Need to form caucus for women in JS stressed
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Kamrun Nahar
Woman leaders at a recent workshop stressed the need for forming a caucus for women in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) and a united forum of women to fulfil their demands. They said women cannot be empowered in a society where there is no democratic culture and good governance. "There should be women's caucus where they will work for themselves and be united on their rights irrespective of their political identity," said Shirin Akhter, joint general secretary of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. She made the comment at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day national workshop on 'Promoting Gender-Responsive Democratic Governance', jointly organised by South Asia Partnership (SAP) Bangladesh and SAP International at BRAC Centre Inn in the city on March 20 and 21. "Bangladeshi women are politically empowered to cast their votes and not for contesting polls," said Ms Shirin, also president of Karmojibi Nari. She said now Bangladesh follows laws and policies of international bodies like the United Nations (UN), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and so on as there is no rights of people in the country. "This tendency makes the government unconcerned about implementing the laws for the benefit of people," she added. Former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Choudhury said confidence in women's leadership has increased in Bangladesh with a significant rise in number of woman politicians. "Participation and partnership both are necessary in politics. But in Bangladesh women can participate without any power," said Ms Rasheda. She said it was her experience during her working as an adviser that the mainstream political parties were reluctant to implement various policies for women's development. Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, said woman members of union parishad are given responsibility for three wards. But without proper roles and responsibilities and enough allocation compared to male members, they are unable to fulfil their election pledges. "Though a number of female members are elected in union parishads, they are getting frustrated as they do not have any specific function practically," said Ms Kabir. She said woman parliamentarians too are frustrated as they are facing same sort of problems, especially those who are selected. Khushi Kabir demanded direct election in reserved women's seats in parliament. National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman said empowerment of women would have to be achieved by women themselves and they should be united against all sorts of discrimination against them. The workshop was also addressed, among others, by lawmaker Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, Rajshahi University Public Administration Department Chairman Pranab Kumar Pande, Democracy Watch Executive Director Taleya Rahman and SAP-International Executive Director Rohit Kumar Nepali with SAP-Bangladesh Executive Director Syed Nurul Alam in the chair.
Woman leaders at a recent workshop stressed the need for forming a caucus for women in the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) and a united forum of women to fulfil their demands. They said women cannot be empowered in a society where there is no democratic culture and good governance. "There should be women's caucus where they will work for themselves and be united on their rights irrespective of their political identity," said Shirin Akhter, joint general secretary of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. She made the comment at the inaugural ceremony of a two-day national workshop on 'Promoting Gender-Responsive Democratic Governance', jointly organised by South Asia Partnership (SAP) Bangladesh and SAP International at BRAC Centre Inn in the city on March 20 and 21. "Bangladeshi women are politically empowered to cast their votes and not for contesting polls," said Ms Shirin, also president of Karmojibi Nari. She said now Bangladesh follows laws and policies of international bodies like the United Nations (UN), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and so on as there is no rights of people in the country. "This tendency makes the government unconcerned about implementing the laws for the benefit of people," she added. Former adviser to the caretaker government Rasheda K Choudhury said confidence in women's leadership has increased in Bangladesh with a significant rise in number of woman politicians. "Participation and partnership both are necessary in politics. But in Bangladesh women can participate without any power," said Ms Rasheda. She said it was her experience during her working as an adviser that the mainstream political parties were reluctant to implement various policies for women's development. Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, said woman members of union parishad are given responsibility for three wards. But without proper roles and responsibilities and enough allocation compared to male members, they are unable to fulfil their election pledges. "Though a number of female members are elected in union parishads, they are getting frustrated as they do not have any specific function practically," said Ms Kabir. She said woman parliamentarians too are frustrated as they are facing same sort of problems, especially those who are selected. Khushi Kabir demanded direct election in reserved women's seats in parliament. National Human Rights Commission Chairman Mizanur Rahman said empowerment of women would have to be achieved by women themselves and they should be united against all sorts of discrimination against them. The workshop was also addressed, among others, by lawmaker Nilufar Chowdhury Moni, Rajshahi University Public Administration Department Chairman Pranab Kumar Pande, Democracy Watch Executive Director Taleya Rahman and SAP-International Executive Director Rohit Kumar Nepali with SAP-Bangladesh Executive Director Syed Nurul Alam in the chair.