Women, food, climate
Farhana Milly is impressed by a new work
Our National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam's well loved poem Jago nari bohnni shikha, written in the 1930s, is an estimable tribute to women's empowerment. Enlightenment personified, Begum Rokeya Shakhawat Hossain, who was born in a respectable but conservative family of Rangpur, pioneered women's advancement in the then colonial British India. An eminent writer, Rokeya established a high school in her beloved husband's memory in 1911 in Kolkata. She also founded the Anjuman e Khawateen e Islam (Islamic Women's Association), which was active in holding debates and conferences regarding the status of women and education. Parvez Babul, journalist and writer, has been writing articles on development issues. He has brought these essays together in his maiden book, Women's Empowerment Food Security and Climate Change. The articles included in it were published in the weekly Holiday, The Daily Star, The Bangladesh Observer and the Sexing the Political, a US-based Journal of Third Wave Feminists. Gender equality and women's empowerment are human rights that lie at the heart of development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. As the UN observes, despite the progress that has been made, six out of ten of the world's poorest people are still women and girls, less than 16 per cent of the world's parliamentarians are women, two-thirds of all children are deprived of literacy or education. Parvez Babul writes in one of the articles, Poor women's plight: "Historically, women have been the key to food security. But they are not secure; especially poor women die many times before their death. They receive less, but have no rights to demand more. They say less, but are bound to listen more. They eat less, but must produce more to feed others. If we analyze the lives of poor women, we become amazed at how they survive." The book contains 23 articles among which the following are notable: Elimination of violence against women; Say 'No' to dowry to stop it; Ensure food and nutrition security for the poor women and children; Invest in nutrition for the girl children; Women's empowerment; Food security and nutrition: Poor women's plight; Climate change and the media; Begum Rokeya: Legend of women's education; Helen Keller: Sighted without eyes; Empowering women through ICT; White cane: Symbol of safety for the blind; Girls and women suffer more from anaemia; Jahanara tackles monga through her vegetable garden; and HIV/AIDS: prevention is better than cure and others.
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