33pc reserved seats for women in parliament demanded

Brac Chairperson Fazle Hasan Abed inaugurates the Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership at a city hotel yesterday. On his right are Nasim Firdaus and Barrister Rabia Bhuiyan and on his left is Salma Khan.Photo: STAR

Speakers at the launch of a new national women's alliance yesterday demanded that 33 percent of seats in parliament be reserved for women and the existing quota system at higher levels of administration and policy-making bodies be reviewed.
More flexible working hours and sexual harassment-free working environment for women should be encouraged, they said, adding that increased awareness at all levels is the precondition to bring about a systematic change in the level of participatory decision-making.
They further said targeted and appropriate training programmes should be introduced for women leadership.
The speakers said this at the launch of Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership at a city hotel with a view to promoting women's leadership in the government as well as in the civil society.
Brac Chairperson Fazle Hasan Abed inaugurated the network as the chief guest.
He said Bangladesh's position is 100 among 128 countries in Gender Equality Index 2007. But it is found that the countries in good position in the index are very egalitarian and have a general consensus in promoting gender equality.
“So, a secular democratic system and a general consensus in promoting gender equality is a must and the newly formed alliance can play an important role in this regard,” he said, adding that the alliance should lobby for large share of women in the government and non-government organisations as well as for building a national consensus.
Abed further said that it can also work with the nurse associations, garment workers and political parties for achieving gender equality in every sector.
He highlighted the Brac's initiative in organising the women in the country and their empowerment.
Executive Secretary of the alliance Nasim Firdaus said the alliance, through active participation of its members, hopes to assist in capacity building and skill development of women aspiring to become leaders in their respective professions.
The alliance will work closely with government and political parties to ensure greater numbers of women in leadership roles, she added.
Presenting a keynote paper, Salma Khan, former chairperson of Cedaw, spoke on the existing opportunities and challenges faced by the country's women in reaching decision-making position in the public and private sectors.
Lack of commitment within the government, political parties and private sector entities to establish the goal of gender balance in power structure and decision-making hinders gender equality in the country, she added.
Salma further said that lack of awareness of the constitutional provisions and international obligation to establish substantive equality of women, inefficacy of quotas or reserved seats in legislative bodies and executive committee of political parties, insufficient machineries and strategies for women's access to decision-making position, discriminatory social attitudes and practices and unequal power relations between men and women within the family hinders gender equality.
Barrister Rabia Bhuiyan, Dr Mahmuda Islam, Ayesha Khanam, Dr Zarina Rahman Khan, Taleya Rehman, Prof Ishrat Shamim and Sara Zaker also took part in the programme.