Village Ties: Women, NGOs, and Informal Institutions in Rural Bangladesh

Poor womens lives are governed by informal norms and practices, and Village Ties argues that grassroots womens mobilization programs can empower women to challenge these institutions. Polli Shomaj (PS) is a program of BRAC that shows how women negotiate with state and society to alter the rules of the game, creating a complex and rapidly transforming world where multiple overlapping institutions exist.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 230 pages
Publication date: 12 November 2021
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Across the global South, the lives of poor women are intricately intertwined with their social relationships, shaped not solely by formal institutions that exist on paper but also by informal norms and practices. Village Ties, a captivating book, takes readers on a journey to Bangladesh, a country that has emerged from the ashes of war, natural disasters, and decades of resource depletion to achieve remarkable development success. The book makes a compelling argument that grassroots womens mobilization programs can empower women to challenge informal institutions when they are designed to promote anti-oppression, deliberation, and community integration. Qayum delves into the work of Polli Shomaj (PS), a program implemented by the development organization BRAC, to showcase how women within PS negotiate with state and society to reshape the rules governing access to resources such as safety nets, the law, and governing spaces. These women create a complex and rapidly evolving world where multiple overlapping institutions coexist, including formal and informal, old and new, desirable and undesirable. By actively challenging power structures around them, these women defy stereotypes of poor Muslim women as backward, subservient, oppressed, and in need of salvation. Through their resilience, creativity, and determination, they redefine the narratives surrounding their lives and contribute to the broader social and economic transformation of their communities.

Weight: 332g
Dimension: 154 x 228 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978816442