Of women unsafe at the hands of men

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Mahfuza Moslehi
After her first child was born, Jahanara Islam started taking oral contraceptive pills to prevent another pregnancy. She consulted a doctor after suffering nausea and fatigue. The doctor blamed the illness to the pills. She gained extra weight because of the pills. She now takes SOMA JECT injection every three months to lose weight.
Jahanara expected her husband to cooperate with her and use condoms. That would have given her a great relief. But the husband did not agree to use condoms and instead asked her to continue taking pills. Jahanara's health deteriorated further. "Had my husband used condoms, I would have been in a good health," says 28-year-old Jahanara. ``He wants his pleasure without caring of mine," she says.
Over the years Bangladesh has achieved a great deal of success in family planning through promotion of the use of contraceptives. But women - not men - have taken a lead in this success story. Men, who have consented to spacing birth, have forced women to use contraceptives. Women who take oral contraceptive pills suffer from various kinds of diseases.
According to a report published by World Health Organisation, Family Planning and Population and United States Agency for International Development Office of Population, oral contraceptive pills are harmful to women who have high blood pressure, respiratory problem and liver diseases. If these women take pills, they suffer from various diseases like ill health, fatness, increase of weight, irregular menstruation, headache, loss of appetite and mental depression.
Consider the case of Nasima Begum, 33. She lives on the footpath of Green Road in Dhaka along with her four children and a rickshaw-puller husband. She has become too fatty because of her long use of oral pills. She suffers from different respiratory diseases. Nasima, a domestic help, sometimes refrains from taking meals for fear of being fattier. So, she suffers from weakness and feels giddy.
"My husband gets angry when I ask him to wear condom," says Nasima explaining why she uses oral pills. Her husband, Sattar Gazi, has a different idea. He thinks giving birth to a child is a headache for his wife, not for him. So, he cannot use any contraceptive method.
Taking oral pills affects not only women's physical health but also their mental health. A housewife of Mirpur in Dhaka, Luna Nasrin, takes oral birth control pills, as her husband does not like adopting any method. But Nasima, mother of a child, always suffers from an anxiety lest she conceives for not taking pill for a single day.
Doctor Safana Ahmed of Gynecology Department of Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital says a large number of women in Bangladesh suffer from various sexual diseases like syphilis, ganoria, vaginaitiscronic, surveycitis and HIV/AIDS merely for their husbands' unwillingness to use contraceptive methods.
However, there are some reasons why men do not want to use birth control methods. About the unwillingness to use contraceptive methods by men, Deputy Director (administration and finance) of Gonoshastha Nagar Hospital M Shakhawat Ali Arman says, "Men think that they get less sexual pleasure if they use contraceptive methods. Besides, there are inadequate birth control methods for men. More contraceptive methods for men should be introduced to enhance the use of contraceptive methods by them."
But doctor Safana Ahmed says men do not want to take vasectomy as they suffer from operation scare and think it will reduce their sex power. But Safana says, "It's their wrong idea. Vasectomy never lowers sex power nor it affects health."
About allegations that sexual pleasure is not enjoyed fully if condom is used, Safana says, "Using condoms does not create any problem if the users get used to it. Instead, it saves couples from many serious diseases. So, it is a family duty for husbands to use contraceptive methods in order to cooperate with their wives to lead a healthy and normal life."
Director (research) of National Institute of Population Research and Training Ahmed Al Sabir says male-dominated social system, lack of awareness, lack of discussion between husband and wife, religious prejudice and lack of publicity through media are among the main reasons why men are not encouraged to use contraceptive methods.
According to a demographic survey conducted by National Institute of Population Research and Training, some 53 per cent women in the country use various birth control methods but this rate among men is only 4.8 per cent.
Lack of available methods of birth control for men is also one of the main reasons why they are not encouraged to adopt the methods. According to experts, there are only two contraceptive methods men use all over the world. The methods are vasectomy and use of condom. This is why the rate of use of contraceptive methods by men is significantly lower than that of women. Statistics reveal that 93 per cent of the contraceptive method users are women while the remaining 7 per cent are men.
Use of birth-control methods began in the country unofficially in the 50s while officially in the 70s. But the campaign is yet to be successful. Men's contribution to make the campaign a success is very insignificant. Yet, only the women bear all the responsibilities of family planning, but not men.
Yet men in Bangladesh think that it is not their duty to take contraceptive methods. Women in this society are often not allowed to discuss with their husbands the use of contraceptive methods. Rather, decisions to use the birth-control methods are imposed on them.
Deputy Director of Family Planning Department Dr M Abdus Samad Shikder says, "In our male-dominated society, men usually take decisions on every mater. They also decide who will adopt the contraceptive methods caring little their wives' opinions. This is not expectable at all."
He said men should come up with a sense of responsibly and discuss with their wives which contraceptive methods would be appropriate and risk-free for them.
—NewsNetwork