Workshop on Women�s Right to Land and the Role of Media, 27-29 March 2015

ALRD, in cooperation with Bangladesh Nari Sangbadik Kendra (BNSK), organized a 3-day workshop titled Women’s Right to Land and the Role of Media at the auditorium of NGO Forum for Public Health, Dhaka on 27-29 March 2015. Thirty three women journalists (member of BNSK) working in different electronic and print media participated in the workshop.

Eleven sessions were conducted including the inaugural and closing sessions during the workshop. The speakers of the workshop were: Kushi Kabir, Chairperson, ALRD and Coordinator, Nijera Kari; Shamsul Huda, Executive Director, ALRD; Dr. Shima Zaman, Associate Professor of Law, Dhaka University; Ms. Dil Monowora Monu, Acting President, BNSK; Rowshan Jahan Moni, Deputy Executive Director, ALRD; Shishir Moral, Deputy Chief Reporter, the Prothom Alo (the Daily Bengali news paper); Rafique Ahamed Serajee, Shanjida Khan Ripa and Mirza Azim Haider of ALRD. The topics of the sessions were: Women’s Right to Land in the Contemporary Reality: Importance of Mass Awareness; Land Survey and Deprivation of Women; Technical Terms; Hereditary Laws; Women’s Land Ownership, Women’s Contribution to Agriculture, Discrimination Against Women and the Role of Media; Women’s Right to Land in Light of the Vested Property Return Act; Government Owned Khas Land and Water Bodies tenure policy: How Much Women Friendly; Applying Right to Information Act in Realizing Women’s Right to Land; Women’s Right to Land: Collaboration Between Development Organizations and Mass Media; and Women’s Right to Land: the Role of Journalists, Professional Competency and Priority.

The workshop was successful in creating interests and changes mindset of the participants on women’s right to land in Bangladesh. They have expressed their commitment to work on the issue and cooperate with ALRD collaborating towards ensuring women’s right to land while many of the participants are victims themselves because of gender biased hereditary laws and other societal reasons. They requested guidance from ALRD to work on amending existing policies and laws making them women friendly and implementing the same.