Bangladesh’s Islamist Extremist Resurgence Has Feminists Raising the Alarm, by Nawshin Flora – 29 July 2026

From Himal Southasian

As right-wing Islamist extremist groups gain in Bangladesh, feminists are fighting for women’s rights and gender equality amid disappointment with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government

On 27 May, a group of women’s rights activists, artists, academics and others wrote an open letter to Bangladesh’s information minister, Zahir Uddin Swapan, protesting a proposed dress code for female news presenters issued by Bangladesh’s state broadcaster, which had discouraged the use of “large bindis” or “dupattas worn to one side”.  The broadcaster’s deputy director general of news, Mohammed Shariful Quader, later told the media that the directive was “to maintain a general standard reflecting Bangladesh’s socio-cultural perspective.” The directive was later rescinded due to backlash, with feminist activists arguing that it amounted to an infringement on women’s freedom of attire. 

Such affronts to women’s agency and rights are not unusual in Bangladesh today, even after a much-anticipated election this February – the first after the youth-led July Revolution in 2024 led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina and her repressive Awami League government – that many had hoped would bring a more progressive political orientation. While the youth protesters of 2024 had called for change, including stronger protection of women’s freedoms, their hopes were short-lived.

The backsliding began after the installation of an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, tasked with enacting an ambitious reform programme. In May 2025, Hefazat-e-Islam, a hardline Islamist pressure group, rallied against a report submitted by the Women’s Affairs Reforms Commission, headed by the women’s rights activist Shireen Huq, that outlined  433 recommendations to eliminate discriminatory laws and policies against women and other minority groups in Bangladesh. Major recommendations included equal inheritance rights, the recognition of sex workers and domestic workers under national labour laws, six months of paid maternity leave, and equal rights for women in marriage, divorce and child custody.

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Nawshin Flora is a writer, translator and researcher based in Bangladesh. She is a graduate of Dhaka University and her research sits at the intersection of caste, labour and gender, focusing on the political economy of Dhaka’s sanitation workers.

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