Written By: Nirvana

I am hardly ever at a loss to convey in words the depth of my disgust regarding certain issues that I have encountered in the course of my reading. Lately a couple of stories have infuriated me to such a degree that to write about them in any kind of coherent manner has proven to be somewhat difficult. I refer in particular to a recent incident in Bangladesh where a young woman had her fingers chopped off by her husband because (and here must be the source of the red haze that mysteriously appears in front of my eyes whenever I think of it) she wished to pursue higher studies. It is hard to imagine education as being detrimental to domestic felicity but it appears in this case the husband could not bear the thought of a well educated wife. To teach her a lesson (pardon the pun) he divested his wife of her fingers. Why he settled on that particular appendage can only be answered by someone who has had similar misgivings about spousal education because frankly it makes no sense whatsoever.

The manifold benefit of education is hardly a foreign concept particularly in less developed countries. In fact in most developing countries education is seen as a powerful if not essential tool in lifting individuals and their families out of poverty. If one scrutinises any program that is aimed at poverty reduction, the one inescapable fact is the importance of education and more to the point the role of education in empowering women. Education allows women to seek better employment and to earn a wage that provides the basic needs of their families. This takes an even greater importance if they are the main or only income earners in the household. Furthermore education is abundantly beneficial in areas such as the upbringing of children, health and household finances.

Therefore if the benefits of an educated woman are so apparent, this man’s actions, apart from being utterly criminal are also remarkably stupid. It is understood that the husband in this case was less educated than the wife therefore jealousy might have been a factor. If one was being particularly cruel it would also explain the stupidity but we must be circumspect in such matters. However I believe what has really happened here is that a wife went against her husband’s express wishes and paid the price for it. Women in Bangladesh by and large have a culturally submissive role in what is a mostly patriarchal society. The Sustainable Development (SD) a department of FAO of the UN, reports that about 92% of the households in Bangladesh are male-headed. This situation is much more pronounced in rural areas where women are subject to the whims and will of their fathers, brothers and once married their husbands. Given such an environment, it is extremely difficult for women to have access to or to freely exercise their basic rights. Indeed every attempt that pits them against the male will takes on the magnitude of a battle where more often than not women are the unfortunate victims as was in this case.

So couldn’t one argue that because education has the effect of empowering women, of making them independent and ostensibly self-sufficient which men in such societies find particularly threatening to their masculinity? Is it the fear of not being needed or displaced in decision-making that is driving the need to dismember, mutilate and generally harm women? It may appear to be a simplistic argument but I think there is something in this train of thought. To be fair Bangladesh is hardly an isolated incident. There have been countless stories from other states where female education is clearly ranked lower than the seed for next year’s crop. In other words education for girls is not considered an investment for the future. I speak of countries such as Afghanistan where rape victims are expected to marry their assailants, and Pakistan where disfiguration via acid has become a popular method of punishing women and Sudan where women have been stoned for not wearing the right attire to name just a few. And let there be no hasty conclusions that religious practice is to blame for this. Iran which has some of the most punishing laws regarding women also has one of the higher literacy rates in the world for both males and females. This is unfortunately attributable to the dreaded C word i.e. Culture.

One hesitates to lay the blame at Cultures door because it is such a fluid concept, given as it is to the vagaries of Change and deeply susceptible to Time. But culture as it stands today has much to answer for, particularly where women are concerned. Culture in certain parts of the world has led to attitudes where women are seen as vassals who are to be treated as such or alternatively delicate flowers to be protected and nurtured in secret. Both attitudes are deeply harmful and benefit none. Until attitudes in these countries change, all attempts to empower women such as education, employment and self made decisions regarding marriage and education etc will be met with hostility and in extreme cases violence. While we in the West enjoy our inalienable and universal rights in relative peace and health, we are forced to bear witness to the injustice of our sisters struggling to exercise the most basic of their rights. It is pitiful that a woman clearly capable and desiring of further education is victimised merely because she is expected to give in to her husband’s, father’s, brothers or other male relative’s wishes no matter how unreasonable they are.

An educated woman who can think for herself, make informed decisions, bring in an income and pursue employment is surely an asset to a household, not a threat to the position of men. We must applaud the woman in Bangladesh who apart from not returning to her husband will train herself to write with her left hand so that she may still pursue her dream of further studies. No one told us women that aspiring to higher education may come at the expense of our fingers.