Renegotiating Patriarchy

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The idea of the ‘Bangladesh paradox’ describes the unexpected social progress that Bangladesh has made in recent decades that has been both pro-poor and gender equitable. This began at a time when the country was characterised by extreme levels of poverty, poor quality governance, an oppressive patriarchy and rising Islamic orthodoxy.

This ‘paradox’ has evoked a great deal of interest within the international development community because Bangladesh had been dubbed an ‘international basket case’ at the time of its independence in 1971, seemingly trapped in a development impasse. Previous attempts to explain this paradox have generally taken a top-down approach, focusing on the role of leading institutional actors – donors, government, NGOs and the private sector. In Renegotiating Patriarchy: Gender, Agency and the Bangladesh Paradox, Naila Kabeer starts with the rationale that policy actions taken at the top are unlikely to materialise into actual changes if they are not acted on by the mass of ordinary women and men. But what led these women and men to act? And why did they act in ways that modified some of the more oppressive aspects of patriarchy in the country? That is what this book sets out to investigate.

It describes the history of the Bengal delta, and the forces that gave rise to the kind of society that Bangladesh was at the time of its independence. It considers the policy and politics that characterised post-independence Bangladesh and how these contributed to the progress captured in the idea of the Bangladesh paradox.

But the key argument of the book is that much of this progress reflected the agency exercised by ordinary, often very poor, women in the course of their everyday lives. Their agency helped to translate institutional actions into concrete changes on the ground. To explore why and how this happened, the book draws on a rich body of ethnographic, qualitative and quantitative research on social change in Bangladesh – including studies by the author herself. The book is therefore about how norms and practices can change in progressive ways despite unpropitious circumstances as a result of the efforts of poor women in Bangladesh to renegotiate what had been described as one of the most non-negotiable patriarchies in the world.

Early praise for Renegotiating Patriarchy

"Bangladesh was once seen as the text book case study of a country that was impoverished, over-populated and highly patriarchal, with very little hope of improvement in the foreseeable future. It has now become the textbook case study of a country that defied the odds, making progress on what matters most: the health, wellbeing and education of its people. There have been various attempts to explain what has been termed the Bangladesh paradox. They touch mainly on the significant contributions of various institutional actors – the state, Grameen Bank, NGOs, donors, the private sector and so on. Naila Kabeer, in this well-researched book, takes a different tack. Drawing on her own work and on ethnographic studies, life histories and personal narratives carried out by others, she argues that it was the aspirations and actions of ordinary people responding to the changing circumstances of their lives that was the driving force behind the Bangladesh paradox. Furthermore, she uses these narratives to tease out the important role that women played in bringing about these changes, how their experiences of discrimination in their own lives gave them the courage to seek to carve out a better life for their daughters."
— Professor Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 2006

"In contrast to recent attempts to explain the 'Bangladesh paradox' that have relied on top-down perspectives and have attributed this remarkable accomplishment to NGOs, foreign donors, or the Bangladeshi government, Naila Kabeer draws our attention to the voices and activities of the impoverished village women who have been the target of much national and international policymaking. Drawing on her considerable body of research in the villages and factories of Bangladesh and the scholarship of colleagues on related topics, Kabeer is able to highlight changes over a span of several decades in rural Bangladeshi women’s own ideas of acceptable and necessary behaviour. She draws important conclusions about the relationship between such ideas and the material world that shapes these ideas and is at the same time shaped by them."
— Elora Shehabuddin, Professor, Gender & Women's Studies and Global Studies; Director, Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, University of California, Berkeley

"Anyone wanting to understand the surprising “Bangladesh paradox” must read Naila Kabeer’s elegant, nuanced, and convincing analysis of its multiple roots and uncertain future. Kabeer’s study is based on critical scrutiny of an impressive body of varied evidence. It shows why a weak economy, poor governance, and the rise of religious orthodoxy formed no obstacle to felicitous changes in fertility behaviour, girls’ education, women’s paid employment, and gender and generational kinship relations. Donor, government and NGO interventions were important prerequisites, but Naila Kabeer argues compellingly that it was ordinary women across the country who were the primary architects of these key habitus changes."
— Willem van Schendel, University of Amsterdam and International Institute of Social History

"In this fascinating account, Naila Kabeer tells the story of how Bangladesh scored impressive social and economic gains in the half century since independence, defying predictions that the country would be an “international basket case.” She makes a persuasive case that the resourcefulness of ordinary people was crucial in this result, and that profound changes in women’s lives and livelihoods played a central role in the process. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about how “development” really happens."
—James K. Boyce, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"Bangladesh has puzzled many for a long time with its rapid strides in human development against heavy odds. Naila Kabeer hits the nail on the head with an account of the story that puts gender relations and women’s agency at the centre of the stage."
— Jean Drèze, Honorary Professor, Delhi School of Economics

