Civil Society Calls for Women’s Land Rights Ahead of Elections
Civil society representatives have urged candidates contesting the upcoming national parliamentary elections to pledge to establish women's land ownership. They said that although women have a role in water, swamps, and forests, they have no rights to land. However, women's safe agriculture protects the environment. Therefore, if women farmers' rights to land are established, the country will move forward.
They said all this at a national seminar titled 'Thirteenth Parliamentary Elections: Rights of Landless, Women, Indigenous Peoples and Marginalized Communities' organized by the Association for Land Reform of Bangladesh (ALRD) at the CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital on Wednesday, January 28.
In the seminar chaired by ALRD Chairperson Khushi Kabir, ALRD Deputy Director Rawshan Jahan Moni said in his keynote speech that although rural women are involved in the overall development of the country, especially in the production of agricultural products, their effective ownership and control over land is still negligible. Which is not more than 4 to 5 percent. Moreover, they are not recognized as farmers.
Participating in the discussion, poet and journalist Sohrab Hasan said, where women do not own land, how will women have equal rights? There is a lot of anxiety surrounding the upcoming elections. Everyone needs to play a strong role in establishing women's rights in this election. Recently, ugly statements have been made about Dhaka University students. Only those who can show such arrogance are now ruling politics. Initiatives must be taken in the next parliament to eliminate all discrimination against women.
Rajequzzaman Ratan, Co-General Secretary of the Socialist Party of Bangladesh, said that 113 loan defaulters are running for office in this parliamentary election. If we return the money owed to them, it is possible to repay all the outstanding debts of the country. Loans must be arranged for women.
He also said, we are stuck with these three fears: land, rice and votes.
We have to protect our wetlands, land and forests. Women must be given responsibility to see the potential of future agriculture.
ALRD Executive Director Shamsul Huda said, all women in the country are victims of discrimination. The state does not see it. Farmers, being the largest majority, are victims of discrimination in this country. This is not the last mass uprising in Bangladesh; more uprisings are needed to eliminate discrimination.
Research Initiative (RIB) Director Suraiya Begum said, starting from production, women do 42 types of work in agriculture. Even then, we have not recognized women as farmers. In all the research we have done, men have identified themselves as farmers and women as housewives. Violence against women will decrease if women are given the right to land.
In her speech as the president, Khushi Kabir said that demands should be made to ensure that women's land rights and the rights of indigenous and marginalized communities are established in the next parliament.
