Nazneen Akhtar: A Case Study

Contributed by Participatory Development Action Program

Nazneen Akhtar, age 35, is a housewife and a home-based worker. Her husband, Md. Aftab, is a guard. Nazneen has two daughters.

Nazneen’s family was in great need, and her husband’s monthly salary was meagre. So, Nazneen thought of earning some money to reduce the family’s needs and to educate her daughters so that they could become human beings.

While sitting at home and looking after the family, she does odd jobs such as Karchupi, stone-pasting, tailoring, and lehenga cutting. She does whatever work she can. In this way, she helps the family and also takes care of her daughters’ education.

Currently, Nazneen is working as a lehenga cutter. She earns 4 taka for cutting one piece. Nazneen can cut 30 to 35 pieces of lehenga every day. Her income is around 120 to 150 taka per day. In this way, Nazneen earns 4,000 to 4,500 taka per month.

Nazneen is a housewife and a home-based worker, as well as a group leader. She is the group leader of the PDAP women’s group, which has 10 members. She meets with them twice a month, and they make the women and men of the area aware of the development of the area and their rights.

Nazneen is also involved with Breaking the Silence.

Nazneen said, “While smartphones have their advantages, many people fall into various traps because of smartphones.” Last month, their group solved a problem involving the publication of an offensive picture of a girl in the area. The boy lived next door to the girl.

To protect women and children from eve-teasing and sexual harassment, a meeting was held with the police, lawyers, teachers, doctors, ward secretaries, and prominent people of the area with Breaking the Silence.