Reimagining Feminist Publics in Bangladesh: Digital Participation and Platform Governance

The expansion of digital technologies in Bangladesh has opened new spaces for democratic expression, activism, and civic engagement, particularly for women and gender-diverse groups. As internet connectivity has grown, so too has the potential for feminist voices to reshape the public sphere through online networks, digital campaigns, and grassroots mobilization. This paper explores how digital participation is transforming feminist publics in Bangladesh, while also examining how platform governance shapes, limits, or enables these democratic innovations. Drawing on secondary literature, the study situates Bangladesh within broader global debates on feminist digital politics, participatory democracy, and governance in the digital age. The feminist public sphere in Bangladesh has evolved from traditional community-based activism to hybrid forms of engagement that integrate online and offline strategies. Movements such as “#MosqueMeToo,” “#AmiToo,” and local gender justice campaigns illustrate how social media platforms function as both political arenas and solidarity spaces. These digital feminist networks have amplified marginalized voices, encouraged public debate on sexual violence, and connected local struggles with transnational feminist movements. Through a review of existing research, this paper identifies three intersecting dimensions shaping feminist digital participation in Bangladesh. First, access and digital literacy remain uneven across class, rural–urban, and generational divides. While middle-class urban women use digital tools for advocacy and entrepreneurship, women in rural areas face barriers to internet access, affordability, and safety. Second, platform design and governance reflect global hierarchies of power. Algorithms that amplify sensational content, moderation systems that silence dissent, and the absence of localized feminist policies all affect how Bangladeshi users experience the digital public sphere. Third, political and institutional constraints narrow the space for feminist critique, pushing activists toward informal or encrypted networks of expression. The analysis highlights how feminist digital participation functions as a form of democratic innovation, challenging exclusionary norms and demanding accountability from both state institutions and technology companies. Online collectives, such as Feminists Across Generations and Naripokkho’s digital advocacy, have experimented with participatory dialogue, digital storytelling, and collaborative campaigns to promote rights-based reform. These examples demonstrate that feminist publics in Bangladesh are not passive consumers of technology; rather, they creatively adapt and politicize digital tools to foster inclusion, and social change. However, sustaining these innovations requires a supportive governance environment—one that upholds digital rights, ensures gender-sensitive platform policies, and strengthens protection against online violence. The paper argues that feminist digital participation in Bangladesh reveals the ambivalent nature of platform governance. On one hand, platforms like Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) facilitate collective action, transnational solidarity, and gendered knowledge exchange. On the other hand, they reproduce global inequalities by prioritizing corporate control over community accountability. Therefore, feminist democratic innovations must not only engage in digital participation but also critically contest the structures that govern digital life. This includes advocating for feminist principles in data policy, algorithmic transparency, and online content regulation. This study contributes to understanding how gendered participation, technological governance, and democratic transformation intersect in the Global South, offering insights for scholars and practitioners seeking to advance feminist digital futures.