When I think of favour that was bestowed, I think of Fāṭima of Nishapur, I think of Rābiʿa al-Basrī, I think of every woman across Bengal and beyond who carried the tradition in her voice and her hands and was never written down.
Who decided what the new Bangladesh would look like? And were the women who built it in the room when that decision was made?
It begins, as so many things in modern Iran begin, with a woman and a song
Petitions are circulating now to remove these sites from search engines. Outrage is building, slowly. But it is not enough. But the real shift needs to start within us, in these awkward conversations. Stop correcting the numbers, stop making excuses and start confronting what actually happened.
Women were not mere supporters; they were shapers of conditions, bearers of risk, and, in many cases, decisive actors. The war cannot be imagined without them, but its written history has often proceeded as though it could.
Respecting the rights, dignity, and freedom of women, and ensuring full equality for women in health, education, employment, and opportunity must be established as the common ground on which all political actors in Bangladesh agree.
Feminism has become a new F-word. But let's at least debate the issues that women are really talking about and demanding rather than a patriarchal projection of what men think women want and demanding.
The masculinity crisis in Bangladesh is not a psychological issue alone. Young men possess smartphones but lack jobs, security, or agency. Powerless in real life, they become powerful on screens. Their remaining sense of control is exercised through digital domination of women’s bodies.
This is a silent but sure shift in how our outgoing women are viewing their freedom on the move, and prioritizing their choice of shoes accordingly. They seem to have realized that every step matters, and shoes are there for liberating, not constricting.
The problem here is not Islam. The problem is the elevation of one man’s subjective, historically contingent interpretation to the status of immutable religious truth. To present such views as 'Islamic policy' is intellectually dishonest and politically dangerous.
Rejecting religion-based politics does not mean denying religion; rather, it means taking a stand for equality, human rights, and justice. Without women's liberation, no society, no state, and no politics can be truly just.
Bangladesh’s working mothers deserve a serious conversation about policies that ease their load and secure their economic future. They deserve thoughtful engagement, not reflexive dismissal. For once, let us debate the policy instead of demonizing the policymaker.
