Rasheda K Chowdhury speaks to DOT :
According to statistics, female students outnumber males at a primary level. What if someone said we should send these women and girls from schools, colleges and universities to their homes without delay? What if someone said sending them to educational institutes means they’ll be unveiled? They’ll disobey the patriarchy? They’ll be fought over by men? – Are such questions acceptable? We had to hear such statements from a religious leader on a Friday. These statements hurt us, incite us. They raise an alarm on hindering our progress. At Chattagram’s Hatjari, Hefazati Islam’s Ameer Shah Ahmad Shafi said not to let our daughters study in schools and colleges, maximum class five or six; if women become educated, men will come and take them away. As an human rights activist and as someone who continues to work diligently to defend human rights, I want to say that these statements are completely unwanted and unwelcome. Bangladesh is blessed with women leadership. Women have led this nation for the last three decades. Even the opposition was led by women. The speaker of the House is a woman. Women have a significant presence in all spheres of society and it fascinates all. Then why is there such a vicious effort to push us back?
We should not consider those who want to stifle women’s progress to be weak. They advance through nefarious means. They drive a wedge between families and society. By spreading fear, they seek to rule the resulting darkness. We must have to make a combined stand against them. All of society’s intellectuals have to come forward. I would specially like to call forward everyone associated with education and culture. We need effort from everyone at a personal level; a united effort; we want to dispose of these non-communal forces.
Rasheda K Chowdhury was an advisor to the former caretaker government
Interview by Fahim Bijoy
Translated by Abrar Hussain