Social Stigma among the Rural Women in Bangladesh: Its Patterns and Consequences in Gopalpur Village of Natore District

Abstract

This study on social stigma among the rural women in Bangladesh was conducted in the Gopalpur Village of Natore District during a period of four years, from 2010 to 2013. Stigma involves people making unfair moral judgments about other people. It allows people to separate themselves from people whom they stigmatize and eventually results in isolation and rejection for those people who are stigmatized. It also reinforces the power that the person who stigmatizes has over those people. Stigma lessens one’s self-esteem and self confidence as well as brings about feelings of worthlessness, which makes it more difficult for the stigmatized to challenge discriminatory attitudes and behavior within society at large. The objective of this study is to explore the patterns of social stigma and its consequences on rural women in Bangladesh. A blending of several methods, such as social survey method through scheduled interview, focus group discussion (FGD), informal meeting, spot observation have been used to explore and gain a critical view of overall aspects of social stigma and its consequences in the study area. This study highlights many dimensions of research works carried out so far on social stigma and its patterns and consequences. Various issues were recorded as responsible for bringing about stigma to the rural women. Among these issues, level of education, incapability of reading religious books, activities of husband and children, childlessness, skin color, ailment, participation in cultural and political activities were dominant. Major consequences of these stigmas were—losing importance in decision making process, reduced social honor, physical and mental harassment, forced isolation from the society etc. Rural women adopted limited number of strategies to cope with their stigmatized situation. These were maintaining silence, crying and praying to God, paying dowry, making negotiations by spending money, and attempting to commit suicide. Stigmas have enormous social and economic costs for individuals, their families and societies. Through the process of stigmatization, society, in the long run is deprived of the contributions, which could have been made by the stigmatized people using their inherent talents and skills. Societies in which there is less discrimination and less marginalization of various groups are healthier as well as more just societies. Social policies should promote inclusion of all people in socio-economic activities and prevent the processes of stigmatization and social exclusion.