Preronar Kotha with Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP: A Champion of Women’s Empowerment

Bangladesh has made noteworthy progress in the past two decades in improving the lives of women and girls. For instance, the country has witnessed a significant decline in the maternal mortality rate, fertility rate, and increase in the gender parity in school enrolment. In the education sector, while the country has reached nearly universal primary school enrolment, secondary school enrolments for girls have also increased from 39 percent in 1998 to 67 percent in 2017 (World Bank). Even the participation of women in the labour force has increased from 15.8 percent in 1995-96 to 35.6 percent in 2016 (BBS). Over the last 20 years, the government has taken several initiatives to empower women through the implementation of different laws and policies that ensured an inclusive progressive economy and made Bangladesh a role model for women empowerment and women-focused development.

One of the prominent female political leaders of the country, who has been actively promoting, advocating, and facilitating women empowerment and human rights in Bangladesh is the Honourable Speaker of the National Parliament, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, MP. On the Season Finale of 'Preronar Kotha' Season Two, we had the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart conversation with the veteran leader and learn more about her thoughts on promoting women empowerment, her inspirations and her vision for the future of Bangladesh.

Dr Chaudhury was born in a family with a strong inclination towards politics, and her father was a close associate of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This had shaped her interest in politics from an early age and she realised that law as a profession would help her in building a career in this field, and education in this discipline would support her goals, "I started practicing at the Supreme Court after completing my studies [LLB and LLM from the University of Dhaka] and from then on I eventually entered politics." Later, she went to the University of Essex in the United Kingdom to complete her Ph.D. under the Commonwealth Scholarship of the UK government.

"I was appointed as the State Minister in the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in 2009 and had worked there for three and a half years on issues such as women empowerment. Through the years, we have worked to introduce allowances for widows, women on maternity leave, lactating mothers, among other initiatives, as part of increasing social security. These interventions are focused on the welfare of women, which truly is a sign of an inclusive economic development," the Honourable Speaker further added while reflecting on her role as a State Minister.

While emphasising how social safety allowances for women have helped them overcome poverty, Dr Chaudhury said, "If we look at the feminisation of poverty, we will find poverty has a differentiated impact on women. These women-centric social safety mechanisms are very effective in supporting the affected women."

She also highlighted the entrepreneurial capacity of grassroots women and how it can increase their economic independence and improve their well-being as well as that of their families, "The more these grassroots women will have access to income-generating skills, the more they will gain self-sufficiency to get out of the poverty cycle. I always focus on two aspects. The first is that capacity building of women must get more priority, whether that involves including them in IT or education or any other skills development programme. These skills can provide women with opportunities for livelihood so that their development is self-sustaining. Secondly, these skills must be accompanied with equal opportunities; we cannot provide opportunities to women without having equipped them with the necessary skills they need to succeed. Hence, these two need to be prioritised in tandem."

"Women entrepreneurs in our country are transcending all barriers and obstacles to create a position of their own. Take the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. Any pandemic or natural crises of any sort has a differentiated impact on women. They often have to bear a disproportionate burden in the aftermath of these adversities. And, they have to toil more, putting in double the effort in persevering and carrying on during these times. During COVID-19, the women entrepreneurs are facing a similar situation," the Honourable Speaker added.

With regard to the stimulus package announced by the government, Dr Chaudhury said, "Of the several stimulus packages announced by our Honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, there are packages to support the SMEs from which the women entrepreneurs would also benefit. Banks and financial institutions now need to ensure that these stimulus packages are effectively disbursed, so that these provisions are accessible to women and are reaching those in need. Our Honourable Prime Minister has arranged the resources but we need to ensure these reach the beneficiaries. These, I believe, are very important considerations towards driving our economic recovery."

She believes that we as a society need to ensure that girls are education-oriented from their childhood, "Considering our socio-economic background, we need to ensure that our girls are enrolled into academic institutes from their childhood, just as much as the boys, and families give similar priorities on educating both. If families, failing to understand the value of higher education for women, prioritise the education of boys over girls, it could form a barrier to women's empowerment ... Much of the progress we have had so far in gender-based education is owed to the scholarships that we have made available to women. And the stipends are disbursed through mobile phones, and in these families, the phone is usually owned by the mother. This also becomes an encouraging factor for families in sending their daughters to school. Additionally, this also has been vital in keeping the number of child marriages down."

When asked what it is like to be the first woman Speaker in the history of Bangladesh, she said, "Being a Speaker was definitely challenging, especially as the first female Speaker. I have always felt that my performance is intricately linked to the future of every woman in Bangladesh, because if I had faltered, people would have criticised me more as a woman and less as a Speaker, saying, 'She failed because she is a woman.' I had to keep that in mind, and I still continue to do so." However, she did mention that the strong presence of women political leaders in Bangladesh does have a profound impact and it sends a very strong message to women. In recognition of her lifelong work for women empowerment, the Women Economic Forum awarded her the "Women of the Decade in Public Life and Leadership Award".

Dr Chaudhury is a role model for every aspiring young professional and every woman who dreams to achieve big. "Our biggest strength is our youth, who form a large part of our population. They are the key to a bright future for Bangladesh. By giving our youth adequate opportunities, we can ensure continued progress for Bangladesh towards becoming the country that the Father of the Nation dreamt of," she said as her eyes sparkled with belief in the potential of the young generation.

The interview was conducted by Dr Melita Mehjabeen, Associate Professor, IBA, the University of Dhaka as part of "Preronar Kotha", a thought leadership broadcast by Prerona Foundation. The full interview is available for streaming on the YouTube channel of Prerona Foundation.

 https://youtu.be/sjNvFdecpGw