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Women have made substantial gains in health, education, and political representation in Bangladesh, which has been led by female prime ministers since 1991. Women play a key role in the garment industry, the country's main export sector, and entrepreneurial ventures funded by microcredit loans have also boosted women's empowerment. But entrenched patriarchal norms have pushed back against these changes, limiting women's mobility, their presence in public spaces, their sexuality, and their reproductive choices.

Keywords: Bangladesh, women's empowerment, gender, Islam, Hefazat ; In this paper, I investigate how binary framings of women's identity have influenced struggles for women's rights and the interpretations of the relationship between Islam and women's empowerment in Bangladesh. These binary framings position women at opposite ends by dividing them between 'Muslim/religious/moral/authentic/traditional' or 'Bengali/ secular/immoral/Westernised/ modern'. I trace the particular genealogies of these binary constructs which emerged during specific historical junctures and are influenced by the shifts in regional and international politics. Drawing on primary research with women in religious political parties and women's movement actors and newspaper reports, I provide an account of how binary framings have been used by the Islamist actors and the counter framings used by the feminists to make claims over the state. I show how these framings have influenced the politics of representation of gender equality concerns, and reflect on what this means for possibilities of women's empowerment and strategies for resistance.

Introduction: Voicing Demands: Feminist Activism in Transitional Contexts / Sohela Nazneen and Maheen Sultan -- 1. Well-Chosen Compromises? Feminists Legitimizing Voice in Bangladesh / Sohela Nazneen and Maheen Sultan -- 2. Feminisms in Brazil: Voicing and Channelling Women's Diverse Demands / Cecilia M.B. Sardenberg and Ana Alice Alcantara Costa -- 3. The South African Revolution: Protracted or Postponed? / Gertrude Fester -- 4. Voicing Autonomy through Citizenship: The Regional Nationality Campaign and Morocco / Alexandra Pittman and Rabéa Naciri -- 5. Motivated by Dictatorship, Muted by Democracy: Articulating Women's Rights in Pakistan / Afiya Shehrbano Zia -- 6. Feminist Voices and the Regulation, Islamization and Quango-ization of Women's Activism in Mubarak's Egypt / Mariz Tadros -- 7. The Many Faces of Feminism: Palestinian Women's Movements Finding a Voice / Elieen Kuttab.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected men and women differently, exacerbating existing gender inequalities across a range of areas including health, education, and livelihoods. Globally, the levels of gender-based violence have increased. Consensus exists in policy circles that emergency response and recovery plans should consider both the immediate and longer-term gender impact of Covid-19, and without effective measures, the progress made to date on gender equality will not be sustainable. But has this crisis led to a moment when gender power hierarchies in our economies, politics, and society can be renegotiated? In this article, we explore: what does building back better look like if gender equality was at its core? What kinds of feminist dilemmas arise with respect to how we frame women's voice and agency as we advocate for transformative systemic change? We start with a vision for building back better with a gender lens; and move on to discuss the gender-specific impacts of Covid-19 that exacerbate the vulnerabilities of women and girls. In connection with the latter, we discuss the feminist dilemmas that arise with respect to discourse on women's agency, representation, participation, and the key issues that we need to consider for transforming systemic gender power hierarchies.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected men and women differently, exacerbating existing gender inequalities across a range of areas including health, education, and livelihoods. Globally, the levels of gender-based violence have increased. Consensus exists in policy circles that emergency response and recovery plans should consider both the immediate and longer-term gender impact of Covid-19, and without effective measures, the progress made to date on gender equality will not be sustainable. But has this crisis led to a moment when gender power hierarchies in our economies, politics, and society can be renegotiated? In this article, we explore: what does building back better look like if gender equality was at its core? What kinds of feminist dilemmas arise with respect to how we frame women's voice and agency as we advocate for transformative systemic change? We start with a vision for building back better with a gender lens; and move on to discuss the gender-specific impacts of Covid-19 that exacerbate the vulnerabilities of women and girls. In connection with the latter, we discuss the feminist dilemmas that arise with respect to discourse on women's agency, representation, participation, and the key issues that we need to consider for transforming systemic gender power hierarchies. ; Irish Aid