On November 10, 2023 Friday Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) held a certificate giving & closing ceremony for the 13th online certificate course on Gender, Women’s empowerment, and Development 2023. The event took place at the Sufia Kamal Auditorium, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in Dhaka. Certificates were handed over to the participants of the course during the ceremony.
The event was chaired by the President of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Dr. Fauzia Moslem. General Secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Maleka Banu, and Joint General Secretary, Shima Moslem, delivered speeches at the event. Distinguished educationalist and researcher, Dr. Rownak Jahan, attended the meeting as chief guest. Dr. Ayesha Banu, Professor of the Women and Gender Studies Department at the University of Dhaka, spoke on behalf of the resource person of this course. Supreme Court lawyer, Mr. Helal Uddin, expressed his views among the students, along with Ellen Biswas, Regional Manager of the Gender Justice and Diversity Division at BRAC, and Shitanath Nath, Manager of Takko Holding GMBH.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Maleka Banu, and Joint General Secretary, Shima Moslem, discussed the importance of the organization’s certificate course in promoting women’s rights. They highlighted the challenges of changing societal mindsets and the need for policy-level equality. The organization aims to empower women by not only providing knowledge but also fostering a change in individual mindsets and promoting equality in personal and professional settings.
Educationalist & researcher Dr. Rownak Jahan emphasizes the need for gradual work to establish gender equality and highlights the progress made in the development of women over the past 50 years. However, she also points out that many women still face challenges, such as lack of property rights and increased violence. To address these issues Dr. Rownak Jahan suggests strengthening the women’s movement at the root level.
Dr. Ayesha Banu, professor, the Women and Gender Studies Department of the University of Dhaka, said that since 2013, the Gender Certificate Course has brought about a change in the understanding of the movement. Each session is educational. It has been possible to integrate academic knowledge and activism of women’s movements through this course. The objective of this course will be fulfilled by using the network of BMP to establish gender equality between men and women.
Supreme Court lawyer Mr. Helal Uddin, Gender Justice and Diversity Division Regional Manager of Brac (Jhalakathi), and Mr. Shitanath Nath, Manager of Takko Holding GMBH, expressed their reactions among the students, stating that revising the courses has helped them understand the gender disparities in the legal field and development work. They emphasized the need for a rich intellectual space to bring about change and highlighted the practicality of gender issues in the workplace.
Dr. Fauzia Moslem spoke about the work of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in promoting gender equality and fighting violence against women. She emphasized the need to address the power imbalance between men and women and take action against anti-women propaganda. She called on students to join the women’s human rights movement.
The course started on 20th July 2023 and ended on 19th October 2023 and it included 28 online classes, 1 field visit, 3 group work sessions, and 1 panel discussion. A total of 43 students took part in the course and received certificates at the end. In the closing ceremony, nearly a hundred students, teachers, and organization officials attended.
Rina Ahmed, Training, Research, and Library secretary of BMP, conducted the event.
