Changing Gender Roles and Attitudes to Family Formation in 21st Century: A Comparative Study in Selected Rural and Urban Areas of Bangladesh

The study attempts to investigate the current scenarios and factors of changing gender roles in families, and explore the people’s attitudes to the family formation in both rural and urban areas of Bangladesh. From bottomless basket to developing nation, Bangladesh has achieved plenty of milestones in socio-economic, cultural and political aspects. The society has been transformed from traditional to modern or agricultural to industrial era with these developments in 21^st century. The number of working people has increased and women are also becoming empowered. Noticeably, the gender roles within family changes due to different factors. Against this backdrop, this study is a mixed-method study where both quantitative and qualitative approaches have been adopted. In the quantitative approach, the face-to-face surveys are conducted in both rural and urban areas. On the contrary, in the qualitative approach, Case Studies and Key Informant Interviews (KII) are conducted to capture the in-depth stories. Different areas of Dhaka city have been selected as urban setting and different areas of Rangpur and Mymensingh division have been selected as rural setting. The study areas are selected conveniently and the household heads, working men and women, experts are the study population. A total of 390 face-to-face surveys (rural=195, urban=195), 10 case studies (rural=5, urban=5), and 10 KIIs (rural=5, urban=5) are conducted. The samples are selected by using purposive sampling technic. The study considers all the ethical issues during data collection and data analysis periods. Functionalist and conflict theories of family are linked to the study which is reflected by the findings. Results of the study portrays that gender roles are rapidly changing in city areas rather than village areas due to social, economic, cultural, educational, political and other factors.