"A brilliant and powerful book that gives voice to ordinary Bangladeshi women, a welcome antidote to ’top-down’ theories of development that shines a light on the crucial role that women play in how social change actually happens."
— Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Love Marriage

"This is a mature work that combines analytical rigour with empirical wealth, meticulously unpicking the complex array of influences explaining the “Bangladesh paradox”. It complements the more conventional “big picture” approaches with a uniquely powerful “bottom-up” account of ordinary people’s changing experiences, placing women’s agency at the centre of the narrative. This is a must read for anyone interested in development theory and policy, and in gender relations in South Asia."
— Deniz Kandiyoti, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies

"Kabeer’s volume is a most welcome and significant addition to a long-standing debate on Bangladesh’s development and processes of social and cultural change. Offering a long temporal lens and rich evidentiary material from multiple researchers, she calls for a critical reading of the Bangladesh paradox. More broadly, her critical reading of this paradox invites a rethinking of the processes of change, one that is grounded in people’s actual lived experience. While acknowledging the structural and institutional reorganization of the country’s economy and culture, she advances an innovative analysis of the formation of new social relations and subjectivities. Such a focus exposes the rich terrain of agency, experience, and, importantly, the power of women’s negotiation with patriarchy, not only as a critical basis for increasing gender equality, but, also, as a challenge to popular explanations of the Bangladesh paradox rooted in the western imagination."
— Shelley Feldman, International Professor (1987-2016), Cornell University

"Bangladesh provides a fascinating story of achieving rapid progress in many social development indicators, defying formidable odds and gloomy predictions of early years. The phenomenon is yet to be fully understood despite a growing literature on what is now often called a development puzzle or a paradox. While some analysts have pointed to the role of female agency as a dominant contributing factor, this begs the question as to why such agency has worked so well particularly in a patriarchal society that represses women. This book fills this gap in our understanding of the so-called Bangladesh paradox as well as being an important addition to gender and poverty studies generally."
— Wahiduddin Mahmud, Former Professor of Economics, University of Dhaka

"Renegotiating Patriarchy is a major contribution to the literature on gender inequality. Kabeer shows how and why a deeply entrenched form of "classic patriarchy" has been radically transformed through the interplay between women's agency and structural opportunities in recent Bangladeshi history. The book is cogently argued and lucidly written. It is also an inspiration to women and all others who need to see that large-scale structural transformation is possible."
— Sherry B. Ortner, Distinguished Research Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

"In the decades after independence in 1971, Bangladesh was widely dubbed ‘a basket case’ in terms of its development prospects. Its adverse geographical conditions, desperate poverty, corrupt state apparatus, political instability, and apparent drift away from democracy gave rise to the gloomiest predictions. Yet since this inauspicious start and despite ongoing problems, including the steady rise of a particularly orthodox version of Islam in public life, which might be thought likely to hold back women’s contribution, Bangladesh has made impressive progress in many areas of the Millennium Development Goals. Achievement in the teeth of so many odds, the Bangladesh Paradox, is the topic of Naila Kabeer’s scholarly but accessible monograph. An expert on Bangladesh, Kabeer uses her own extensive ethnographic research, along with other quantitative and qualitative evidence to document not only Bangladesh’s surprising performance but the even more astonishing fact that growth has been both pro-poor and pro-women. While acknowledging the importance of structural and institutional factors in this astonishing story, Kabeer’s emphasis is on the ways in which ordinary men and (particularly) women negotiated social and cultural constraints to respond to new opportunities for themselves and their children, thus remaking their world and their lives. Any researcher interested in the interaction between structure and agency and the ways in which individuals can and do effect change will benefit from reading this fine book."
— Jane Humphries, Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences

"In Renegotiating Patriarchy, Naila Kabeer offers optimism to the sometimes discouraging field of development studies. She draws on years of creative thought, systematic analysis and careful fieldwork in Bangladesh to show that positive social change can outpace economic growth, overcome bad government, and address cultural resistance. This happens when women have agency to change their lives, their families, their communities, and the everyday practices of their work and livelihoods. This is a book I will recommend to students for years to come and that colleagues should celebrate."
— Craig Calhoun, University Professor of Social Sciences at Arizona State University, Former President of the Social Science Research Council, US