Women must be assertive to end repression: Seminar

Women have to be assertive to come out of conflicts and situations that repress them, said participants at a seminar yesterday.

One Anwara Begum from Nilphamari spoke about a women's group in her village, Paschimdilpukur, that stopped gambling by males in the village, which often caused domestic violence.

Another participant, Shelly from Tangail, shared how she and her sister filed a case against their father for depriving them of property and won.

Anwara and Shelly were among 100 participants, from different universities, NGOs, government bodies, farming and indigenous communities, who attended the daylong seminar on "Peace Talks" held at Bishwo Shahitto Kendro.        

The event was organised by international organisations -- PeaceWomen Across the Globe and Sangat -- and two local NGOs -- Nijera Kori and Praggyashor.

"Women have to realise how they are affected by the discriminatory system of a patriarchal society and raise their voice to change the situation," said Meghna Guhathakurta, executive director of Research Initiatives in Bangladesh.

She read the concept paper which highlighted United Nations Security Council resolution 1325, adopted in October, 2000. 

Gabriele Grossenbacher, a volunteer of Peace Women across the Globe, said they undertook a project "WikiPeaceWomen" to collect one million stories of women across the world who contributed to establishing peace at grassroots to national level.

Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori, and gender specialist Fouzia Khandakar Eva also spoke.