PATRIARCHY ON GENDER SOCIALIZATION AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE: BANGLADESH PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This is a study on the women of Bangladesh particularly the rural women, their deprivation of rights and denial of reproductive healthcare services in a patriarchal society like Bangladesh. The study deals with gender socialization made by patriarchy, and assesses the impact of patriarchy on women’s reproductive healthcare. It reveals that patriarchy maintains men’s control and domination over women through gender socialization and deprives women of their rights including reproductive healthcare. In patriarchy, gender socialization is used as a means of depriving women’s reproductive rights and healthcare. Women also internalize the patriarchic rules and justify their own deprivation of rights. Thus, all-grabbing patriarchy determines the fate of the country’s women— they are dominated, exploited and discriminated by men.