S Asian women rights leaders meet today
Leading South Asian women rights activists, academics, and professionals are meeting in Dhaka today for a two-day conference to discuss various issues of concern of the women in the region.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Dr Shirin Sharmin Showdhury, will inaugurate the programme at 10:00am at Biam auditorium in the city, said a press statement of Manusher Jonno Foundation yesterday.
South Asia Foundation, Manusher Jonno Foundation, and Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi are jointly organising the third conference of the South Asia Women's Network (SWAN) on "Women of South Asia and the Green Economy".
Dr Vandana Shiva, director, Navdanya and director, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, India, will present the keynote paper at the conference to be attended by over 75 women leaders, activists, academicians and professionals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
The conference will also consist of five different plenary sessions where experts will present papers on "the Traditional Arts as Inspiration for Contemporary Indian Art", "Gender and Development Issues in Myanmar", "Seed as Empowerment of Women" and "Women and Education: Findings from a Research Study".
Papers on "South Asia Women's Peace Charter", "Young Women Artists of South Asia: A Unique Experiment", Micro Credit and Changes in Women's life" "Women and Sufism", "Education for Empowerment" "Using technology for Micro Enterprise Growth" "Women and religion in South Asia", "Rediscovering Indigenous Sources in South Asia" will also be presented.
The conference is expected to prepare a draft declaration. Former secretary general of Amnesty International, Irene Khan, will address the concluding session at 3:00pm on July 3.
SWAN is headquartered in Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. Prof Veena Sikri is the convener of SWAN which emerged in March 2009.
With the network, South Asian women share experiences, learn from each other, identify best practices, and work towards issue-based collaboration across the region through agreed plans of action.
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