Little is known about gendered recordkeeping practices in marginalised communities in developing countries and about how these practices have been affected by improvements in literacy in those communities. Recordkeeping is not a neutral activity, it is contingent on social and cultural norms and beliefs, including gender roles and expectations. Records are essential enablers of economic and social activities. In marginalised communities, for whom accessing information is difficult, capturing and preserving information that has been accessed so that it will be easy to re-access it if needed in the future can be beneficial. Due to improvements in women’s literacy, women can play a greater role in regards to family recordkeeping than they did in previous generations.
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. It starts with a brief literature review on gendered recordkeeping, a discussion of literacy statistics in the areas where the research was conducted and an explanation of the methodology followed. Then, the findings section 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 family records. However, the author argues that this greater responsibility attributed to the female members of the households is not a reflection of women’s empowerment. At the contrary, comments made by the interviewees indicate that it is an additional burden imposed on them by their husbands. The paper concludes by stressing the importance of doing more research on gendered recordkeeping practices and on their connections with women’s empowerment and the empowerment of marginalised communities in developing countries.
The creation and use of records are impacted by the socio-economic conditions in which they are created and by the values, ideas and aspirations of their creators and users. Social circumstances influence what information individuals have access to, how they interpret it and how they are able to capture it, preserve it and use it (
Ketelaar wrote in 2005 that gendered recordkeeping, in particular, had not yet been recognised sufficiently by scholars and practitioners in archival studies. Gender influences what records individuals have access to, what information they are interested in, how they can access it and use it, and what methods they can use to capture and preserve important information and records. (
Bangladesh is a developing country affected by frequent flooding and natural disasters where 45% of the population make their living from agriculture. It is a context where capturing information previously accessed and keeping it for future reference can save arduous journeys to nearby towns in search of information from government officials. It is also a country where women living in rural areas are still restricted by socio-cultural and religious norms that make it difficult for them to leave their homes and their villages to access information that would enable them to take advantage of economic opportunities (
Little research has been done on recordkeeping and information preservation practices in rural areas of Bangladesh. However, two previous studies conducted by the author in the same areas as the research for this paper provided the motivation for this research and offer interesting points of comparison. The first study conducted in the southern sub-district of Shyamnagar found that villagers who had limited access to smartphones and to the internet were very conscious of the fragility of digital technologies and used paper notebooks as a form of backup for information that they found on the internet (
Literacy levels in Bangladesh have improved dramatically in the past 30 years from 38.9% in 1991 to 76.56% in 2021 for men and from 25.5% in 1991 to 72.82% in 2021 for women (
According to the 2011 census, in the sub-district of Dimla, only 43.6% of the rural men and 38.8% of rural women were literate (
Literacy rates are higher in the sub-district of Shyamnagar. According to the 2011 census, 52.6% of the rural men and 43% of the rural women were literate (
In those two sub-districts, the improvement in literacy is reflected in the differences between the literacy levels of adults aged 20-24 and those aged 40-44. The 2011 census reported that among the rural population aged 40-44 in Dimla, 14.67% of women and 29.5% of the men were literate, whereas 59.77% of the women and 61.13% of the men aged 20-24 were literate (
This paper reports the findings from semi-structured interviews conducted in January 2023 in two remote and marginalised areas of Bangladesh: in the sub-district of Dimla, district of Niphamari in the north of the country and in the sub-district of Shyamnagar, district of Satkhira in the south of the country. Twenty women and 17 men (10 women and 7 men in Dimla; 10 women and 10 men in Shyamnagar) were interviewed about the ways they access information and about their recordkeeping practices. All the interviewees, male and female, were involved in agricultural activities. In addition, 5 officers from local NGOs who were working on development projects in each area (3 in Dimla and 2 Shyamnagar, all male) were also interviewed.
The interviewees were selected by local NGO officers who were well acquainted with the communities so as to represent a variety of age groups.
Interview questions were prepared by the author who had previously conducted research in both areas, but the Bangladeshi research assistant who conducted the interviews in Bangla was advised to conduct the interviews in a semi-formal way and to follow up interesting comments with additional questions. The interviews were audio-recorded with consent from the participants, then translated into English by Bangladeshi research assistants before being analysed. The author read each interview transcripts several times and coded the emerging themes in an iterative way. Findings relating to information literacy, to information behaviour and to information preservation will be discussed in other papers. This paper focuses on an interesting, and unexpected theme that emerged while re-reading and analysing the transcripts, that of gendered recordkeeping and its connections with women’s literacy and empowerment.
