A Leader Par Excellence

Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury is the first woman speaker of Bangladesh Parliament and the youngest to assume once of the speaker at 46. She is known for her determination and remarkable intelligence that can cut through complex processes and find solutions to difficult problems. In our country where there is an acute shortage of women role models, she is an inspiration to next generation of women to achieve their full potential. She spoke to Ziaul Karim and Persa Sanjana Hussain of Colors on how to pursue a meaningful career, women empowerment, and about the importance of women finding their voices in a world where women’s voices are not heard equally 

People who will meet advocate, politician and speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury will tend to want to describe her. She is reticent. She speaks in a low but distinctive pitch and picks up words to speak her ideas as if plucking flowers from a garden. With round face and deep sharp eyes, the confidence she exudes is unmistakable.When we arrived at her official residence in national parliament complex on a bright crisp sunny morning of May her front garden was full of pink bougainvillea bloom. Interestingly, she came into the living room for the interview clad in a floral light pink sari.

How it is like on being the rst ever female speaker was our opening question to her. She gave us a smile infused in dignity and honor saying, “It is always a very special honor. Ordaining such a high constitutional position and parliament and it comes with its fair share of unique challenges as well.” A star achiever throughout her career she previously served as the state minister of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs and. An important feather in her cap of achievements is her being elected as the Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association between 2014 and 2017.

A lawyer by profession, Sharmin Chaudhury excelled as a student and passed her LLB and LLM degrees in 1989 and 1990 with flying colors from the University of Dhaka. She received a Commonwealth scholarship to study at the University of Essex in the UK. In 2000 she earned her Ph.D. degree in Constitutional Law and Human Rights for her thesis on “The Right to Life.”

Her role as the speaker requires her to be mindful about the time. She explains, “You have to manage the different agendas within the given time limit. You must be very alert and responsive to emergencies. Many things can come up where you have to give quick and astute decisions.”

It gets challenging when “there are issues that need immediate attention. For example, if a member uses inappropriate language during his speech that is not allowed in the parliament then it is my responsibility to warn him and I have the power to expunge it as well. It is up to the speaker to decide; sometimes the speaker may expunge it later. Especially if the moment is gone and the person is going on in a decent way it is a wiser thing to expunge later. Media reporting at times have conclusions that the speaker did not react aptly, but this undermines the though process that goes behind such critical decisions.”

‘The obstacles that exist between women and their aspirations are almost similar everywhere. Family pressure, social customs, gender bias and shortage of role models are just a few of the barriers that we women face every day.’

Even though the speaker has the power to switch of microphones when needed Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury does not believe in using it oen. “I have to be careful about not abusing my power and have to give them the power to speak for the people and for the nation to discuss important issues. If the content bothers me and not the rule, I cannot switch o the microphone. Additionally, I cannot stop someone under pressure from other people in the room.” She believes in letting people speak if it doesn’t go out of the subject in question and is not violating any rules of the parliament.

In order to be able to dispense your responsibility in a fair manner is a big challenge that the speaker has to face. She expresses, ‘Whether you like it or not the truth is that we live in a world run by men. What does it mean to be a woman in this world? It means the challenges are double for us.’

Although self-imposed, she admits that this burden is a big one to manage, “The load is not from anybody else, it is from me. I have created benchmark for myself so that there is no question that I could not perform because of being a woman. at is an additional burden that I impose on myself.”

She has a vast experience working with commonwealth countries. Her best memory is being elected as the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). With sparkly eyes, she sums it as an enlightening experience working with so many different projects. She was not only the first Bangladeshi to run for the election that took place in Cameroon but also the rst female appointed as a chairperson of the CPA.

Reminiscing her wholesome experience, she expresses, “I have many fond memories. We really activated the different regions. ere are nine different regions and many interesting works were taken up. One of the important things we did was a parliamentary roadshow for the youth people to teach them about how the parliament works actively.”

During the program students from different high schools and colleges were welcome to come to the parliament and interact with the members after listening to the short lecture. “There was an interactive discussion and the floor was open for the students to ask questions. Young generation know very little about how things work in the parliament. ey do not get the chance to interact with them face to face so this was a very interesting program that CPA took up among the many other notable activities,” she elaborates.

