IPJ hosts dialogue with Woman PeaceMaker

Samantha Laroy / Staff Writer / The USD Vista

As Shinjita Alam sat in the IPJ theater, her composed demeanor belied her personal drive to bring gender equality to her native Bangladesh. Alam, one of the featured speakers of the university’s Women PeaceMakers Program, gave a lecture last Thursday, where she discussed her work to empower impoverished women, set up job opportunities and coordinate interreligious dialogue.

Bangladesh, a country which gained independence in 1971 through a bloody civil war, has faced severe hardships including famine, military coups, terrorism and other forms of violence. In January 2007, democratic political rule in Bangladesh was suspended in favor of emergency law. Although elections have been promised for later this year, many remain skeptical.

Shinjita Alam, born Hassina Alam, began speaking about her work by talking about her inspiration and journey toward becoming a peacemaker. Named Hassina at birth, Alam explained that she changed her name when she was a teenager with the intent to “change my name and change my life.” Alam explained that her given name, Hassina, is a traditional Muslim name that means beautiful.

Although this name seems like an honor to have, Alam did not want to be associated with other women named Hassina especially because they are often women who submit to tradition and are most likely victims of domestic violence in Bangladesh. Alam continued to say that by creating her own name, she created her own identity. The name Shinjita has no literal significance other than being her identity.

Alam, having been born into a conservative Islamic family, was the first woman in her family to pursue her education. Alam explained that she noticed gender disparaties early in her life, including the fact that she and her mother and sisters had to wait to eat until after her father and brothers had finished. They were only allowed to eat the leftovers.

Alam saw her mother and other women working all day in the home, sometimes getting up as early as four a.m. and never stopping until nine or 10 p.m. At age 16, Alam’s brothers were to arrange her marriage, but she refused and was shut out of her family by choosing to travel and continue her education. She did not want to face discrimination and defied tradition by earning her master’s degree in social welfare. According to Alam’s experience, girls do not usually get an education past secondary school. However, after seeing her sister cry over her forced marriage, Alam did not follow the path set out for her by her elders. While speaking about the decision to create her own destiny, Alam said that when observing the women at home, “I would see their faces, no smile.”

Part of the cultural emphasis on tradition comes from religion. Bangladesh, a country whose state religion is Islam, has imams in each town who serve as community guides as well as spiritual leaders. Some of the imams are not even well educated and combined with the fact that the translations of the Koran from Arabic to Bangla have some major gaps, it illustrates the potential for misguidance or room for incorrect personal interpretation given to the imams.

Consequently, domestic violence is integrated into the culture. She said that when she started reaching out to these women “it was difficult at first…I felt like an outsider.” Alam said it became easier as she began talking to people and making connections.

One of the ways Alam made these connections was by wearing traditional clothes which allowed her to fit in better and gain more respect among the women she was trying to help. A difficult fact Alam must face on a daily basis is that women keep silent when they are beaten to minimize domestic problems and they feel that everything is natural. Husbands are seen as guardians who provide food and shelter, but they are allowed to beat their wives if a mistake is made. Another hardship these women endure is that they “don’t have an identity, but they don’t want it,” often because they don’t know any other lifestyle.

Alam has been proactive in dealing with these issues by forming women’s community centers where women are given certain freedoms not allowed by the general public and equal treatment.

Alam is well versed in religious texts having read the Ramayana, Bible and Koran. When Alam held her first conference, she had everyone write down the most important values and beliefs of their religion and the exercise demonstrated that everyone had the same basic ideals, but, as Alam said, “they don’t know each other.”
Alam has spent her entire life fighting adversity and while she has made a significant impact, her work is not finished. After Alam’s inspirational discussion with audience members in the IPJ, a question and answer session tied together her hopes for the future. Alam remarked on the amount of work to be done, but said that while in the past she felt like she “was the only person climbing the mountain,” now she realizes that she’s not the only one, even though the struggle is not over.