Seminar stresses women empowerment

A seminar titled ‘Fempower’ was held in the capital on Saturday as part of a campaign to promote women empowerment and raise awareness about some critical issues facing by women in the country, reports UNB. Footsteps, a youth empowerment and development organisation, arranged the seminar at the auditorium of International School Dhaka (ISD) in Bashundhara residential area. Prominent women at the forefront of their respective industries, including entrepreneurs, software developers, social workers, community development experts, attended the seminar as guest speakers and shared their experiences and views.
The speakers urged women of all ages to move forward, braving all sorts of social and cultural obstacles and prejudices. They stressed the importance of empowering women so as to overcome challenges in a male-dominated society such as Bangladesh.
 “Women’s empowerment starts with the girls,” said an enthusiastic Shagufe Hossain, the founder of Shammo Foundation and Project Director of Leaping Boundaries, a commendable project aimed at increasing the visibility of madrasah students, mostly girls, on mainstream platforms. She focused on different cultural and religious issues facing by young girls and women in the country.
Selina Ahmed, an internationally renowned advocate for acid survivors, shared with the audience some of the key experiences in her career at the forefront of gender equality and development, women’s health and children’s rights. Selina is the Executive Director at Acid Survivors Foundation, a non-profit organisation operating since 1999, renowned for the help they provide to the violent sufferers of acid attacks in the country.
Jennifer Farrell, the founder and CEO of CriticaLink, the world’s first mobile app-driven emergency medicine system based in Bangladesh, highlighted some of her experiences in the corporate culture of Bangladesh, from the view of a woman entrepreneur. She also highlighted some of the critical obstacles facing by women both in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world in addition to the immense potential of the youth of this country. Nasrin Jahan Munmun, a renowned fashion designer and entrepreneur, summed up one of the underlying themes of the seminar with her words, “Never lose hope and always be persistent.”
Nadia Lakhani, the Programme Officer of Daak, a social safety and security mobile application developed for emergency situations, underlined the importance of decreasing and eventually bringing an end to all of the shameful occurrences of violence against women, with a special focus on reducing response times. She highlighted some of the disgraceful occurrences of violence in the capital, especially the ones took place on the Dhaka University campus on Pahela Baishakh.
The seminar was a platform for these distinguished women to come forward, share their individual experiences, voice their opinions and provide advice to the youth of tomorrow. It also had a contemporary feel to it, with some of the benefits of modern mobile applications bought under the limelight. With an open dialogue established, it provided a boost of confidence to women from all different ages and professions. The discussions motivated the audience, comprising mostly youths of different schools, universities together with professionals from different fields, to take a stand for the betterment of society. The importance in the role of men in gender equality was also highlighted.
Footsteps, meanwhile, has planned to set up a Fempower defence camp on October 10, 2015, aiming to train women on the art of self-defence, so that they can handle themselves better in awkward situations. With many sexual harassment stories of women coming in the limelight of present society, the issue of women’s self-defence is now more important than ever before.

Seminar stresses women empowerment

A seminar titled Fempower was held in the capital on Saturday as part of a campaign to promote women empowerment and raise awareness about some critical issues facing by women in the country, reports UNB. Footsteps, a youth empowerment and development organisation, arranged the seminar at the auditorium of International School Dhaka (ISD) in Bashundhara residential area. Prominent women at the forefront of their respective industries, including entrepreneurs, software developers, social workers, community development experts, attended the seminar as guest speakers and shared their experiences and views. The speakers urged women of all ages to move forward, braving all sorts of social and cultural obstacles and prejudices. They stressed the importance of empowering women so as to overcome challenges in a male-dominated society such as Bangladesh. Womens empowerment starts with the girls, said an enthusiastic Shagufe Hossain, the founder of Shammo Foundation and Project Director of Leaping Boundaries, a commendable project aimed at increasing the visibility of madrasah students, mostly girls, on mainstream platforms. She focused on different cultural and religious issues facing by young girls and women in the country. Selina Ahmed, an internationally renowned advocate for acid survivors, shared with the audience some of the key experiences in her career at the forefront of gender equality and development, womens health and childrens rights. Selina is the Executive Director at Acid Survivors Foundation, a non-profit organisation operating since 1999, renowned for the help they provide to the violent sufferers of acid attacks in the country. Jennifer Farrell, the founder and CEO of CriticaLink, the worlds first mobile app-driven emergency medicine system based in Bangladesh, highlighted some of her experiences in the corporate culture of Bangladesh, from the view of a woman entrepreneur. She also highlighted some of the critical obstacles facing by women both in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world in addition to the immense potential of the youth of this country. Nasrin Jahan Munmun, a renowned fashion designer and entrepreneur, summed up one of the underlying themes of the seminar with her words, Never lose hope and always be persistent. Nadia Lakhani, the Programme Officer of Daak, a social safety and security mobile application developed for emergency situations, underlined the importance of decreasing and eventually bringing an end to all of the shameful occurrences of violence against women, with a special focus on reducing response times. She highlighted some of the disgraceful occurrences of violence in the capital, especially the ones took place on the Dhaka University campus on Pahela Baishakh. The seminar was a platform for these distinguished women to come forward, share their individual experiences, voice their opinions and provide advice to the youth of tomorrow. It also had a contemporary feel to it, with some of the benefits of modern mobile applications bought under the limelight. With an open dialogue established, it provided a boost of confidence to women from all different ages and professions. The discussions motivated the audience, comprising mostly youths of different schools, universities together with professionals from different fields, to take a stand for the betterment of society. The importance in the role of men in gender equality was also highlighted. Footsteps, meanwhile, has planned to set up a Fempower defence camp on October 10, 2015, aiming to train women on the art of self-defence, so that they can handle themselves better in awkward situations. With many sexual harassment stories of women coming in the limelight of present society, the issue of womens self-defence is now more important than ever before.