Female Activity Space in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

Mobility and employment opportunities of women have traditionally been restricted in rural Bangladesh. As poverty increases, women in poor families seek work to support families. This trend has resulted in expansion of female activity space, after many years of stability. This article analyzes female space in the context of purdah, the patriarchal family structure, and the spatial organization of rural settlements. It discusses ethnic and other differentials that influence female space. Governmental and nongovernmental organizations are urged to create additional employment opportunities for rural women, so as to expand further their activity space. IN many developing countries, women in rural areas usually perform their daily activities at home or in their own neighborhoods. Beyond the neighborhood boundary, open fields, public roads, and markets are male space, traversed by women only on special occasions and in appropriate company or dress. The presence of women in male space is generally considered to be both provocative and offensive (Mernissi 1975). Evidence suggests, however, that many changes occurred in gender relations throughout the developing world during the U.N. Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, and that female space has expanded as a result. Most work on this subject has dealt with the spatial behavior of urban women in industrial countries, with little attention given to the spatial behavior of rural women in developing countries. This article examines the changing structure of female activity space in rural Bangladesh. A holistic approach links female activity space with cultural, social, political, religious, and economic systems. Unless otherwise noted, the term female space here represents the space of Muslim women. The predominant religion in Bangladesh is Islam, which covers 85 percent of the population. Hindus account for 13 percent, Buddhists 0.61 percent, and Christians 0.31 percent (BBS 1985, 97). * DR. PAUL is an assistant professor of geography at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506. Copyright ? 1992 by the American Geographical Society of New York This content downloaded from 157.55.39.35 on Sat, 03 Sep 2016 05:37:45 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW Until recently, the mobility and employment opportunities of rural women in Bangladesh have been limited both spatially and functionally. However, women are now increasingly forced to seek employment outside the homestead to support their families. Age-old norms segregating and protecting women have been broken during the last two decades (World Bank 1990, 1). This pattern has resulted in the areal expansion of the female activity space, which had been severely restricted by tradition (Greeley 1983, 42; Khandker 1987, 93). After providing background, this article discusses differentials of female activity space in rural Bangladesh, analyzes the recent changes in the extent of female space at the national level, and offers some policy recommendations.