International Women’s Day (IWD) was celebrated worldwide on 8 March 2021. This year’s theme was “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”, which celebrates the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future. Celebrating women’s achievements, as well as raising awareness on gender-based violence, was the aim of the campaign to help forge a gender-equal and violence-free world, as we build back and recover from the pandemic.

Hundreds of participants took an oath to prevent and respond to gender-based violence at Bogura district.

Symbolic balloon popping session at Jamalpur to root out the social norms and practices that perpetuate violence against women.

To expedite unified effort, and to build coalition and support, on International Women’s Day, Ain o Salish Kendra’s ASTHA project has celebrated the day at both national and district levels. More than thousands of people (in a total of 1721) were reached through these events which were covered in 12 renowned national and local newspapers.

At the national level, a Café Talk Show titled ‘Act Now: For an Equal Tomorrow’ was organised at BRAC Centre Inn. The event was jointly organised by the Department of Women’s Affairs, UNFPA Bangladesh, and Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), together with the Dhaka Tribune and support from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Bangladesh. Considering the COVID situation, the event was held in both in-person and virtual modalities with a limited number of guests. A total of forty people attended the event in person following the government’s Covid guidelines.

The one and half hour café talk show was vibrant with various cultural events including recitation, musical and dance performances, and thoughtful discussions. Program inaugurated with an introductory speech from Golam Monowar Kamal, Executive director of ASK. He said, “We have to promote women inclusive leadership and ensure more women representation for building a just society and equality.” Identifying GBV as the biggest obstacle on the way to enhance women’s leadership, he said, “The condition of women in Bangladesh needs to change considerably as there are still many gaps to settle. Dowry-related violence, rape, acid attack, domestic violence, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and social discrimination are widespread occurrences. We need to think about how we can change this situation with immediate action both individually and collectively.”

Later, Zafar Sobhan, Chief Editor of Dhaka Tribune hosted the talk show on the topic titled, ‘How can we enhance women’s leadership to create a more equal tomorrow?’ The speakers of the show were Atiqua Roma, Founder and Team Leader of the Jabo Bohudur, Shova Sarkar, a trans-woman Entrepreneur, and Kamrul Hasan Shawon, Co-founder and Head of Innovation and Development of Youth for Change Bangladesh. The speakers have emphasised ensuring technical skills for women, reducing GBV, and increasing gender sensitivity to enhance women’s leadership.

There were also valuable speeches from the special guests. Ram Chandra Das, the Director-General of Department of Women Affairs, MoWCA said that around five thousand youth clubs have been set up across the country where both the boys and girls are being trained to be the leaders of the next generation and also helping to raise awareness so that they can report violence. He also added that the government intends to bring out equal participation of men and women in the workplace within 2040.

The Guest of honor, HE Harry Verweij, Ambassador of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands mentioned three important insights on how to build an equal tomorrow: free of violence against women and girls. Those were equal access to quality education for all girls and women, embracing strong solidarity among women and creating an environment so that the women can empower themselves. He added, “Women in leadership can help alleviate gender-based violence but they need the right toolkit to do so.”

Dr. Asa Torkelsson, the representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Bangladesh, delivered the closing remarks. She said, “Many deep-rooted issues such as patriarchal norms and new challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, create roadblocks in our joint strides taken towards a gender-equal society in Bangladesh. To overcome these challenges and to achieve the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, we must place women at the heart of our work in Bangladesh, and across the world.”

The event concluded with displaying ‘Green Card – ‘YES TO EQUALITY’ by all the participants and guests to end all forms of violence and inequality.

Besides national-level celebration, ASTHA project has also observed the day on 8 March at the district and Upazila level of Bogura, Cox’s Bazar, Jamalpur, and Patuakhali, partnering with the District Women’s Affairs (DWA) in discussion sessions, rallies, and cultural programs. More than a thousand people joined these programmes (Total: 1481). Guests from different levels of administration and multi-sectoral representatives- District Commissioner, UNO Officer, Social Welfare Officer, Police Super, UP chairman, Deputy Director of Women Affairs Office, ASTHA Project coordinator, journalists shared their views during the discussion sessions on the significance of IWD in promoting equality and women’s condition during this pandemic.

Making youth involvement a priority, ASTHA project has also celebrated IWD in the Upazila level of three of its project districts; Patuakhali, Bogura, and Jamalpur through a youth volunteer program named ‘Generation Equality Gathering’. These events took place on 9 March at the premises of Union Parishad and local schools of the respective districts. A total of 200 people were present at these events which included not only the youth volunteers but also the actors and stakeholders from different multi-sectoral departments and CSOs like Additional Police Super, Sub-Inspector, Upazila Chairman, President of local VAW committee (NNPC), Psychological Counsellor of OCC, UNO Officers, teachers, ASTHA Project Coordinators and District Facilitators of UNFPA.

Various activities were carried out to make this campaign more interactive and impactful. Participants took an oath on equality to never do gender discrimination and always take a unified stand against gender-based violence. These events have raised awareness among the young people on the multi-sectoral public services, toll-free numbers to report GBV cases, and also demerits of different harmful social norms and practices.

During the event, Mohammed Mohobbot Kobir, Officer in Charge (OC), Dewangonj Thana, Jamalpur District said “Women are humans, so women’s rights are human rights. True development is not possible leaving half of the population behind.”

Sammi Akter, a student of Galachipa Model Secondary School, Patuakhali shared, “Government has made many laws and taken measures to ensure equal rights for women, but patriarchal society is hindering women’s access to these rights. We should all fight for our rights.”

At the end of the event, everyone raised the green cards saying “YES to EQUALITY”; in solidarity with the cause. ASTHA project arranged an interesting and symbolic balloon popping session for the participants. Different social norms and practices that perpetuate violence against women like dowry, early marriage, inequality, patriarchy, etc. were written on the balloons. Guests, students, participants popped these as a symbol of rooting out these from the society.