Demographic characteristics of community participants - Dimla. * Grade 4 means 4 years of schooling, Grade 5: 5 years of schooling, etc
| DW1 | F | 40 | Muslim | Grade 4* |
| DW2 | F | 22 | Muslim | Middle school certificate |
| DW3 | F | 22 | Muslim | Grade 5 |
| DW4 | F | 22 | Muslim | Middle school certificate |
| DW5 | F | 21 | Muslim | Middle school certificate |
| DW6 | F | 40 | Muslim | Grade 5 |
| DW7 | F | 40 | Muslim | Grade 9 |
| DW8 | F | 27 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| DW9 | F | 35 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| DW10 | F | 22 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| DM1 | M | 33 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| DM2 | M | 26 | Muslim | Postgraduate |
| DM3 | M | 42 | Muslim | Grade 5 |
| DM4 | M | 32 | Muslim | Middle school certificate |
| DM5 | M | 50 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| DM6 | M | 50 | Muslim | Grade 5 |
| DM7 | M | 51 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
Demographic characteristics of community participants - Shyamnagar
| SW1 | F | 35 | Muslim | Grade 4 |
| SW2 | F | 34 | Hindu | College |
| SW3 | F | 28 | Hindu | Grade 10 |
| SW4 | F | 30 | Hindu | College |
| SW5 | F | 35 | Hindu | College |
| SW6 | F | 38 | Hindu | Postgraduate |
| SW7 | F | 30 | Hindu | Grade 10 |
| SW8 | F | 38 | Muslim | Middle school certificate |
| SW9 | F | 27 | Hindu | High school certificate |
| SW10 | F | 36 | Hindu | Postgraduate student |
| SM1 | M | 39 | Hindu | High school certificate |
| SM2 | M | 52 | Muslim | Grade 7 |
| SM3 | M | 33 | Hindu | Middle school certificate |
| SM4 | M | 28 | Hindu | College |
| SM5 | M | 23 | Hindu | Postgraduate |
| SM6 | M | ? | Hindu | College student |
| SM7 | M | 43 | Muslim | College |
| SM8 | M | Over 60 | Hindu | Grade 8 |
| SM9 | M | 30 | Muslim | Grade 8 |
| SM10 | M | Around 50 | Hindu | Grade 8 |
The interviews showed that in most families, women are now in charge of keeping the important records of the family. However, there are some significant differences between the two sub-districts in which interviews were conducted.
In the northern sub-district of Dimla, all the female interviewees reported that they were responsible for keeping the important records of their family (see
Responsibility for important family records - Dimla
| DW1 | self (wife) |
| DW2 | self (wife) |
| DW3 | self (wife) |
| DW4 | self (wife) |
| DW5 | self (wife) |
| DW6 | self (wife) |
| DW7 | self (wife) |
| DW8 | self (wife) |
| DW9 | self (wife) |
| DW10 | self (wife) |
| DM1 | women |
| DM2 | women |
| DM3 | wife |
| DM4 | self (husband) |
| DM5 | wife |
| DM6 | wife |
| DM7 | wife |
In the southern sub-district of Shyamnagar, most of the female interviewees (8 out of 10) also reported that they were responsible for keeping the important records of their family. Only one woman said that her husband was responsible for looking after all the records, while another woman said that her father-in-law kept the important records of the family, such as land records, but that she kept her identity documents and her birth certificate herself. However, most of the male interviewees declared that taking care of the important records was the responsibility of the men in their family. Five of them said that they took care of the records themselves, one said that his father did it, and two said that they did it conjointly with their wives, while only two of them said that their wives were responsible for taking care of the family records.
Responsibility for important family records - Shyamnagar
| SW1 | husband |
| SW2 | self (wife) |
| SW3 | self (wife) & father-in-law |
| SW4 | self (wife) |
| SW5 | self (wife) & husband |
| SW6 | self (wife) |
| SW7 | self (wife) |
| SW8 | self (wife) |
| SW9 | self (wife) |
| SW10 | self (wife) |
| SM1 | self (husband) & wife |
| SM2 | self (husband) |
| SM3 | self (husband) |
| SM4 | self (husband) |
| SM5 | father |
| SM6 | self (husband) & wife |
| SM7 | self (husband) |
| SM8 | wife |
| SM9 | self (husband) |
| SM10 | wife |
Although the contrast between the answers of the male and female interviewees may be due to the small size of the sample, it could also be explained by the different ways in which the male interviewees and the female interviewees interpreted the question. The men’s answers reflect their desire to show that they are in charge of their family’s affairs and their understanding that although their wives are responsible for the day-to-day task of looking after the family records (e.g. have the key to the box in which the records are kept so that they can access their identity documents when their husbands are away), the men are responsible for making the decisions on what records to keep and how to keep them. The women’s answers, on the other hand, reflect the actual responsibility that they assume on a day to day basis.
It is interesting to note that although most of the interviewees from Shyamnagar were Hindus (9 out of 10 of the women and 7 out of 10 of the men), the three Muslim men admitted that their wives were responsible for or shared the responsibility of looking after the family records, whereas 6 out of the 7 Hindu men said that it was the men’s responsibility. However, given the small size of the sample, this potential correlation requires further research.
