Gendered recordkeeping practices in marginalised communities in Bangladesh

Abstract

Introduction. Little is known about gendered recordkeeping practices in marginalised communities in developing countries and about how these practices have been affected by improvement in literacy in those communities.

Method. This paper reports the results of semi-structured interviews with 20 women and 17 men in two remote areas of Bangladesh about their recordkeeping practices.

Results. This paper shows that the female interviewees tend to preserve information more frequently than the male interviewees and that women are assuming more responsibilities in relation to keeping the important records of their family. The greater role assumed by women can be related to a rapid improvement in women’s literacy in the past 30 years. However, comments made by interviewees show that this greater responsibility attributed to the female members of the households is not a reflection of women’s empowerment. At the contrary, it is often an additional burden imposed on them since the women write down what their husbands expect them to write and keep the records that their husbands ask them to keep.

Conclusion. This study highlights the importance of doing more research on gendered recordkeeping practices and on their connections with women’s empowerment in marginalised communities.