Faculty of Social Sciences

Enhancement of Women Participation in Politics through Microcredit: A Case Study on Siddhirgonj and Kapasia Thana of Bangladesh

2026-04-21T04:45:52Z

Enhancement of Women Participation in Politics through Microcredit: A Case Study on Siddhirgonj and Kapasia Thana of Bangladesh Begum, Musammat Khodeza Bangladesh continues to be one of the world’s most densely populated nations. According to the United Nations Gender Development index Bangladesh is ranked 121st out of the total of 146 countries worldwide (UNDP: 2001, Human Development Report). Forty percent of its population lives below the poverty level.Among the poor, rural women remain disproportionately disadvantaged. This study examines the role of Grameen Bank (GB) and BRAC in improving the socio-economic conditions and awareness of rural women in Bangladesh through micro-credit programs. The research was conducted among rural poor households who were credit recipients from selected branches of GB and BRAC in Siddirgonj Thana, Narayangonj District, focusing on women with little or no cultivable land whose main source of income was manual labor. Using interviews and focus group discussions, the study explored how micro-credit was utilized and its impact on recipients’ lives. Findings show that credit was successfully invested in small businesses, housing, agriculture, and children’s education, leading to improved living standards, increased participation in family and community decision-making, greater political involvement at the local level, and enhanced awareness of rights and responsibilities. Micro-credit contributed to self-employment, higher household value, and stronger institutional capacity, enabling women to become more organized, self-confident, and empowered beyond traditional family roles. The repayment rate was highly satisfactory, with only six cases of default, though some women faced hardship when male family members misused the loans. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy.

Interlinkages between Chronic Illness and Urban Poverty in Bangladesh

2026-04-21T04:24:05Z

Interlinkages between Chronic Illness and Urban Poverty in Bangladesh Begum, Azima Bangladesh is now in an advanced stage of the epidemiologic transition, and in the upcoming years, the burden of chronic illness will continue to rise. As chronic illnesses are the leading cause of death globally, and Out-Of-Pocket (OOP) payments for healthcare have been increasing steadily in Bangladesh, which pushes the households into poverty by catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), it is an urgent issue to investigate this area. Therefore, this study aims to identify the determinants of chronic illnesses and examine the interlinkages between chronic illness and poverty in Bangladesh, especially from an urban perspective. The study is conducted using the nationally representative and the latest Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2022. The Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach is used for estimating the poverty line. Moreover, this study has estimated the poverty impact of OOP payments (i.e., impoverishment due to OOP healthcare expenditure) by comparing the difference between the average level of headcount poverty with and without OOP healthcare payments. Probit regression models are employed to identify the determinants of chronic illness and impoverishment due to OOP healthcare payments. This study identifies that approximately one-third of the urban population (29.17%) and approximately two-thirds of urban households (71.37%) in Bangladesh suffer from at least one chronic illness. Among the households with chronic illness, 33.6% are found with one chronic illness, 25.9% with two chronic illnesses, and 11.9% with more than two chronic illnesses. The most prevalent chronic illnesses include gastric/ulcer (8.28%), high blood pressure (8.01%), diabetes (5.06%), arthritis/ rheumatism (3.96%), and chronic heart disease (3.13%). The prevalence of chronic illnesses rises with age. The prevalence is only 5.11% among children aged 0–12 years, whereas it is 77.14% among the elderly (65+ years), suggesting a strong linkage between chronic health issues and aging. Gender-specific findings reveal the higher prevalence of chronic illnesses among women compared to men (male: 31.69% vs. female: 26.65 %). The prevalence is much higher among the formerly married individuals—those who are widowed, divorced, or separated— in comparison with the currently married individuals (formerly married: 68.78% vs. currently married 43.25 %). The highest prevalence is found for the households belonging to the highest income quantile (78.04%). The mean age in a household, the share of dependent members, households with a never married, widowed, divorced, or separated, proportion of literate members, and households belonging to higher income quantiles are positively and significantly associated with the presence of chronic illness. Whereas the proportion of earners in the household has a strong negative relationship, the female proportion in the household has no significant relationship with chronic illness. In urban areas, the overall OOP healthcare expenditure per month per household stands at BDT 2,503; however, the figure is significantly higher (BDT 2,980) among households that report having at least one chronic illness compared to those with no chronic illness (BDT 1,002). The share of OOP health expenditure in total household expenditure is more than double among the urban households that are suffering from at least one chronic illness (7.5%) compared to those 6 who are not suffering from any chronic disease (3.5%). Lower-income households faces higher OOP burden (21.26% of household income) compared to the highest income households (3.96%). Notably, the prevalence of CHE is alarmingly high (70.51%) among the urban households with at least one chronic illness compared to those who report having no chronic illness (29.49%), at 10% of total expenditure as the threshold level, indicating that chronic illnesses significantly increase financial vulnerability. About 2.77 percent of households fall into poverty due to OOP healthcare expenditure in urban areas in Bangladesh. Households with at least one member suffering from a chronic illness are 3.5 percentage points more likely to fall into poverty (p<0.01) in comparison to households without any members experiencing chronic illnesses. Moreover, the impoverished households are 24.2 percentage points more likely to have a chronic illness (p<0.01), which indicates that poverty enhances the risk of chronic disease. Moreover, households with at least one member suffering from a chronic illness are affected by a substantially higher impoverishment rate due to OOP health spending (3.40%), nearly three times higher than that of households without chronic illnesses (1.22%). Similar findings are also evident for normalized poverty gap as the households that face chronic illness has greater normalized poverty gap (4.29%), which is almost double than who have no chronic illness (2.31%). Thus, the findings from the Probit regression models reveal a strong interlinkage between chronic illness and poverty in urban Bangladesh.The study findings suggest that chronic illnesses are responsible for high costs, high catastrophic expenditures, and vulnerability to households (i.e., non-poor households become poor due to OOP healthcare expenditure) in urban areas in Bangladesh. The government and non-government health organizations need to address this urgently by paying proper attention to handling the burden of chronic disease in Bangladesh. An effective risk pooling mechanism might reduce household financial burden related to chronic illnesses. It is essential to take urban health protection schemes that target vulnerable urban populations to ensure that healthcare services are accessible and affordable, especially for chronic illnesses, in line with the Bangladesh National Urban Health Strategy. Some insights determined from this Bangladesh case study can also be useful in the context of other developing countries, to reduce chronic illnesses and thereby reduce the likelihood of falling into poverty, especially for urban areas. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy.

