Dhaka, Monday, June 8, 2009 - 12:41am Women lawmakers of the ninth parliament at an orientation programme yesterday pledged to work together for empowering the womenfolk politically and towards removing disparity between men and women.
They said it is time all women stood under a single umbrella and worked on a common agenda to serve society and the nation.
"Formation of a 'caucus' with all-party participation of women lawmakers can be the best solution for empowering women politically which will play a role in bringing about positive changes in society," Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni said while wrapping up the second day's orientation programme held at Hotel Sonargaon.
The National Democratic Institute (NDI) and Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership (BDAWL) jointly hosted the three-day course.
Among others, Executive Director of Ain-0-Salish Kendra and former adviser of caretaker government Sultana Kamal, former member of Queensland Parliament, Australia, Dr Lesley Clark and Prof of Public Administration Department of Dhaka University Zarina Rahman Khan joined the programme.
Dipu Moni said coordination between women, both in and outside parliament, is urgently needed to work for the nation and society as some misunderstanding apparently exists.
"If we can ensure a united platform of women, we'll be able to play role in formulating government policies through reflecting our desires," Dipu Moni said about the effective way of ensuring welfare of her community in this paternal society.
She said if government policies are formulated only by men, those will appear as imbalanced towards women. "We've to come out from men-controlled society and culture."
The Foreign Minister said she initiated a move to form 'caucus' few years back but the move could not succeed due to non-cooperation from a political party.
"We're now in good position in terms of number in parliament. This time it will be easier to make the move successful," Dr Moni told her audience of lady Members of Parliament, assuring her all-out cooperation in this regard.
She said narrow-minded partisan position should be removed from all and it is important to find a common ground for bringing about changes in the disparate society.
The Minister said they would start networking with international organizations through the platform - 'caucus' - for sharing ideas and experiences.
"I think we should work firmly to remove imbalance and discrimination from society and for this unity is needed," she said.
She informed that a conference would be organized in the parliament soon as part of 'caucus' formation.
Dr Moni said they would find out an alternative to 'reserved seat' as many women lawmakers have objection to such segmentation.
- UNB, Dhaka
