M. Sadman Safi Protik
At first, a question for all the readers. Do you know who the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is? Or who is the Speaker of the National Assembly in Bangladesh? Or who is the Leader of the Opposition Party? I think you all know the answers. They hold the chairs to control an entire nation. Who are they in terms of gender? The answer is women. But, can we still say that women’s empowerment has increased in the country?

These are the top posts in a country. However, women’s empowerment will not be judged only by women who are sitting at the top of society. In order to see the empowerment of women, we have to keep in mind the women starting from the grassroots level in our country.

In the social situation of our country, women are victims of discrimination and exploitation in various ways. We can see, in industries and agricultural activities there are 80%-90% participants are women. However, about 90 percent of the women employed in agriculture work unpaid. On the other hand, women are paid less than men in the industrial sector.

Bangladesh is one of the largest textiles producing and exporting country in the world. In the garment industry, we see that more than 80% of the labor force are women.

But there is the inequality in the promotion of men and women. Because only in the case of workers, women workers are seen more. And men in high positions are dominating.

Let’s tell a story of mine. As being from a middle-class family, I always use public transport. The bus I used to sit on when I came home from varsity came from Gazipur. It was about 7 o’clock in the evening. I noticed a 25- to 30-year-old woman in the back seat of the bus crying. At first glance it seemed that she was educated. Hesitantly, I asked her why she was crying. Then what she said is very tragic.

In her words,” Suddenly this afternoon I got a call that my younger brother was very ill and he had to be taken to the hospital. I told my supervisor that I needed to leave now. Then he started behaving badly towards me and at one stage started abusing me in vulgar language. Then they fired me and they didn’t pay me for my work.” Is it acceptable from an educated society?

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, The Father of the Nation, started the process of women’s development through the active participation of women in all spheres of state and public life and the establishment of equal rights of women in the Constitution of Bangladesh.

In the history of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu’s daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given to two women leader the responsibility of Home Minister and Foreign Minister in her first government to ensure their participation in politics for women’s empowerment.

She has increased the number of women seats in Parliament from 30 to 50. Women representatives are being elected through union council elections and direct voting. But the prejudice that ‘women will always be left behind’ is not coming down from our society.

Empowerment is not a human philosophy. Abuse of power, whether male or female, is not done with good sense. Therefore, along with the empowerment of women, let the good intellect of women rise, let them be freed from all mental slavery and let them move forward in a balanced manner without being a competitor of men and bring development of the country and society.

All this is about women’s empowerment. Now let’s talk about child marriage. Which is another terrible social disease. Despite various initiatives to prevent child marriage in Bangladesh, an average of 65% of women are still in the throes of marriage before the age of 18 (according to the State of the World’s Children 2015, a UNICEF report). Despite some development indicators such as maternal and child mortality, Bangladesh still lags far behind in child marriage. According to UNFPA, Bangladesh has the highest rate of child marriage in South Asia.

The reasons for child marriage are various. These include: poverty, early social marriages, dowry, social insecurity of girls, ignorance, fulfillment of family promises, lack of awareness, prejudice, social instability, burden on girls, non-enforcement of child marriage laws, etc.

Among the factors mentioned, the deterioration of the girl’s safety and law and order situation is very important in today’s context. People are apprehensive about the increasing rate of violence against women on various levels and in various forms, including rape, murder and acid throwing. And so, no one feels at peace and comfort with a girl at home.

According to a report published by UNICEF, child marriage of girls gives birth to 200,000 children a year with low birth weight and severe malnutrition. The first thing we need to do to prevent child marriage is to ensure the safe passage of girls. Educational institutions, workplaces, roads and public transport should be women friendly and free from sexual harassment. It is very important to create employment opportunities for women according to their qualifications at different levels.

We need to pay more attention to the fact that less educated and less educated girls can be covered by technical and vocational training. Women are much more creative and responsible than men in financial activities. That’s why once Nepoleon said,” Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilized and educated nation.”

The writer is a student of Law at North South University