues occupy a central place in women-related books and discussions. Philosophy, especially applied philosophy, deals with the pressing problems of life with a view to clarifying the nature of the problems so that proper understanding of these issues can help us determine what we ought to do in the prevailing situation. Rashida Khanum has done this task excellently. The book consists of six chapters, each dealing with a particular issue. She explains the issues in detail by examining the views of prominent thinkers of that particular area along with her considered opinion. First of all, she considers the recent issue of environmental ethics: eco-feminism. It is an undeniable fact that human domination of nature leads to environmental degradation. Humans dominate not only nature but also their fellow beings, especially women. There is a similarity between oppression of nature and oppression of woman. The cause of such oppression is patriarchal humanist culture. This culture is also responsible for women's lower status in society. The feminist movement is against this gender based discrimination, while anthropocentric culture is the cause of oppression of nature. The theory of ecofeminism is the outcome of reconciliation of environmentalism and feminism. Eco-feminism holds that both women and nature should be counted as intrinsically valuable and it is our duty to liberate women and nature from their existing status. Environmental ethicist Paul Taylor introduces a nonanthropocentric objective principle, 'respect for nature', to evaluate human conduct. Like Val Plumwood the eco-feminist, Rashida Khanum supports Taylor's non anthropocentric view while she thinks that an objective aspect of the principle is not acceptable in its entirety. Philosophers opine that morality requires impartiality and universality which imply objectivity whereas emotion, feeling etc., are of subjective nature and hence, relative i.e. leading to bias. The sentiments of feeling and emotion are considered to be of lower status. By ascribing such sentiments to women, the patriarchal society regards women as "not dependable, not reliable and undignified". Accordingly, their moral point of view is "valueless". Against this prevailing attitude towards women, Rashida Khanum proposes her unique moral principle, the principle of 'respect for women'. In a patriarchal society where male value predominates, women are treated in "extremely inhuman and disgraceful ways", such as, battering wives, trafficking women, rape, etc. Rashida Khanum thinks that these compel us to think that women are not considered as 'human'. Deontological principle 'respect for persons' argues respect for every person irrespective of intelligence, power, position, wealth, etc. The basis of this respect is nothing but humanity. Bangladeshi women fare no better. Here also women are considered subordinate to men. They have no say in the decision making process either in family or in society. Rashida Khanum is of the opinion that like nature women are considered as weak and helpless as well as a means of reproduction. Women are not treated equally with men on the basis of humanity. She rightly observes, "I have given emphasis on considering women as human i.e. as person. Against the discourse of women oppression, I insist that we have to bring into practice 'respect for woman' i.e. the discourse that woman is also a human being. Such a discourse will be helpful in developing new values in the society". (p-16) Feminists, therefore, challenge these traditional beliefs and want change in the structure of scientific procedures so that its experiments are not "biased and misguided by current social beliefs and prejudices". However, it is through women's movements that the scenario is changed, which is visible now. Rashida Khanum is right in her observation that the situation is different in Bangladesh. Here science education is male dominated because of financial constraints (science education is costly compared to other studies) as well as patriarchal system (sons are considered as old age refuge). It is not that "Bangladesh society is biased by androcentric sciences but more biased by economic condition of the family". (p.57). Rashida Khanum deals with another important issue related to female ethics. While explaining Carol Gilligan's 'ethics of care' she agrees with Gilligan that males and females think differently about ethics "the ethical priorities of women are different than men's……..Care perceptive stress the personal contexts and practical facts of social life rather than a distant, abstract perspective of justice".(p.46). However, the status and the treatment of women justify the necessity of establishing an independent discipline in the academic arena, namely, 'Women Studies'. According to Rashida Khanum, to ignore and avert women's perspective from academic study will not fulfill the objectives of learning in its full sense. Many universities in the western and eastern regions have established Women Studies as an independent discipline, which justifies her observation that "university is involved with finding truths through different disciplines but such a goal remains incomplete when Women Studies as a discipline is ignored" (p.73). It is thought that gender based discriminations are related to religion. In this regard Rashida Khanum offers arguments to remove some misconceptions concerning the status and rights of women in Islam. She gives her judicious opinion regarding some controversial issues of Islam, like polygamy, purdah and seclusion. Rashida Khanum examines the reflection of women's rights in Bangla literature. She selects some stories for discussion from Ms. Selina Hossain's collection of short stories, Motijaner Meyera. She explains with skill from the perspective of different feminist theories how women have been focused upon in the literary works of Selina Hossain. Feminism does not mean only raising a voice for the political and social rights of women; it is important to reveal the feelings and nature of womanhood. The different characters of Motijaner Meyera portray that feeling and consciousness. Selina Hossain depicts the inconsistencies of traditional values and derogatory image of women in society and challenges the position of women in her works. Selina Hossain's effort "to create a new image of women by shattering the traditional gender based image" is successfully brought to the knowledge of readers by Prof. Rashida A. Khanum.
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