Abstract
This article draws on in-depth research conducted during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic with a group of 35 women who work as construction labourers in Sylhet, northern Bangladesh. We particularly focus on these women’s narratives of economic crisis, domestic abuse, coercive control and intimate relations during the pandemic. Here, we consider the ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2021 particularly affected this group of women participants as they employed survival strategies to support their families through a time of extreme economic and social crisis. A key issue they raised was the negative impact the pandemic has had on their health and wellbeing, particularly exacerbated by an increase in experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV), more commonly termed domestic abuse or domestic violence in the local context. The violence they faced was not necessarily a new experience for many of these women, but it was intensified by pressures brought to bear on interpersonal relations within their household as a result of lack of access to incomes, rising levels of poverty, and the stresses placed on families trying to survive in a time of extreme socio-economic and health insecurity.
Highlights
This article draws on in-depth research conducted during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic with a group of 35 women who work as construction labourers in Sylhet, northern Bangladesh
In the context of Bangladesh, we found increased reports that incidences of gender-based violence and domestic abuse had risen during the pandemic, and this was a key issue raised by the women who participated in our study
The violence they faced was not necessarily a new experience for many of these women, but it was intensified by pressures brought to bear on interpersonal relations within their household as a result of lack of access to incomes, rising levels of poverty, and the stresses placed on families trying to survive in a time of extreme socio-economic and health insecurity
Summary
This article draws on in-depth research conducted during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic with a group of 35 women who work as construction labourers in Sylhet, northern Bangladesh. We focus on these women’s narratives of economic crisis, domestic abuse, coercive control and intimate relations during the pandemic These women are part of a larger group of 70 participants with whom we have worked over the course of the past several years, all of whom participated in research led by Tanzina Choudhury as part of the GCRF-funded Global Gender and Cultures of Equality (GlobalGRACE) Project.. Through this difficult and at times dangerous work, women can experience health harms, poor mental wellbeing, labour exploitation, gender-based discrimination and sexual abuse These women and their ‘border bodies’ challenge normative gender codes in Bangladesh pertaining to women’s appropriate roles, employment and public visibility which can generate valuable public debate, and, as we go on to explain:. Through an analysis of their narratives as they talk about their experiences of survival and intra-household relations in a time of crisis, we think about their narrative themes of domestic abuse, intimate relations and reproductive decision-making
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