Women march for democracy in Bangladesh

Staff Correspondent | Published: Mar 12,2021



Fifty women rights organisations, alliances, networks and forums march for democracy in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Friday, marking International Women’s Day.- New Age photo

Fifty women rights organisations, alliances, networks and forums marched for democracy in the capital and elsewhere in the country on Friday, marking International Women’s Day, which was observed on March 8 in Bangladesh and elsewhere.

Women rights activists and leaders at the event in Dhaka said that without democracy women’s emancipation cannot be established and their rights cannot be protected.

The women under the banner of the International Women’s Day celebration committee started the march from Shaheed Noor Hossain Chattar at Gulistan around 9:30 am to Suhrawardy Uddyan, where they also held cultural programmes.

Participants held placards and chanted slogans demanding democracy in the country for their emancipation and demanded to stop women oppression.

Kamrun Nahar, a member of Naripokkho, one of the leading organisations of the march, read out a declaration at Suhrawardy Uddyan.

She said that the march was for upholding everything they achieved in 50 years of independence and for a smooth going forward to the future.

‘Without democracy, women’s achievement will go in vain and it will hamper their way forward,’ she said.

In the declaration, the committee placed 11-point demands, including repeal of the Digital Security Act, repeal of the religion-based family acts for ensuring equality between men and women in social and family life, an amendment to all discriminatory laws in light of the UN convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, equal property rights for children despite sexual identity, ensuring accountability of administration and steps to curb corruption.

They also demanded a positive presentation of women in the textbook.