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Ensure equal access to education of girls

Md. Sazedul Islam Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) was celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women. It is an occasion to review how far the women have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize them and the whole world for a meaningful change. Increasingly, IWD is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. The theme this year has been selected as "equal access to education, training and science and technology: pathways to decent work for women." In most developing countries, it is primarily men who are afforded opportunities to seek decent employment. Women are charged with the sole care for the family and household and made dependent on a man's income. As a result, women and girls are routinely kept from receiving education and skills training, and remain illiterate and untrained. IWD was first declared in 1910 with the first IWD event held in 1911. 2011 sees 100 years of International Women's Day being celebrated around the world. Widespread increased activity is anticipated globally on 8 March 2011 honouring 100 years of International Women's Day. The world will celebrate 100 years of progress towards gender equality. IWD, however, is both a day to celebrate and a day to draw attention to the challenges that remains before gender equality is truly realised. Women have made great strides in equality yet there is still a great deal to be achieved on many fronts and the 2011 IWD Centenary will provide a unique and global opportunity to reignite, inspire and channel women's equality for the future. In 1910 in Copenhagen, a group of women in pursuit of equal employment opportunities came together at an International Conference of Working Women and created the idea of celebrating an international day for women. The inaugural of International Women's Day was then honored the following year, in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to build support for achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish Parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance. In 1911, as a result of the Copenhagen initiative, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating 8 March as International Women's Day. For the United Nations, International Women's Day has been observed on 8 March since 1975. The Day is traditionally marked with a message from the Secretary-General. In Bangladesh, discussion, rally, exhibition and other programmes are held to mark the day. Betar, BTV and other TV channels broadcast special programmes to highlight the significance of the Day. National dailies also publish special supplements on the occasion. While IWD may be a day of global celebration, there is no room for complacency as our women still struggle on many fronts. In our country, women have been subjected to exploitation and negligence for various reasons. The most repressive incidents they face are torture inside house, kidnap, women and child trafficking, rape, acid throwing, burning, killing, mental torture, sexual torture of children inside family, dowry related torture, torture during pregnancy and forcing women to take up prostitution as profession. They are also facing problems such as illiteracy, beating, violence at working places, early marriage, forceful abortion, determining gender during pregnancy, suicide, malnutrition and poverty. Our women failed to make progress due to various reasons in the male-dominated society. As women, half of total population, are relatively in disadvantaged position, the government placed more emphasis on ensuring their socio-economic development as we cannot achieve our social, political and economic development keeping them neglected. Bangladesh joined with other parts of the world to combat discrimination, violence and injustice against women. The government's vision is to eliminate violence against women and children through providing comprehensive efforts and making arrangements for developing a violence-free society. The government's mission is to create awareness among the people regarding various types and severity of gender-based violence and make arrangements for reporting all the incidence of violence against women, which will help to develop national database and provide all sorts of support to the victims of violence. The specific goals are to strengthen the existing social institutions to eliminate violence against women and to ensure access to justice for women and children victims of violence. The government has introduced the national policies for the advancement of women. Bangladesh is signatories 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. Bangladesh has made notable progress in health, education, economic and political participation to benefit 75 percent of women and girl children and ultimately the country. The satisfactory result has been achieved in reducing gender gap in education and health sectors. Women's participation has increased