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| Ayesha Khanam, Farida Akhtar, Salma Ali, Meher Afroze |
Equality
for women in all aspects of life including politics, administration, home and
workplace, pay and perks, is elusive, as they are still behind in economic and
political participation and opportunities, 44 years after independence of the
country. The Constitution of Bangladesh guarantees equal rights for both men
and women in all spheres of state and public life.
Women
remain under-represented in politics, although the two main political parties
are headed by women in our country, as they constitute less than five per cent
of the central leaders of mainstream political parties.
There
are 69 out of 350 women parliamentarians, of whom 50 are from reserved seats,
less than five per cent women are employed in policy making positions in civil
service and judiciary, meager numbers in economic bodies, police and army,
women rights activists said.
Although
the empowerment of women and their participation in education, socio-economic
activity and trade has made some stride in the last two decades, they are still
not safe at home and offices, where they often face sexual harassment and
violence, alleged women rights activists.
Women
make up half of the nation’s population and the existing patriarchal system and
its strong reservations regarding women in leadership and management positions
in economic and political organisations, is huge obstacle in ensuring equality
for women, said Farida Akhtar, executive director at Nari Grantha Prabartana
and Salma Ali executive director Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association.
‘In
some cases many existing laws continue to treat women and girls as second class
citizens with regard to their marital rights, divorce, parental rights,
inheritance and property rights, said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president
Ayesha Khanam. State minister for women and children affairs, Meher Afroze
Chumki, said elimination of disparity and discrimination against women was long
process. ‘We achieved some significant improvement in education, health and
business sector, but there is still a long way to go for elimination of
discrimination towards women,’ she said.
Farida,
Salma and Ayesha all said that the levels of reported violence against women
was horrifying, and unreported were probably worse.
Bangladesh
Mahila Parishad said that from 2008 to 2014, a total of 34,062 incidents of
violence against women were reported in 14 national newspapers. It said 1,742
women were killed for dowry, 705 were killed after rape, 152 died in acid
attacks.
‘Women
are not safe in any place, not even at home,’ said Ayesha.
About
87 per cent husbands abuse their wives in Bangladesh, according to a nationwide
survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics released in December 2013. It also
said that 29 per cent women complain of sexual harassment at workplace, 43 per
cent while travelling, nine per cent at markets.
Salma
and Farida said sexual harassment at workplace still continues unabated
although there is provision of setting up complaint centres at all workplaces
and educational institutes to curb such incidents. ‘Almost all complain centres
are ineffective,’ said Salma.
Farida
said that female workers in the formal and informal sector do not get equal pay
like their male counterparts. ‘Women, particularly those in non-government
agencies and garments, do not even get maternity leave,’ she said.
Women
rights activists said the male-dominated political parties were not interested
to pave the way for engaging more women in policymaking positions. ‘Money and
muscle employed by political keep women away from politics, although they have
interest in joining politics,’ Ayesha said.
‘Women
in Bangladesh have been demanding direct election to seats in the parliament
since 1987. This is yet to happen due to lack of political will of the two
female heads of the two large parties, who have been in power since 1991,’ Farida
said.
Salma
and Ayesha said the government did not take much initiative to implement the
women development policy.
Meher
Afroze Chumki said that government had taken elaborate programmes to implement
the development policy. ‘Mindsets will not change overnight; it will take some
time,’ she said. ‘Violence had decreased a lot. Newspapers hardly carry news
related violence nowadays,’ she said. ‘As education among
women has increased, it will soon be reflected in others sectors, including
administration and business,’ she added.
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