Most Bangladeshis’ believe wife beating is legitimate: Study

Dhaka: Despite Bangladesh’s appreciation for women empowerment in the recent decades, most people in the country believe wife beating is legitimate, according to a poll.

A study carried out jointly by UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and Dhaka-based ICDDR'B found 89 per cent men from villages believed that husbands deserve the rights of mildly beating their wives for faults.

Moreover, 93 per cent urban and 98 per cent rural male population believe one need to be tough to become a real man and 50 per cent urban men and 65 per cent rural males think the women need to tolerate repressions to save their families.

The ICDDR'B quizzed 2400 people in cities and villages.

The study also revealed that most men think only the males should have the right to take decisions at family level. Bangladesh achieved the UN-set Millennium Development Goal by drastically reducing the mother mortality rate and ensuring the maximum enrolment of girl children in school earning a global applause for women empowerment in social sectors.

Two women alternately headed the government in Bangladesh since 1991, a phenomenon which often is described as sign of women empowerment. Women are inducted in different civil service cadres including police, army and civil administration for the past several decades.

The army started recruiting female officers in combating units while previously only women doctors alone served in uniform in the armed forces. Several women are now also serving as judges in the Supreme Court, while the higher judiciary of the country previously was the arena of male judges alone.