The interviews showed that the practice of writing information in notebooks so that it can easily be accessed when required is common in the two areas of the study, but with some interesting differences between the two areas and between the practices of the male and female interviewees.
In Dimla, most of the female interviewees (7 out of 10) said that they wrote down in a notebook information that they found important, such as names of fertilisers and pesticides for their crops and of medicines for their animals. They also keep track of their income and expenses by writing them in a notebook. One young woman (DW5) also reported that she likes to write stories. Two of the three interviewees who did not write information were illiterate (DW1 and DW6). DW1 nevertheless understood the importance of writing down important information and regularly asked her daughter to write information, such as the names of medicines for their animals and names of seeds, in a notebook for her. Only one interviewee (DW8) said that she rarely wrote information because she preferred to go and ask her experienced relatives who lived nearby when she needed information.
All the male interviewees from the same area, except one, said that they wrote information in a notebook, but most of them admitted that they did not write much. The interviewee who did not capture information (DM7) declared that he did not do it because when he needed advice, he just went and asked the agriculture extension officers for it.
Female and male interviewees agreed that women write more than men. The women attributed this to the fact that the men work outside the home for long period of time whereas the women stay at home. Some women mentioned that the men in their area were less literate than the women and one of them reported that her husband could not write. DW1 commented that:
However, the fact that the women write more is not just a reflection of the education achievements of younger women, it is actually the result of men’s expectations that their wives will retain useful information, as well as keep track of all their income and expenses. DW7 commented that
The three NGO officers from Dimla who were interviewed agreed with the comments that women write more than men. According to one of them, in the houses where women are literate, they do most of the recordkeeping because men do not get much time. He commented that:
The interviewees revealed a bigger contrast in Shyamnagar where all the female interviewees said that they write down some type of information in notebooks, but few men did. Most of the women (8 out of 10) write down agricultural information, while two women do not write agricultural information, but write information that they find important such as important dates, or information that they find interesting. SW9 who is a postgraduate student as well as a farmer’s wife commented that she wrote whatever she felt like, for example song lyrics.
On the other hand, most of the men from that sub-district declared that they did not write down agricultural information because they felt that they could memorise the information that they needed or that they could easily get information when they needed it by going to the local shops. Those who wrote down information said that they wrote very little and in an unorganised way on pieces of paper that they put in their pocket and may not find again when they need them. Several of them said that they wrote phone numbers in a small notepad and one of them also mentioned that he wrote the names of medicines for his family. An older man (SM8) commented that he used to write down information, but that because his eyesight was not good, he asked his children to do it for him. And one of the younger men (SM4) who did not write agricultural information reported that he was writing songs and lyrics because he was interested in making music. However, all the men said that they took charge of writing the income and expenses from their aquaculture activities.
Like in Dimla, the female interviewees commented that women write more than men. For example, SW1 declared that:
The interviews showed that in most families, women are now in charge of keeping the important records of the family. This is in contrast with the practice of previous generations when the male elders were assuming that responsibility as the head of the family. This new responsibility can be linked with improvements in female literacy in the past 30 years. In some families, the women have higher education levels than the men. In previous generations when women were not literate, they were not given the responsibility to look after the family records. However, the reason usually given for entrusting the women with that responsibility is that they are at home all the time while men work outside the home all day or may be away from the village for work for months at a time. Although the women like having access to the records they need for themselves and their children when their husbands are away, they also see this as one more responsibility for them.
Women also write down more information in notebooks than men, but several interviewees, male and female, asserted that this is because the men tell them to do it. In particular, husbands expect that their wives will account for every cent they spent. Therefore, the wives have to carefully write down all their expenses. In some cases, men also ask their wives to write down agricultural information. Like looking after the family records, this is one more chore that is being imposed onto the women.
However, writing down agricultural information in notebooks to preserve it for future reference is something that women often do of their own initiative because they understand the benefits of doing it. This is particularly useful in communities which do not have access to smartphones (
The men, on the other hand, are more focused on keeping track of the income and expenses of their agricultural activities and less interested in writing agricultural information because they can more easily access information when they need it by going to the agricultural supplies shops or talking to agriculture extension officers. They delegate some of the day-to-day tasks of looking after the family records and keeping track of income and expenses when they work outside the home, but still see themselves as the persons in charge of those tasks in their households.
The findings from this study show that Bangladeshi rural women assume important responsibilities in relation to keeping the important records of their family and capture useful information that their family may need in the future. These new responsibilities can be related to literacy improvements. However, they do not constitute an indication of women’s empowerment since those responsibilities are imposed on to them by their husbands who give them clear directions about the records to preserve and the way to preserve them. Therefore, the findings from this study show that there is a need for more research on gendered recordkeeping practices and on the connection between recordkeeping and women’s empowerment in marginalised communities.
The research for this paper was supported by a Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA) Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (Project No DE210100012).