Dhaka, 9 December 2025 – Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has called for placing women at the centre of building a new Bangladesh, emphasising that national progress is impossible without ensuring women’s dignity, leadership, and equal opportunity. He made the remarks on Tuesday morning at the Begum Rokeya Day 2025 celebration and award ceremony, organised by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital. As in previous years, the government presented the Rokeya Padak to four distinguished women for extraordinary contributions to women’s education, rights, human rights, and women’s awakening. This year’s awardees are: Ruvana Rakib (Women’s Education – Research), Kalpana Akter (Women’s Rights – Labour Rights), Rituparna Chakma (Women’s Awakening – Sports), and Nabila Idris (Human Rights). Congratulating the recipients, Professor Yunus said, “The ideals that Begum Rokeya articulated with such vision and courage have been carried forward today by these four extraordinary women. This is not just another award—this is transformative. They have elevated Bangladesh to a new level of global visibility and leadership.” Reflecting on the century-long legacy of Rokeya, he noted with regret that Bangladesh has yet to produce another Rokeya-like revolutionary figure. “We have gone 100 years without creating another Rokeya. That is our failure,” he said. “Her dreams and directions were clear, but we haven’t been able to internalise them in our daily lives. We speak beautifully, but we have not advanced as we should have.” Sharing memories from the 1974 famine and his early work with Grameen Bank, he described the severe hardships faced by women: “The first impact of famine falls on women and children.” He recalled instances where women didn’t even know their own names. “They were known only as someone’s mother, someone’s wife, someone’s daughter. We taught them to write their own names. They learned with tears in their eyes. This was 100 years after Rokeya dreamed of such empowerment.” He stressed that Rokeya’s teachings must guide everyday life: “Rokeya always worked with society, never outside it. She said 100 years ago—educate women so they can earn a living. Why have we not learned from this?” Highlighting structural gender inequalities, he pointed to discrepancies at the university level: “When I was a student, there were only four girls in my Economics class. In some departments, none. Today women are everywhere—yet Dhaka University has five women’s dormitories and thirteen men’s dormitories. How is that justice? Women’s accommodation must come first.” Calling for women’s leadership in national reconstruction, he said, “Women have shown their leadership in the mass uprising. Today’s women represent a new era. Our new Bangladesh must be built with women at the forefront.” At the ceremony, Professor Yunus also announced the renaming of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs to “Ministry of Women and Children” to reflect a more empowering vision. The programme was chaired by Sharmin S. Murshid, Adviser to the Ministry, with welcome remarks delivered by Senior Secretary Mumtaz Ahmed.
