The Production of Silence
The essay examines the distinctive nature of neoliberalism in Bangladesh that began under military rule, and analyzes the discursive silences that neoliberal development policies have produced within the NGO sector. It analyzes three major strands that refer to how policies of market liberalization were historically promoted by successive military and democratic governments since independence; the impact of this confluence of market liberalization on the state, NGOs, and the framing of feminist/women’s agendas; and how policies and ideologies of neoliberalism discursively shape public discourses about NGOs, women, and development. The chapter argues that feminist/women’s agendas have been shaped by liberal ideas of empowerment, which have been reworked through neoliberal models of economic empowerment that have silenced more critical discourses questioning free market policies and their deleterious effects on women’s labor and lives.