A delegation of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry meets President Zillur Rahman at Bangabhaban in the capital yesterday.Photo: PID

“I won against Pakistan but lost to poverty” said Kakat Heninchita. Few Bangladeshis have heard of this valiant freedom fighter, known to the villagers as Kakon Bibi. Carrying ammunition to the Mukti Bahini in a ‘kolar bhela’ this poor Khashya woman from Shunamganj helped blow up a bridge in 1971. She fought with the Mukti [...]

Chairman of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) Shamsul Bari speaks at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the city yesterday on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.Photo: STAR Staff Correspondent

Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Saturday unveiled Women Entrepreneurs’ Directory 2009 and a research-based book and CD on Kasida. Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad unveiled the directory along with the book and the CD at a ceremony at the DCCI Auditorium in the city.

A large number of Bangladeshi women migrants, who work as domestic helps in the Arab countries, face physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their employers, a report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said Tuesday. “These poor women workers ultimately lose their jobs and are deported, when they are found HIV-positive in [...]

THE Chittagong based non-governmental organisation PHREB (Promoting Human Rights and Education in Bangladesh) has been running long-term school-based awareness campaigns since their establishment in 2004. The purpose of these campaigns is to educate young people on human rights issues and encourage them to speak out and defend their own human rights. These young people will [...]

I am Noorjehan Murshid and I come from Murshidabad. I was educated at the Victoria Institution in Calcutta and the Universities of Calcutta and Boston. My first job after my graduation from Calcutta was that of Headmistress of a Girls’ High School in Barisal. Before my M.A. results came out, I was appointed Superintendent of [...]

The country’s eight export processing zones (EPZs) have enough women labour force, but the authorities there have failed to create entrepreneurs and high level jobs for them. According to Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), very few women entrepreneurs have been found in the EPZs situated in Dhaka, Chittagong, Mongla, Ishwardi, Comilla, Narayanganj, Nilphamari and [...]

MUNNU Begum, in her mid-30s, wants her children to achieve what she herself could not. Munnu’s eyes fill with tears of joy when she sees her kids going to school every morning with school bags on their shoulders. “Education is very important. I couldn’t have it. Had I been able to continue my education, things [...]

The 6th “Dosti-Women Entrepreneurs Trade Expo-2009” (Wetex) will begin on Monday at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city to promote and assist the women entrepreneurs. Pakistan High Commission will organise the six-day exhibition, a high commission release said. Around 100 women entrepreneurs from around the region mainly from Bangladesh are expected to participate in [...]

Television has become a major tool for showing women in stereotypical roles.  Imagine a day with no newspaper, no television, not one billboard looming over you no matter where you may be. It’s that difficult to get away from the media. Be it the news, your favourite drama serial, a movie with a friend or [...]

Industries minister Dilip Barua said the government will take necessary steps for capacity building of women entrepreneurs. “Steps will be taken to offer women entrepreneurs plots in Special Economic Zones and in BSCIC areas,” he assured. The minister said that the long-standing demand for modernising the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) will also [...]

Women entrepreneurs of the country have hailed the budget for the fiscal year 2009-10 placed in the parliament Thursday for providing adequate incentives for the development of ‘women friendly business environment’. Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BWCCI) representative body of the women entrepreneurs in a press release welcomed the government move to allocate [...]

Officials of cooperative bank have been urged to undertake fresh projects on food and social security, employment generation and women empowerment to help propel Bangladesh into a higher-growth pathway by 2021 as pledged by the Prime Minister. State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak made the appeal while addressing the 32nd annual general [...]

Farmers in Khulna and Bagerhat districts are now firm to resist saline water-based shrimp cultivation while women workers in shrimp processing plants in the districts have vowed to stop exploitation by the owners by depriving them of due wages and facility. Several thousands farmers of Khulna and Bagerhat districts recently staged protests against saline water [...]