One of the most exciting features of Bangladesh’s “Monsoon Revolution” were the visuals of courageous young girls and women on the streets, their defiant chants animating fierce feminist organizing and the individual and collective acts of rebellion of women against a powerful fascist regime.
They appealed to our conscience as daughters, sisters, mothers, and citizens, enabling us to overcome our fear of the unknown and leave our “natural domain” of the home to engage with the outside world of politics and public debate.
Indeed, the student-led uprising would not have been successful if ordinary girls and women had not mobilized in the public and private sphere to inform and shape public debate and shift public opinion.
Yet, as we celebrate the one month anniversary of the incredible achievements of the student-led uprising, the absence of women from political spaces driving the reformation agenda and in leadership positions in public office is alarming.
From the scattered presence of women in the interim government’s meetings to their limited inclusion in leadership positions in the chief adviser’s office and cabinet, women have been strikingly relegated to the backseat of the reformation process.
How did the face of the students' platform on anti-discrimination post August 5 become largely male? The masculine nature of the leadership, debate, and deliberations that excludes or limits participation of women in all their diversity undermines the revolutionary promise of the uprising and limits the possibilities of imagining an inclusive future.
There can be no new political settlement without challenging patriarchy and misogyny that continues to be pervasive in the way we are organizing around reform.
To reconsider the institutional arrangements of governance from the perspective and lived experiences of women, women need to be at the helm shaping the deliberations, rewriting the social contract and implementing the new economic, political, and legal agenda.
The aspirations of women and girls, in all their diversity, have never been more with girls and women excelling in educational attainment, professional achievement, and civic participation. Whether in the RMG sector, as migrant workers, or in banks, schools, or healthcare, women are in the public sphere in large numbers.
If there are barriers for the young and diverse women who helped lead and advance rights struggles to emerge as leaders, we must find ways to address those barriers to enable those women to assume the leadership positions.
Leaders are not born leaders, people are nurtured to become strong leaders. We need to find ways to nurture women from diverse backgrounds to take on leadership positions, supporting them in their journeys and allowing them to make mistakes just the way we do with men.
If the interim government’s ability to find women capable of leading the way is limited, they could use an open recruitment process so that they can widen the search. But what we cannot do is deny that there is a problem with the emergence of a largely male political leadership and governance framework that dictates what our future should look like.
It is undeniable that Sheikh Hasina was a woman who led a fascist regime. On one hand, she presented herself as a “mother of humanity,” often posting her photos of cooking and taking care of the family, on the other hand ruling the country with ruthlessness and a preoccupation with self-enrichment and glorification of her family.
Her rule is also marked by the degradation of intellectual and cultural life, proliferation of misinformation, indiscriminate use of violence, and deliberate partisan politicization of education. Her legacy will do little to inspire women to enter politics and serve in public office.
With nearly half the population being women, this cannot be acceptable.
Professor Yunus brings a different legacy to the reformation process with a track record of creating enabling ecosystems for women and girls. The government he leads must not privilege men as experts, leaders, and decision-makers.
Without the leadership of women, we will not be able to end the exclusion and exploitation that enables fascist regimes to thrive.
Sumaiya Islam is an international human rights activist, political strategist and an advocate for women’s leadership in politics and public office.