Global Women's Voices: Share Personal Stories

Hafiza Islam, Bangladesh

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In the village where I grew up, women had no voice, no rights. I grew up always knowing that my life was not as valuable as my brother's. I always felt like a burden on my family. I was married off quite young. I was only 16, but all girls in my village were [married off young].

As soon as I got pregnant, my husband started to beat me. Day and night, whenever he felt like it, he beat me. He was angry that I was pregnant, that we did not have money to feed ourselves and he was angry that soon we would have a child to feed, too. He beat me so bad I did not think that my baby would survive. If I had had some money of my own, I would have gone into the city to get the best medical care for my unborn baby.

I prayed and prayed that my child would be healthy, and that it would be a boy. Maybe if I bore my husband a son, he would stop beating me. But as the months went on, the beatings got worse. One night, I just began to bleed and I could not control it. There was so much blood and there was such pain underneath my belly, and the pain made me shout for help. There were no doctors, no clinics in my village, nowhere I could go for help.

All the women came to house and someone went and got the local midwife. I could feel my child dying inside me. I knew I would never see my child. There was so much pain, so much blood. The midwife tried to deliver my baby, but the feet and hands were coming out first. She looked at me and told me that my baby was not going to survive. She had to stick her hand in me to get the baby out. It was born dead. It was a baby boy.

updated: 7/14/2004