Jamila Begum is the only female butcher in Bangladesh

At present, women are not lagging behind. They are fighting with men at the same pace. They have already proved that they can do anything that a man can do. Jamila Begum, a 50-year-old lady, is another example of this. But Jamila, who is self-dependent as a butcher, has had to go through many ups and downs to come to this position.

She slaughters three to four cattle every day and eight to ten cattle on Friday in her hand and sells the meat. The customers of Jamila Begum’s meat are people from Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Thakurgaon and Panchagarh districts.

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Jamila Begum is a butcher of that village market at Jharbari Bazar in Birganj, Dinajpur. With 20 years of experience, she can easily understand if a cow is in good health or sick just by touching it. She never purchased sick cows even falling in poverty several times. As a result, any of her cows from after buying till before the slaughtering did not die falling sick.

The feature of her ‘Mayer Doya Mangsha Bhandar’ meat shop is that meat is sold separating from bones here. Then the meat is measured by a digital weight scale and then sold. The meat of Jamila’s shop goes to various events, including marriage ceremony, circumcision, to the surrounding villages and towns. With two decades of continuous experience, she has become trustworthy to her customers. She is known as ‘Jamila Kashai’ (Butcher Jamila) in the area.

Becoming a professional slaughterperson, Jamila said that her husband being a slaughterman, she had the opportunity to watch his work from very close. She assisted her husband. Poverty forced her to pick up this profession

Jamila Begum’s husband went elsewhere leaving her. And then using her previous experience, Jamila started working in the meat shop. When her husband left her, the amount of her debt was around Tk 3 lakh. To repay that loan and support her children, she once started working in a meat shop. Then she started the business herself.

“In the beginning, there were many obstacles. Many people wanted to shut down my business by spreading superstitions and complaining about me but I survived. Thanks to my mother’s support, said Jamila.”

The confident Jamila said, “It is not written beside any profession that which one man will do and which one woman will do. Doing business with honesty and achieving success are important.”

Hundred percent professional butcher Jamila said about the daily routine of her business, “Every morning I disinfect the shop with pesticides. Every day employees follow this instruction.  Each cow is examined by a veterinarian from the neighboring Debarupara village to see if it is physically fit. Following rules, a cow is slaughtered by a pious man.”

This news was originally published in a web portal in Bengali. Reading the news, I have become motivated and translated it into English. If you want to read the original news, you can visit the below link- 

https://www.amadershomoy.com/bn/2019/12/03/1033213.htm