Women played a significant but often overlooked role in Bangladesh's war of independence in 1971. They served as doctors, nurses, informants, and supporters of freedom fighters, risking their lives. Some sent their sons to fight or motivated others. Women faced discrimination and their contributions were underrepresented in historical accounts. It is important to now properly acknowledge women's sacrifices for Bangladesh's liberation.

1. Submitted By:
MD. Azizul Hakim
Mozumder
Id No. B190403055
Roll: 1721 15th Batch
Social Work Department
Course : History of
Liberation war of
Bangladesh (1105)
2nd semester Assignment
The Role of
Women in Our
Liberation
War.
Submitted to: Md Rezaul Karim
Assistant Professor
Scoial Work Department
Jagannath University
mdrezaulkarim95@gmail.co
m

2. Liberation War 1971:
The Liberation war of Bangladesh is also known as
Independence War of Bangladesh. After the division of 1945.
Pakistan & India was separated country & started their journey
as a new independent country. Pakistan was divided in two state.
One was called East Pakistan & the other one is West Pakistan.
East Pakistan is now known as Bangladesh. Though East
Pakistan was very important state but she was totally ignored.
West Pakistani peoples did’t respect them or count them as
Pakistani.
Therefore the difference between two state became so high. .
The Bangladesh we see today is essentially the fruit of the
liberation war of 1971. In order to understand ongoing
Bangladeshi politics and the socio-economic sphere, it is
required to analyse the history of Pakistani colonialism and the
events surrounding the 1971 liberation war that turned
Bangladesh into an independent sovereign State. This research
paper provides a profound overview of these historical
narratives and draws a comparison between present day
Bangladesh and Pakistan.
In this war people of many classes of people. Likely farmer,
teacher, workers, labbours, students, men, woman.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the leader of this
war. Because of him people of this country got courage to get
their rights.

3. There are several reasons behind undermining the contribution
of women to the independence war of Bangladesh. They are
mentioned in the following:
i. Our patriarchal society is still not interested in recognizing the
sacrifices and bravery of women in the liberation war besides
men. Most of us feel uncomfortable discussing the heroic role of
women besides men on the battlefield remembering the incidents
of rape of around 2 lac women done by Pakistani soldiers.
ii. Most of the women who participated in the liberation war
were from lower caste and poor & illiterate. So, in many cases
after the war, their heroic deeds didn’t get the attention of the
researchers.
iii. Scholars and researchers who have written various articles
and books on the liberation war of Bangladesh till now are
basically men. They only heightened the glory of the male
freedom fighters in their writings.
iv. No initiatives were taken by the government and also non-
government organizations after the end of the war to keep the
records of women who participated in the war.
v. After a long time (around 17 years), initiatives were started
taking from the individual level to unveil the contribution of
women to the liberation war of Bangladesh. It was very late and
by this time mass, people built their own world of imagination
from the available history about the independence war. Now
when they hear about the tales of brave women on the
battlefield, it becomes very difficult for them to believe as they
can’t relate it with the history which they taught earlier.

4. At the time of the liberation war of Bangladesh half of the total
population were women. They contributed to the war from their
positions sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. Many of
them, crossing the border reached India, took the training of
guerilla warfare, and worked as combatants, some worked as
nurses in the hospitals, and some chose other voluntary jobs in
the refugee camps. Moreover, they also contributed to the
liberation war by staying inside the country by providing food,
shelter, inspiration, information to the freedom fighters. We have
learned about their sufferings and sacrifices from Nilima Ibrahim,
Jahanara Imam, Sufia Kamal, Roma Chowdhury, Selina Hossain,
Forkan Begum, and many other prominent writers who basically
work on this issue. Their contributions to the war, staying from
different individual positions, are discussed below.
At the time of the liberation war, women and children were used
to collecting and passing information as the Pak juntas didn’t
have any doubt about them. They didn’t imagine that women and
children were being used as informers. Though this was very
risky stuff, they did it very eagerly. Women had the ambition to
do something for their country too at any cost. So, they didn’t
flee from the battleground. Bir Protik Taramon Bibi used to cook
for freedom fighters in Rajibpur camp. There she also performed
the duty of informants. Like her, many other women performed
their roles in the battleground. It was impossible to continue
guerilla warfare without help.

5. In the battleground women also served the wounded freedom
fighters and mass people as doctors and nurses. In this regard, Dr.
Sitara Begum is a lively example. She crossed the border and
reached Agartala. There she gave treatment to the wounded
freedom fighters and refugees. She got ‘Bir Protik’appreciation
from the country for her tremendous support at the battleground
(Begum, 1990). Dr, Fauzia Moslem also performed the role of a
physician at the Agartala camp. Moreover, many other women
voluntarily took the responsibility to render treatment to wounded
people like doctors and nurses in the refugee camps.
In the book ‘Women, War and the Making of Bangladesh-
Remembering 1971’Yasmin Saikia mentioned the name of some
women named Dr. Syed Ahmed Nurjahan, Suhasini, Devi, JJharna
Chowdhury as Social workers (Roy, 2017). They involved
themselves in the rehabilitation process of distressed and
victimized women and children. This continued from the time of
the liberation war to the after war periods.
Some other women engaged themselves in recruiting freedom
fighters, raising funds, collecting medicine, and other
administrative works both inside and outside the border. They
showed their competency as successful organizers at different
times.

6. In the battleground women also served the wounded freedom
fighters and mass people as doctors and nurses. In this regard,
Dr. Sitara Begum is a lively example. She crossed the border
and reached Agartala. There she gave treatment to the
wounded freedom fighters and refugees. She got ‘Bir Protik’
appreciation from the country for her tremendous support at
the battleground (Begum, 1990). Dr, Fauzia Moslem also
performed the role of a physician at the Agartala camp.
Moreover, many other women voluntarily took the
responsibility to render treatment to wounded people like
doctors and nurses in the refugee camps.

7. Jahanara Imam is regarded as the mother of martyrs in the history
of Bangladesh (Roy, 20170. She didn’t participate in the
battlefields with arms. But she played a very significant role
through sending her son Rumi to the war. She sacrificed her son
for the country. We know this from her book ‘Ekattorer Dinguli’
and many other writings. Like this, Safia Begum sent her son
Azad to the battlefield in the year 1971 and we knew it from the
novel ‘Maa’ written by Anisul Huq. And many other women like
this sacrificed their sons by sending them to the battleground.
They always motivated their sons to fight for the country.
Alongside this, women as wives, sisters motivated males to fight
for the country.
At the time of the liberation war, half of the total population were
women. They played a very significant role in the war. Without
their sacrifice and contribution, it was not possible to get
independence from West Pakistan. But their role is always ignored
and denied in the independent history of Bangladesh. Our history
of the independence war remains incomplete without recognizing
the sacrifices of women. But now time has come to acknowledge
them and their glory. In this regard, female scholars and writers
should play an effective role and to many extents, they are
performing their jobs very well. Bangladeshi gov’t should take
necessary initiatives to find out the female fighters who kept a
significant role in the liberation war and recognize their sufferings
and sacrifices.
THE END