Resist early marriage, educate girls

Early marriage hinders women's economic empowerment and makes them prone to gender-based violence, said speakers at a discussion in Rajshahi yesterday.

It is also one the most significant reasons for girls dropping out of school, even though educating them was a major priority of the government and non-government organisations.

They were speaking at the discussion on “Strategy to stop gender-based violence” at the conference room of Rajshahi-based NGO -- Association for Community Development (ACD) -- in the city's Sagarpara area.

ACD in collaboration with Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) organised the event.

The aim of the discussion was to gather grassroots opinion for successful implementation of a project to strengthen the civil society and public institutions to address violence against women.

As a result, women are lagging behind in the race for achieving economic empowerment. So, everybody needs to play a proactive role in resisting early marriage and ensuring proper education for girls, speakers said.

Also, by raising awareness and changing social norms through education and economic empowerment, gender-based violence can be resisted, they added.

Beginning in December 2016, the project is likely to end in November 2021, said speakers. Once completed, it would benefit some 10,370 women, men, youths, adolescents and garment workers of eight districts of Rajshahi, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sirajganj, Kurigram, Jhenidah, Satkhira and Bandarban.

The speakers said existing laws of the land cannot be imposed properly due to a lack of consensus among people against early marriage. Also, some people are conducting such marriages without any government permit.

They again stressed the need for education as it can help eliminate various social hurdles and enhance the living standards of rural women.

ACD Executive Director Salima Sarwar chaired the programme. Rajshahi Additional Deputy Commissioner Nasima Khatun, MJF Gender Adviser Banasree Mitra Neogi and its Deputy Programme Manager Shoma Datta spoke among others.

Around 25 persons including government officials, law enforcers, lawyers, union parishad chairmen, field-level development activists and journalists attended the event.