Bengali Women’s Experiences during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: A Gender Perspective

Mohsena Akter & Mohammad Al-Mamun

Apr-May-Jun

Abstract
The Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971 was the result of a mass uprising against the Pakistani military regime, and a wide range of individuals and groups participated in the war. Students, laborers, and members of the East Pakistani army, police, and border guards made up the majority of the opposition force. In addition to them, millions of common people helped combatants with supplies, food, housing, support, and knowledge; the women's efforts are particularly noteworthy. The goal of the study was to investigate those experiences that women had during the liberation war. The article is a review-based investigation using secondary data. There has been a review of recent and previous studies related to the war of liberation in Bangladesh against West Pakistan. These reviewed studies were gathered using keywords such as "Liberation war," "female experience," and "Bangladesh", “1971” to search resources from different databases, including ScienceDirect, ERIC, ResearchGate, Google Scholar, peer-reviewed publications, and university websites. From a feminist research perspective, the study discovered that women were more likely to endure both physical violence and sexual assault. The study reveals how women's bodies were used as battlegrounds by the Pakistani army and their local allies.

Keyword: Liberation war, women's experience, Bangladesh, 1971, gender perspectives

Research Area: History

Country: Bangladesh

download