OWSD Bangladesh National Chapter Celebrates International Women's Day

March 08, 2020

To celebrate International Women's Day 2020, the OWSD Bangladesh National Chapter held five coordinated celebratory events at universities and scientific institutes across the country.

"I am Generation Equality": International Women's Day at the Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Dhaka

The celebration at BUHS started with a open discussion session on the theme of IWD this year “I Am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights” in the morning around 11:00 am at Ibrahim Auditorium, BUHS. Around fifty faculty members and students from different departments participated in the program.

Honorable vice-chancellor Prof. Dr. Faridul Alam was the chief guest and Dr. Sharmin Parveen, Chair, OWSD Bangladesh National Chapter and Dean of Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, presided over the discussion program. Prof. Alam in his speech appreciated the role of women scientist in Bangladesh and also in BUHS. He advised the girl students to achieve excellence in all aspects and prepare themselves to be eligible for equal rights in the global competitions. Dr Sharmin focused on the barriers and challenges women and girls working in STEM in Bangladesh are facing, and how OWSD is offering excellent opportunities to support and empower women in science. She also said that this day provides us an opportunity to reflect on ways to empower women and recognize their untiring efforts and achievements. Dean of the Faculty of Basic Sciences Prof. Dr. Begum Rokeya urged the audience to work together and appreciate the vital role of women and empowering women for building a better society. Dean of the Faculty of Public Health Prof. Dr. Anowar Hossain also participated in the discussion and said that an equal world is an enabled world.

After the discussion session all the faculty members and students openly wrote their thoughts on a poster paper which was displayed
in the auditorium. The celebration was ended with a colorful rally marches through BUHS campus and roads in front of the university.

"Bangladeshi women have proved that they can achieve any success": International Women's Day at the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute, Gazipur

All the Scientists of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), organized a rally for celebration of International Women's Day on 8th March 2020. More than fifty (50) women Scientists, around 130 women employees of BRRI, wives of Scientist in BRRI and male colleagues of BRRI also participated in the rally.

Dr. Md. Shahjahan Kabir (Director General), Dr. Tamal Lata Aditya (Director-Research) and Dr. Krishna Pada Halder (Director-Administration & Common Service) led the rally. The rally marched around the big campus of BRRI and ended in front of main office (DG Office) after crossing the whole campus.

After the rally, a casual discussion was held among the participants on the gender equality issues. Participants gave their opinion that Bangladeshi women in general have proved that they can achieve any success, just like their male counterpart.

Stirring up the Younger Generation: International Women's Day at Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh

A rally was organized for celebration of International Women's Day at BAU on 8th March 2020. Around 80 women were present. They were teachers from six faculties of BAU, teachers of BAU high school, female officers of BAU, and students of ladies halls, namely: Sultana Razia Hall, Taposi Rabeya Hall, Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall and Begum Rokeya Hall. The rally marched around the campus and stirred up the younger generation.

Wonderful, Enthuisiastic, Motivational: International Women's Day at Rajshahi University

National Chapter members at Rajshahi University organized a rally for celebration of International Women's Day. A total of 60 enthusiastic female faculties and students from different departments were gathered for the rally. The rally marched through the campus. At the end of the rally, executive committee members Professor Farzana Ashrafi Neela and Professor Rubaiyat Yesmin delivered motivational speeches.

"Women must Dream Big": International Women's Day at the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, Dhaka

For the first time, women scientists at Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE), the research hub of the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) in Savar, Dhaka, celebrated International Women’s Day on Sunday 8 March, 2020. A rally was organized by OWSD BD members together with common scientists in the AERE campus. The colourful rally started from Institute of Electronics and marched through Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology and ended at the premises of Institute of Food and Radiation Biology (IFRB), one of the pioneer institute at AERE.

IFRB hosted a seminar on the ‘Generation Equality: How Women Scientists at AERE are Contributing to Achieve the Goal’ where five senior scientists have talked on their experience, barriers and achievements in carrying out different national and international projects. Around 40 women scientist participated in a seminar in presence of Director General, AERE, Dr Md Nurul Islam. The seminar was co-ordinated by Dr Tabassum Mumtaz, who briefed on the history of International Women's Day, its gradual development and how UN and UNESCO organizations like OWSD has been working on the empowerment of women in through schemes like PhD fellowships, Early Career research grants, Awards, and more. In his speech, the Director General greeted the initiative and urged that these activities to be held regularly with bigger audience. He also acknowledged the support of OWSD and expressed his sincere gratitude towards government policies in lifting up women of all walks of life in Bangladesh. The seminar was officially inaugurated by cutting cake with five speakers on stage with the Director General.

The interactive session stirred audience members, and a number of scientists expressed their views about IWD and paid gratitude to mothers whose sacrifice contributed a lot in their career. Audience members thanked the organizers to make such an extraordinary program and proposed to have a health campaign for women in slum areas in Dhaka. Speakers and audience members concluded that women must dream big to overcome obstacles.