Ayesha Tabassum from Rajshahi
Women are such a community about which songs, poems, novels, have been created. Women are sometimes our mothers, sometimes our sisters, sometimes our spouses and sometimes our life partners. These women co-exist with us in our society in various forms. Therefore, we should not show discrimination and negligence towards the women. These women continue to work shoulder to shoulder with men at all levels of society.
However, in real life there are many women who do not get equal status in the society and even in the family. Many women workers in the workplace are also perceived as weaker even they provide more services than men. Having such perception in the male dominated society women thus are facing discrimination in receiving wage. In many places women get half the wage that men get through they both do the same work!
Women in the rural area still today are victims of discrimination and they still have to struggle to get recognition and establish their rights. These women start working early in the morning till dusk and they are many times continuing to work risking their lives for their own family.
In this context Chichilia Mardi (40), a woman of Mundmala village in Tanor upazila of Rajshahi district, said, ‘We women go 3-4 kilometers away to collect drinking water. And because of this we are suffering from many kinds of diseases.’ She went on saying, ‘I am subjected to sexual harassment including domestic violence in many cases. Many women are not aware of our rights and responsibilities.’ She urged all to extend cooperation to women so that these women could have an enabling environment to work for establishing their rights.
On the other hand, the president of Sindukai Krishani Sangathan, Momtaz Begum (35), said that no kind of negligence will be allowed towards any woman. There is no exemption if there is any sexual harassment or torture against any woman. These women said about their struggle and status to BARCIK staff during their participation in an awareness meeting arranged by BARCIK in that area recently.
