Class of 2015

Fistula: An Overlooked Preventable and Treatable Tragedy of Women

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Fistula: An Overlooked Preventable and Treatable Tragedy of Women Jabin, Nusrat Background: Although fistula is a preventable and treatable condition, in Bangladesh it is a curse for at least 71,000 women. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors hindering successful treatment of fistula in women. Purpose: The aim of the study was to describe the characteristics of the fistula patients and identify the socio-demographic determinants associated with successful treatment of the fistula. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 140 fistula patients were interviewed from six different hospitals of Bangladesh: Dhaka Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dr.Muttalib Community Hospital, Chittagong Medical College, Hope Hospital in Cox’s Bazar and Ad-din Hospital. Data was collected from September 2014 to February 2015. A subgroup of women (N=98) with available information on first time of seeking treatment after development of fistula was analyzed to investigate the association between early care seeking and successful outcome of surgery utilizing bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Result: The sample comprised 96% (N=135) of vesico-vaginal fistula, 0.7% (N=1) rectovaginal fistula, and 2.9% (N=4) of combination of vesico-vaginal and rectovaginal fistula patients. Obstetric labor was considered the major cause of fistula in 108 (77%) of the women and 32 (23%) had iatrogenic fistula. The subgroup analysis showed that women who sought care within 2 years of their fistula development were 4.92 times more likely to be cured earlier than women who sought for treatment longer than 2 years of their fistula development (p=0.023). Interestingly, access to health facilities, and who they live with were significantly associated with seeking care earlier (P<.005). 3 Conclusion: Early care seeking was associated with the successful treatment of fistula. Patients need to be encouraged to seek care as early as possible.

EFFECTS OF APPLICATION OF LHERZOLITE IN GROWTH OF SPINACIA OLERACEA L. AND SOIL MICROBES IN CADMIUM CONTAMINATED SOIL IN CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

EFFECTS OF APPLICATION OF LHERZOLITE IN GROWTH OF SPINACIA OLERACEA L. AND SOIL MICROBES IN CADMIUM CONTAMINATED SOIL IN CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH Abdul Muhseen, Misja Mumtaj Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic heavy metals for both plants and animals. Generally, availability of Cd in agricultural soils causes suppression in plant growth by increasing the concentration of Cd in plant parts. This experiment was designed to investigate the effect of Lherzolite on growth of SpinaciaOleracea L. and Microbial Population in Cd contaminated soils. Effect on microbial population was measure by measuring microbial biomass carbon (Cmic), microbial basal respiration, and fungal and bacterial population in soil. Effect on plant growth was done by measuring the dry weight of plant shoot and root and by quantifying the amount of Cd concentrated in plant tissues. It was hypothesized that application of lherzolite in sandy loam soil will decrease the bioavailability of cadmium and thereby result in an increase in plant growth. Results revealed that increased application of lherzolitedoes not display a significant increase in plant root weight; however, it significantly increases plant shoot weight and decreases the tissue cadmium concentration in plant shoots, whereas the change in microbial population and microbial biomass carbon does not have significant difference. The data suggests that lherzolite can be a good remediating chemical for Cd without any side effects on microbial population and its activities.

The Impact of Returnee Migrant Women on the Social and Political Involvement of Women in Post-conflict Countries

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The Impact of Returnee Migrant Women on the Social and Political Involvement of Women in Post-conflict Countries Qurbani, Najma This paper attempts to quantitatively find an answer for the puzzle: why an increase in the number of returnee migrant/refugee women increases women’s social and political involvement in some post-conflict countries, but not in others? I contend that returnee migrant women in post-conflict countries cause an increase in women’s social and political involvement. I argue this is because of women’s cultural assimilation to the host country where they migrate to and their active involvement and their interaction with other women after return to the country of origin. To test the hypothesis, I use data on percentage of seats held by women in national parliaments in order to measure political involvement of women. Also, female labor force participation rate, and more specifically the percentage of female employees in industry, and percentage of female teachers in tertiary education are used to gauge social involvement of women. In addition, to measure the impact of returnee migrant women, I have used the total number of returnee refugees. This paper will analyze the relationship between the number of returnee refugees and social and political involvement of women in their country of origin to see if an increase in number of returnee refugees has an impact on social and political involvement of women in post-conflict countries or not.

