birangonas
In Bengali, the word Birangona means “brave woman.” The Bangladeshi government gave this title to women who were raped by the Pakistani army in the nine months of the Liberation War of 1971. But the title has come to mean “dishonored” or “violated woman” and is synonymous with rape, abortion, suicide and war. According to Bangladeshi freedom fighters, the Pakistani army raped over 200,000 women during the war..