Women urged to join active politics to ensure rights

Law Minister Moudud Ahmed speaks at a roundtable on 'Reserved seats for women in parliament: Our expectation' at the National Press Club in the city yesterday. PHOTO: STAR

If women get proper education and increasingly take part in the political process, there would be no need for reserved seats for them in parliament in the near future, he said at a roundtable in the city.

Organised by Bangladesh Parliamentary Journalist Association (BPJA) and Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST), the roundtable on 'Reserved Seats for Women in the Parliament: Our Expectation' was presided over by BPJA president Shajahan Sardar.

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Soma Islam of BLAST presented the keynote paper at the roundtable.

Moudud Ahmed said that without active participation in politics, women could not be able to uphold their position in political arena.

He urged the leaders of the women movement to play an active role in political parties to ensure their rights.

Referring to the various measures for education and empowerment of women, the law minister said girl children marked the highest enrollment in primary education among the South Asian countries.

Turning to various aspects of the bill for the reserved seats for women, he said it would be better if all political parties in parliament take part in enacting the bill.

He, however, regretted that the ruling party was waiting for one and a half months to finalise the bill in the parliamentary standing committee, but the main opposition did not respond to it.

"The present government in the bill has kept provisions for raising the number of seats to 45 and distribution of those among the political parties in parliament according to their representation," Moudud said.

Former law minister Abdul Matin Khosru said women should increasingly participate in the politics to establish their rights.

He also called for direct elections to the seats, reserved for women.

Azaduzzaman Noor MP, Vice-Chairman of BLAST Justice Naimuddin Ahmed, President of the Platform to Resist Violence against Women Hasna Moudud, journalist Safiqur Rahman and General Secretary of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad Aysha Khanam also spoke.