Thesis Title:
Legal interventions and Access to Maternal Health Services by Women with Disabilities (WWD) in Bangladesh: Lessons from Canada
The rights of women with disabilities (WWD) are one of the most ignored issues throughout the world. Reproductive rights are among these fundamental freedoms, including the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to marry and found a family; the right to comprehensive reproductive health care including family planning and maternal health services, education, and information; the right to give informed consent to all medical procedures including sterilization and abortion; and the right to be free from sexual abuse and exploitation.
In Bangladesh, women with disabilities are deprived of rights and privileges because of the existing social stigma towards them. Being disabled and at the same time being women makes the situation for them as ‘double trouble’. Like any other human rights, maternity health care rights of WWD have been ignored and violated without limits. It has been wrongly portrayed in Bangladesh that WWD are not even capable of forming family and parenting which is quite a negative stereotyping attitude. On the other hand, there is a comprehensive legal diagram can be outlined from the Canadian health care laws. On such background, my study examines the human rights instruments and Canadian framework ensuring the reproductive rights of WWD.
After having a reality check of the situation, my attempt is to provide some suggestions on how Bangladesh can make necessary changes in existing laws and policies for effective implementation of maternity healthcare right of WWD.
I obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree, a Master’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and a Master’s of Law degree from the University of Dhaka. I am presently working as an Assistant professor of law in the School of Social science, Humanities and Language (SSHL), Bangladesh Open University. Earlier, I worked as a Lecturer of Law in the Department of Law in the Northern University Bangladesh (NUB). I have a number of publications and look forward to adding publications to my portfolio.