The Consensus Commission is a Boy's Club: Shaheen Anam

Executive director of the Manusher Jonno Foundation, Shaheen Anam, said, “If we look at the reform commissions, we all know the state of women’s representation there. And as for our Consensus Commission, well, there’s nothing more to say. It’s a Boys’ Club.”

She made these remarks on Saturday at a roundtable on “Women’s Seats in the National Parliament and Women’s Political Empowerment” held at the Prothom Alo office in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka. The roundtable was organised by Prothom Alo, where Prothom Alo senior correspondent Naznin Akhter presented the concept paper on women’s seats in parliament.

Shaheen Anam remarked that there is a prevailing tendency everywhere to exclude women and push them back. She said there had been an expectation that this government would take women’s discrimination into account, but that has not happened at all.

She went on to say, “The way the Women’s Reform Commission was spoken about, the way its members were publicly humiliated -- the government did not utter a single word. That has hurt us deeply. It raises the question of where women’s place actually is in our society.”

The executive director of the Manusher Jonno Foundation further said, “Whenever we talk about equal rights, there is an immediate backlash. The issue of direct elections has been raised for a long time, and now the proposal to allocate just 5 per cent is laughable.” She also questioned why decisions about women were taken simply by talking to political parties.
The roundtable was moderated by Shumana Sharmin, Associate Editor of Prothom Alo.

The participants included  Shireen Parveen Huq, head of the Commission on Reforms on Women’s Issues; Badiul Alam Majumdar, head of the Electoral System Reform Commission; Rasheda K. Choudhury, Executive Director of the Campaign for Popular Education and former adviser to the caretaker government; Fauzia Moslem, president of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad; Shaheen Anam, Executive Director of the Manusher Jonno Foundation; Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD); Khushi Kabir, coordinator of Nijera Kori; Gita Das, chairperson of Naripokkho; Taslima Akhter, president of Garment Workers’ Solidarity; Ilira Dewan, member of the Local Government Reform Commission; and Nazifa Jannat, a key organiser of the July Movement and a student.