Rohingya Women Rise Up In Bangladesh's Refugees Camps

COX'S BAZAR, BANGLADESH - OCTOBER 28: Omal Khair looks through photos on her phone on October 28, 2019 in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Omal Khair, 19, is a media fellow with Doha Debates and Fortify Rights. She is part of a one year program that equipped three young refugees with mobile phones, trained them on the basics of photography, and they are now documenting their lives inside the refugee camps for an entire year on Instagram. Her handle is Omalkha. Before she joined this program Omal wasn't interested in social media. Sometimes she saw photographers working for NGOs in Myanmar, and was inspired by them. "It was a hidden dream for me to do this profession. The first time I uploaded a picture I didn't know what was going to happen. Within 5 minutes people started liking my photos, it made me feel so happy. People from foreign countries were messaging me telling me that they liked my photos. It made me feel so proud. This inspires me to try harder. Life is different now. Slowly I have fallen in love with everything about photography. Through my images, I'm telling people what the situation is here. Omal says; My community doesn't support me at all. They spread rumors about me. They think that women should stay inside and not do any work outside. They were always against me because I went to school. My father has been my biggest supporter. He's an Imam, and when people ask him why he let me go to school, he would tell them that Islam doesn't say women can't get an education." Before coming to Bangladesh, Rohingya women's participation in public life was highly restricted, and they had little meaningful involvement in public decision making. In a conservative culture where women are expected to remain home, women are changing Rohingya culture and patriarchal norms since coming to Bangladesh, by taking up jobs for the first time, becoming leaders, and gaining awareness of empowerment and their basic rights. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)