Despite the government and the opposition being led by women, Bangladesh still needs to address women’s rights and their access to the corporate world, participants said at the Women’s Leadership Summit 2014 yesterday.
The role of women in the workplace and how it is underrated in Bangladesh, as well as globally, was the theme of the daylong summit, hosted by Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF).
“If we cannot use the potential and possibilities of women and turn them into a source of power for society, then we are actually losing manpower. So, with this concept, we thought of having this event,” Nazia Andaleeb Preema, advisor of BBF, told the Dhaka Tribune.
With the aim of changing society’s mindset on women’s roles, especially in the corporate sector, discussions at the event focussed on topics ranging from women’s health, discrimination and the “glass ceiling” at work place.
Referring to the gendered upbringing of children in our society as a “vicious cycle”, Mehtab Khanam, a professor of psychology, said: “The whole society is responsible for teaching males and females.”
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, a lawyer and executive director of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, linked issues of women and the environment in context of Bangladesh, such as the river being the access to water, and the mother of the family being the facilitator of that access.
Saida Muna Tasneem, director general (UN & human rights) at the foreign ministry, pointed out how women were often assigned ministries dealing with “softer” issues like education and children, which turns into a psychological barrier that must be addressed.
Other topics discussed included workplace harassment and global drop-out rate of women in careers.
“Women’s careers are full of pot-holes,” said Naazneen Karmali, editor of Forbes India. “In addition to balancing work and family, we also have to balance our split-personalities, qualities that were appreciated at work, such as decisiveness or aggression, are the ones we would have to leave at work when we returned home to our family.”
However, referring to her own career as a business journalist and that of other role models, Karmali said those factors, too, could be overcome.
