Odhikar, UBINIG and Narigrantha Prabartana jointly organised a 3 day (6-8 March, 2010) programme on women’s struggles on the occasion of the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day.
Under the title‘The direction of the women’s rights movement’, a roundtable meeting was held in the National Press Club on 6th March, 2010. More than 100 women activists working in different parts of the country attended the meeting and discussed the constraints and achievements of their work in the society. Executive Director of UBINIG, Farida Akhtar talked about the Women Development Policy. She said that the government must consult grassroots people before framing the policy. The women rights activists criticised the title of the Women Development Policy insisting that the government should formulate the policy focusing on how to establish the rights of women rather than the ‘development of women’. Taskin Fahmina, Programme Coordinator of Odhikar said ‘Acid violence, rape, dowry, domestic violence, eve teasing, early and forced marriage and unequal wages are widespread in the society. Access to justice for women is still far away and patriarchal concepts are deep rooted in the society. ’She added, ‘Awareness building in the society, making the law enforcement agencies accountable and strengthening the judiciary are the keys to create positive changes for women in the society.’ TV anchor Kazi Jesin criticised the fact that women in the media are portrayed as a commodities. Women from grassroots levels from different districts talked about not only their achievements, but also the health issues of women, violence and non cooperation.
Women’s struggles occasion-Event report-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