Factors influencing the neurological development of receptive language skills in Bengali Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

2026-03-04T04:14:46Z

Factors influencing the neurological development of receptive language skills in Bengali Speaking Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Sultana, Sonia Most of the children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have difficulties in their language comprehension that turned out to be a major setback for their independent life. They also cannot understand and share their interests, wants and needs with parents, caregivers or peers and become frustrated over the time. As such, the researcher explored the answer of her research question as to how receptive language development can be promoted among children with ASD both at home and specialized school. The study has been carried out in order to help the Bengali spoken children with ASD to overcome their frustration as well as to help them turning into human resources. Examining a total of 73 children with ASD following some intervention methods provided positive result of its application both at home and special schools. Besides, expert interview suggested a parent based model of teaching speech and language and a more acceptable individualized education system while Focused Group Discussion and Perception survey among parents and special educators recommended consistent exposure to verbal environment and avoiding screen time, joint family concept and a combine action by the caregivers and the special educators for the appropriate intervention method of developing language comprehension in children with ASD. Finally, this empirical study recommends few imperatives for ensuring appropriate environment for the neurological development of receptive language in children with ASD. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy.

A Sociological Study on Depression Among the Students of Dhaka University

2026-03-03T04:42:07Z

A Sociological Study on Depression Among the Students of Dhaka University Mehjabin, Sadia Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person’s thoughts, behavior, feeling and sense of wellbeing. Rates of depression among the students of University of Dhaka are expected to rise rapidly, requiring the collection of research-based data. The purpose of this research is to present a picture of depression related issues faced by students of University of Dhaka. 14 focus group discussions were being held. Data were being collected from 89 participants (age range = 19 to 25) by using exploratory, qualitative approach. Two main analytical themes and related sub-themes were being discovered. The first subject focuses on perception of participants of their mental health status and second one is about coping with depression. Risk group of depression among the students are students who are in first year, students who are facing poverty, students who are married. And this leads to excessive rates of committing suicide and being addicted to drugs. Proper counseling and treatment should be managed for curing depression. This thesis is submitted for the degree of Master of Philosophy.