Md. Sazedul Islam :
International Women’s Day (IWD) is annually held on March 8 to celebrate women’s achievements throughout history and across nations. It is also known as the United Nations (UN) Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace. IWD is celebrated aiming to raise awareness of the challenges, struggles and continuing inequality faced by women worldwide. It celebrates women’s history, highlighting key events, milestones and achievements, and aims to further promote and raise awareness of women’s rights and to achieve equal opportunity status in all walks of life. Women’s equality has made positive gains but the world is still unequal.
Some groups select their own International Women’s Day theme, specific to their local context. IWD is a national observance in many other countries. Many students in schools and other educational settings participate in special lessons, debates or presentations about the importance of women in society, their influence, and issues that affect them. In some countries school children bring gifts to their female teachers and women receive small presents from friends or family members.
The 2014 theme for International Women’s Day is: “Equality for women is progress for all”.
The United Nations began celebrating IWD on 8 March during International Women’s Year 1975. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. IWD first emerged from the activities of labour movements at the turn of the twentieth century in North America and across Europe. Since those early years, International Women’s Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike.
The first International Women’s Day occurred on March 19 in 1911. The inaugural event, which included rallies and organized meetings, was a big success in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The March 19 date was chosen because it commemorated the day that the Prussian king promised to introduce votes for women in 1848. The promise gave hope for equality but it was a promise that he failed to keep. The International Women’s Day date was moved to March 8 in 1913.
IWD is also known as the International Working Women’s Day or United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace which is celebrated every year on 8th of March all across the world in different regions of the countries in order to focus the achievements and contributions of the women in the society. The celebration of this event varies from region to region. Generally, it is celebrated to provide respect to whole women fraternity, appreciate them and to express love for them.
Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human rights. According to a 2013 WHO global study, 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence. However, some national studies show that up to 70 per cent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime from an intimate partner. Much progress has been made to protect and promote women’s rights in recent times. However, nowhere in the world can women claim to have all the same rights and opportunities as men, according to the UN. The majority of the world’s 1.3 billion absolute poor are women. On average, women receive between 30 and 40 percent less pay than men earn for the same work. Women also continue to be victims of violence, with rape and domestic violence listed as significant causes of disability and death among women worldwide.
In Bangladesh, various organizations hold programmes to mark the day.
In Bangladesh, women are still facing torture and harassment in so many ways. The most repressive incidents they face are torture inside house, kidnap, trafficking, rape, acid throwing, burning, killing, mental torture, dowry-related torture, torture during pregnancy and forcing women to take up prostitution as profession. They are also facing problems such as violence at working places, early marriage, forceful abortion and determining gender during pregnancy.
Despite necessary initiatives at public and private level to address the gender-based violence in Bangladesh, majority of the victims do not have access to justice and other services. Rising incidents of sexual harassment and increasing public anger in protest has prompted the Bangladesh government to take action.
In a bid to prevent women repression, the Women and Children Affairs Ministry under its Multi-sectoral programme established National Forensic DNA Profiling Laboratory at Dhaka Medical College campus on January 23, 2006, which is first ever in the country. This laboratory has been providing assistance to police and other law enforcing agencies in curbing serious crimes such as rape and killing. This laboratory gives preference to women repression case.
Bangladesh joined with other parts of the world to combat discrimination, violence and injustice against women. Bangladesh is a signatory to various charters on advancement of women and committed to implement these. Several existing laws have been amended and a few new ones enacted in Bangladesh for prevention of violence against women and girl child. Women and girl child repression prevention courts have been introduced for providing justice to victims and awarding punishment to the offenders. The One Stop Crisis Centre has been established to provide legal, medical and other required assistance to the oppressed women.
The present government is implementing different programmes and projects to empower and establish rights of the women and children by mainstreaming them in the overall development process of the country. The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has undertaken various programmes for alleviating poverty of the women. Prime objective of the efforts is to ensure empowerment, stop violence, prevent trafficking, ensure safety in workplaces and involve women in socio-economic activities.
Although considerable progress has been made, much more still needs to be done to achieve the goals of the IWD. The government hoped that the goals could be achieved in the future with the united efforts of all.
(The writer is a journalist )
