Ensure land rights of women: Speakers

In Bangladesh, men own 96 percent of the land, while women have rights to only four percent. And even this small group of women are from the affluent community. Poor and marginalised women do not have any right over lands.

Although a large number of women are involved in agricultural work, they are not recognised as farmers, as they do not own land.

Women from marginalised communities can jointly own state-donated land with their husband. For single woman and widows, there is a condition of jointly owning the land with their son, which is explicit discrimination against women.

Lawyers, women's rights activists and policymakers yesterday talked about these issues and many other forms of discrimination Bangladeshi women face to gain access to land, at a webinar titled "Pledge on the Golden Jubilee of Independence: Equal Rights of Women in Land and Agriculture for Sustainable Development".

The event was jointly organised by The Daily Star and Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD).

The experts pointed out some improvements in Bangladesh in this regard and made recommendations to ensure land rights for women.

Rowshan Jahan Moni, deputy executive director of ALRD, said, "The government has been implementing different projects to improve living conditions of marginalised women. More than 1.57 million women have been benefitted from 'My home, my farm' project, and over 2,65,000 from Comprehensive Village Development Programme. Women are also getting different types of allowances."

"However, these projects alone cannot bring sustainable development for their living condition. These are short-term solutions to a problem that is deeply rooted in our society. We must reform all discriminatory laws, remove harmful and discriminating traditions and bring a comprehensive change in the society," she added.

Abu Sayeed Khan, prominent journalist and executive editor of The Daily Samakal, said, "Bangladeshi women were greatly empowered through the Liberation War. They achieved political rights, which enhanced female participation in all spheres of our society, even in owning land and other forms of asset."

"However, in the name of preserving parliamentary seats for women, sometimes we ignore their roles as politicians and parliamentarians. We need to change this mindset," he adds.

Prof Ainoon Naher of Jahangirnagar University's anthropology department, said, "Many women work in the informal sector, particularly as agricultural workers. Most of them get no or very nominal wage, much less than their male counterparts."

"To eradicate discrimination against women, we must ensure that men and women get equal wages in formal and informal workplaces," she stated.

Shirin Akhter, lawmaker and member of the Standing Committee on the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, said, "We must reform discriminatory laws and social customs. The laws should ensure that women of all religions inherit equally like their male relatives."

"In my constituency, most land is owned by socially powerful people, who often grab land owned by women, exploiting their vulnerable status in society. Women's rights activists should collectively stand against these landgrabbers to preserve women's ownership of land," she said.

Nirupa Dewan, former member of National Human Rights Commission, said, "Indigenous women are one of the most marginalised groups in the country. They are doing agricultural work as part of their tradition, but our hard work is not recognised."

"We need to have legal recognition from the government, and we want all of your cooperation to eliminate discrimination against indigenous women," she said.

Fazle Hossain Badsha, lawmaker and convener of Parliamentary Caucus on Indigenous Affairs, said, "Bangladeshi women are still being oppressed and discriminated against. We saw how a woman with disability was thrown out from a bus and was about to be killed yesterday."

"We need to reform laws and enforce existing ones to prevent all forms of discrimination against women," he said.

At the end of the conference, the speakers made some recommendations to ensure land rights for women, which include ensuring women's access to land unconditionally, equal wages for women workers in the informal sector, rational price for commodities produced by women, women's participation in market management; providing technical and vocational education for women; and recognising women's contribution towards agriculture.