Ensuring equal rights for the women members in reserved seats in Union Parishad is very important for their empowerment and congenial working atmosphere, some women public representatives at a press conference here said today.They said the women members in the reserved seats are always neglected and deprived from their legitimate rights either by their male colleagues or other officials concerned.Prip Trust under a project titled ‘Aparajita: Political Empowerment of Women’ organised organized the press conference at its regional office in Rajshahi city today in association with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.UP Members Khaleda Begum, Prity Rani, Momtaz Begum, Golenur Begum, Dolon Champa, Prip Trust Regional Manager Saiduzzaman Sipon and President of Local Government Journalists Forum Mamun-or-Rashid spoke on the occasion.They said the participation of women members in the reserved seats in the UP activities isn’t ensured properly due to various reasons. For this reason, they said the women members are facing many problems to perform their duties as their responsibilities haven’t been settled by any rules as yet.They, however, viewed that many of the social problems like early marriage, polygamy, drug-addiction, dowry, gender discrimination, violence against women could have been reduced to a greater extent if their participation were ensured.The UP is the nearest and closest institution of the grassroots communities especially the poor and extreme-poor people and they took shelter in it when they face any problem relating to their normal life.So, there is no alternative to empower and strengthen the local body and its elected public representatives especially the women in reserved seats. Emphasis should be given on building confidence, knowledge and capacity of elected women representatives and encourage network of mutual support so that they can fulfill their obligations to their voters.“Wherever and whenever I go for works for public welfare, I have to face multifarious problems including harassment and negligence everywhere,” she Khaleda Begum, a women member of Talanda Union Parishad, narrating her various painful incidents in this regards.She added that capacity building is part of a greater movement of the civil society for creating space for people’s participation for ensuring good governance.Saiduzzaman Sipon said main thrust of the programme is to build confidence, knowledge and capacity of elected women representatives and encourage network of mutual support so that they can fulfil their obligations to their voters. -BSS, Rajshahi
