ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the dynamic evolution of the women's movement since the early 1970s, emphasizing the broader social forces that have shaped its development and agenda. It looks at women's organizations' strategies to address violence against women and population and reproductive rights so as to highlight the points of divergence and convergence within the movement. The chapter also examines the women's movement's evolving relationships with the state and political parties and the challenges it faces in the future. The women's movement has come a long way since 1905, when Rokeya Hossain dreamed of empowering women in her feminist Utopian short story by a simple reversal of gender roles, putting men in seclusion and letting women take charge of the public sphere. For the inheritors of Rokeya's dream of women's empowerment, the task is complex and difficult. The Bangladeshi women's movement faces an array of challenges.