Young activists find creative solutions to gender inequality

People of a remote village in Sunamganj were stunned to see teenage girls competing alongside boys at a cricket tournament, considering they do not even allow girls and boys to take a walk together.

But the 50 young boys and girls from that village in Jamalganj upazila did not pay heed to any obstacles, and remained focused on their goal.

Under an initiative titled "Tipping Point" by Care Bangladesh, youth clubs called Fun Centres were established in multiple villages across the country. Each centre has 25 boys and 25 girls as members who engage in promoting equality in all spheres of life.

During a roundtable discussion titled "Boli Kotha Okopote" organised by Care Bangladesh at The Daily Star Centre yesterday, young women activists spoke about overcoming social stigmas to ensure gender equality in their communities.

Sadia Akhter from Jamalganj Upazila said, "When we decided to organise a cricket tournament with participation of boys and girls, villagers began discouraging us, saying such initiatives are unheard of and girls should only do household duties. They began complaining about us to our parents."

"So we decided to include parents' teams in the tournament as well. We had fathers' teams and mothers' teams," Sadia explained.

"With great difficulty, we were able to make people understand that if a boy can play in the field, then a girl has the same right to play. When the tournament started, we had bigger crowds than boys-only tournaments. We realised, the bigger the challenge, the bigger the success," said Sadia.

Speakers at the roundtable spoke on the many kinds of social obstacles they had to face, including child marrage, violence, hindrance in education, not being allowed to do cultural activities, and not being allowed to even walk on their own.

Jagannath University student Mousumi Yeasmin said, "All of my cousins were married off before they could sit for their SSC. I was also threatened with child marriage."

"Luckily I was able to resist these pressures, and even passed my HSC exam. After that, I left for Dhaka without telling anyone in my village. I attended the university admission test and I did well in that too," she said.

"I rebelled against the pressures. My brother stopped talking to me after that. But today I am receiving higher education and that is what matters," Mousumi said.

Rawnak Jahan, team leader of Tipping Point initiative of Care Bangladesh moderated the roundtable.