The current section discusses the historical background of the women's movement in Bangladesh. Of the three sections that I have mentioned, first I will talk about the activities of religious and narrow nationalist influenced parties. In the pre-independence period, there was no significant program on the position or rights of women in the political and social activities of the parties believing in the propagation of Islamic ideology. That being said, the discriminatory behavior of women did not seem to be a particular problem for them. In the post-’75 period, when the pressure of the international women's movement and the long-running movement of the internal women's society made it impossible for women to remain indifferent to the problems, very suddenly some of these seemingly believer organizations emerged. Those who are in the leadership of these organizations emphasize on the importance of abiding by the provisions of the Shariah without any question. They call any claim to women's rights outside the provisions of the Shari'a as heresy and heretical perversion. They also campaigned for the re-introduction of the blockade and the restoration of women's right to divorce. They are of the opinion that women should be educated, that there is no conflict between the rules of Islam and the need to associate with men in the workplace. But the veil must be fully complied with, and the question of the position of women in Islam, even if it is discriminatory, should not be questioned. So they also vehemently oppose the maintenance order until the woman gets an equal share in the inheritance, or the divorced helpless woman remarries.
Another group, whom I have referred to as ‘conservative’ in the same vein as those who have not been able to rise above religious orthodoxy, are also not really concerned about the discriminatory position of women. Seventy-five women's emancipation slogans do not attract the attention of foreign donors, the government's advice on women's development is followed. No, above all, they talk about women's emancipation because they themselves are deprived of many opportunities. They have no clear theoretical norm. Speaking of women's equal rights, they consider the elegance, service-mindedness, acceptance of sacrifice for husband and children, etc. Bengali women as a unique and exclusive quality. As a result, on the one hand, as they are immersed in a kind of arrogance (chauvinism) about the femininity of Bengali women, on the other hand, no matter how admirable these qualities really are, they turn around and rehabilitate that patriarchy and male domination. I call them narrow nationalists because they must consider their own uniqueness superior to that of other women in the world. As a result, world humanity is missing in their movement.
Indirectly, they work for inequality and division. Their movement has not been able to show the way to any overall liberation as there is no strong theoretical basis. But the decadent consumerist culture of Western capitalist society has surprisingly consumed most of them. Their nationalism is for the most part a ploy to cover up their inherent weaknesses. Therefore, by excluding the positive forces of nationalism, they have resorted to narrowness.