WOMEN AND POLITICS: Underrepresentation of Women in National Parliament in Developing States

Thu, 01 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

WOMEN AND POLITICS: Underrepresentation of Women in National Parliament in Developing States Zangmo, Dechen “Can a woman be a Prime Minister?” My answer would have been different if I had been asked this question 10 years ago. Generally women’s political behavior has received less attention, and women’s low representation in politics is a global concern. The stagnation of women in accordance with everything has too often been explained in both popular media and political spheres with reference to cultural and social traditions. Be it in the form of Hindu suttee, African female circumcision, Chinese foot binding, dowry system, or honor killing, are all misogynistic acts where women usually are the victims and men the perpetrators. Even though such practices are not so prominent in today’s world, we cannot deny the fact that there is a clear gender disproportion in the field of politics. I was particularly concerned by the fact that women are underrepresented in the parliament considering that equal representation of both men and women in the decision making body are key to pass down any brilliant laws or regulations in the country. Moreover, a balanced representation is important in decision making levels to have an equitable and sustainable development, to make sure both men and women are taken into consideration. Therefore, the main aim of my paper is to study why women’s representation in the national parliament is low in some developing countries. The gender stereotype, which argues that women on purposefully avoid politics, has consistently been regarded as one of the most intuitive hypotheses in political science. However, despite much attention, scholars have repeatedly found little empirical support for its effect because stereotype is difficult to quantify. With very few women in politics, I assume that the society we live in holds the false belief that women are, by nature, less capable than men and discriminates against women in all sectors. People’s mindset about difference in a gender roles well justify that social and cultural norms play a role in creating gender a disparity in the society Zangmo 5 which tends to favor men over women for any leadership roles. Women are less ambitious because they are raised to be nurturers, whereas young boys are taught to be ambitious. Through my rough assumptions mentioned above, I was motivated to study and research on the determinants of why women’s representation is relatively low compared to men’s representation in some developing countries. Therefore, in this paper, I attempt to analyze stereotype, drawing on different theoretical components to measure the concept of stereotype. I conducted a mixed- method bringing in the case study on Bhutan. The main purpose of the case study is to provide a more thorough analysis and provide supports for my theoretical framework I have developed in this paper. From the case study, I expect to examine the underlying stereotype that explains why only few women are active in the political sphere. Therefore, collecting data on different variables that would help measure stereotype and bringing in the case study of Bhutan enabled me to develop a plausible explanation to why there is underrepresentation of women in politics in some developing countries. My interest in developing a case study on Bhutan was because, like elsewhere in developing states, the number of women in Bhutan contesting for election and being elected is comparatively low. Even though the constitution and electoral laws of Bhutan are gender neutral, the number of women in decision making including politics is very negligible. Some might question that should we be doing something special for women in this egalitarian society, why not for men? Nonetheless, if we leave it up to the desire and want of women and do nothing about it, this trend will be followed which will push women exclusively in the private domain. It is very crucial that we build in positive trend for the younger generation, and eradicate the gender disparity in any forums. Given that more than 50% of the population in Bhutan is women, there needs to be a series of explanations to interpret the relationship between women voters and Zangmo 6 small number of women being elected. Therefore, I decided to gather different perspectives of Bhutanese men and women regarding stories of their political journey and their observations on the challenges candidates face along the way. Conducting fieldwork in Bhutan enabled me to address this issue. The detail about the case study will be discussed in the following sections. My quantitative research suggests that a higher rate of women labor force leads to higher rate of women representation in the national parliament. Additionally, voter turnout and legislated candidate quota have a significant effect on the proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament. Thus, in this paper, I will first discuss the previous research of women’s low representation in politics. Then I will develop theories that surround the stereotype specifically and discuss how these theories lead to underrepresentation of women in politics, with the case study on Bhutan to justify. Followed by this, I will develop a research design and test my hypotheses by running ordinary least square (OLS) regression and subsequently analyze the findings of my research in relation to the hypotheses assumed. Finally, this paper also suggests some recommendations and policy implications drawing on my strength and limitations of the paper.