How women get hurt in religion-based politics
I was feeling low for many reasons, and my dear spouse took me out for some fresh air. We set out for Shilpokola Academy — on Fridays, this is the best place to visit; you would see songs, plays, and dance performances — that can be classical or contemporary — I always return happy and cheerful from that place. To my utter shock, the main doors of Shilpokola Academy were shut. I have never seen this. All different thoughts were running in my head, and this write-up is coming out after a sleepless night, so please forgive my disorganized thinking.
In South Asian history, religion-based politics was heavily used to suppress and press, and all the hatred and dissemination of it got religious justifications. That is why, in Bangladesh, as we started as a new country in 1971, religious secularism was the core of our nation. But religion has always been present in political games.
As a normal citizen, my concern is about something selfish: women's rights. In my research, I have seen every time a family, society, or state violates a woman’s right — it stays uncontested when there is a religious justification. I am concerned that the current possibility of religious influence will be used mostly to suppress and oppress women and minority communities, as has been done over all these years, now it will be possible with greater authority.
As a researcher, I worked with female computer scientists in Afghanistan in 2017, and they are nowhere to be found now since the Taliban Government took over. I am worried that our girls will be lost. I feel it's time to speak up.
[If you feel that I am overreacting, you may look at the old news and the associated comments; I translated them to English.]