As a young student she always had a fascination to study law. She shares, “Somehow I always felt that studying law gives you the opportunity to fight for the rights of people. The other aspect was also that legal education gives you a good footing if you want to go into politics an I always wanted to get into politics.” She describes her early life by being surrounded with discussions about politics. “We have grown up between politics. We used to discuss it at the breakfast table. Among many other things it was always talked about.” Dr. Chaudhury believes that her career fell into place quite naturally in the sense that she was studying law and knew what she wanted from the beginning. She goes on by saying, “I was involved with Awami League to a great extent in the legal side. I was doing whatever I was able to do in terms of helping them with the legal work, I was one of the panel lawyers for our honorable Prime minister when she was arrested during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007-08. I had an opportunity to work in a lot of important political cases.” However, she feels that was the real beginning when the prime minister selected her as the State Minister of the Ministry of Women and Children Aairs from one of the parliamentary seats reserved for women in 2009.

An advocate of women empowerment she says that Bangladesh has a long history of involvement and empowerment for women. “Women were at the forefront for the language movement, they have fought in battles in 1971. They have created a strong base and through them we are here at this stage. We are proud of the struggles led by the icon women to let other women of the nation to come forward,” she proudly states.

For facilitating empowerment for the women, she points that economic empowerment is the most important aspect as it allows for empowerment in all other forms. She goes on to say, “For that, today even in rural villages women have been brought into the domain of empowerment. Education is the building block for it. Now, even in remote areas it is wonderful to see the presence of women students. Girls’ education has brought about a major change in women empowerment. It has brought about a change in mindset of parents as well; one where parents deem their daughters to be assets and not liabilities.” She insists that we must collectively pave the way for meritorious women to come forward. Political empowerment is also a key tool which needs legislature. A lot of things don’t materialize unless they are implemented through policies, strategies and vision.

Dr. Shireen points that the beauty of the constitution is that there is no bar for women to come through direct election and that if enough women come forward through direct election, the need for reserved seats will not be there anymore. She argues, “But till we reach that point we need this as armative discrimination.” Putting the progress so far into the long-term perspective she says, “ere has to be a safe environment for the women as they have come out of their homes to work. It is also important for men to get used to women working around them. Bringing women out of their homes is not enough, ensuring security and safety is a must”. To make a more women-friendly environment she suggests that all the systems, inclusive of but not limited to commuting, must be equipped accordingly to retain them and sustain their contribution for the workforce.

She emphasizes,‘The obstacles that exist between women and their aspirations are almost similar everywhere. Family pressure, social customs, gender bias and shortage of role models are just a few of the barriers that we women face every day.’ She puts up our RMG sector as a strong example where even though many women are working, the top positions are still dominated by men.

“Increasing the number is just as important. It will automatically steer the way for implementation. For example, if we have one woman working at an office the management will not consider creating a separate toilet for females as opposed to a scenario where there are 20 women employees and the need takes a more substantial form making the workspace more sensitive towards the need of these women.” She also adds that awareness about sexual harassment needs to be created on a widescale so that people know exactly what it is and can take steps to avoid it leaving no blurred lines.

The vision 2021 of Bangladesh lays out what are our priorities that are aligned with the SDG. e 7th ve-year plan is also laid out to integrate the SDGS into it. Dr. Chaudhury states that we must be watchful that only growth is not enough; the benets must transcend to the ones at the bottom of the pyramid. Bangladesh will be turning 50 in 2021. Bangladesh has already graduated out of its least-developed-country status by ensuring not only meeting but surpassing the criteria. Now we are moving towards a developed one by We have aimed to become a middle-income country by 2021 and we are already a lower middle-income country. With all these milestones mapped out, there is a lot to look forward to. Dr. Shireen expresses that the government is currently working with all the challenges that may come along as we strive towards these ambitious goals.

She rearms, “Setting such targets is the best part of it. at was the best aspect of Sheik Hasina’s election manifesto in 2008 where she gave the nation a vision: 2021. It seemed really far-fetched at that time but now it doesn’t.”

With a smile she ends the heartfelt conversation by praising the courageous women of rural Bangladesh: “Women in Bangladesh are doing much more than I am doing. Look at the courage of a woman in the rural area who continues to rebuild her house washed away time and again by ood. She has got far more courage than me. We have millions of women like these. It is the story of these wonderful, hard-working women who are struggling day in and day out, with courage being their strongest resource, who weave the women empowerment scenario of this country.”

There continue to be challenges for women in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world, but conditions and mindsets are changing. More women are needed in leadership roles. She strongly believes that we simply cannot afford to lose 50 percent of the smartest, most capable people from taking the leadership roles and contributing for a better tomorrow.