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Speakers at a dialogue stressed the need for strengthening income-generating activities to ensure rights of women at the grassroots level.
Speaking at the dialogue "Situation in the coastal belt: problems and possibilities" at the National Press club Thursday, they said 57 per cent of women in coastal area are repressed for dowry while 75 per cent of bridegrooms' families demanded dowry during marriage.
Coastal Network (CN) and South Asia Partnership (SAP)-Bangladesh jointly organised the dialogue and presented a survey report on women's rights.
With the financial assistance of about Tk 18.6 million of Academy for Educational Development (AED), SAP- Bangladesh is implementing a project in collaboration with ten non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as partners.
The project titled 'Broad Based Coalition and Advocacy for Human Rights' (BCAHR) reached around fourteen thousand women from March-September 2005 at the grassroots level.
BCAHR project, started on October 2003, will be completed within June 2006, trained the women on their legal rights in 20 Upazillas (UP) of six coastal districts.
The survey report revealed that rates of child marriage are the highest in the coastal area according to 85 per cent participants of the survey while 42 per cent are illiterate and 77 per cent unaware of the heritage law.
The survey recommendations include increasing literacy, proper enforcement of laws against women repression and monitoring the marriage registers, prevent child and ensuring their accountability marriage and promote awareness programme at all levels.
The speakers also underscored the need for ensuring health care service; increase the number of licensed marriage registers and reform of existing laws to reduce repression of coastal women.
President of CN Fazle Ali Khan gave the welcome addressed while Executive director of 'Nijera Kari' Khusi Kabir moderated the dialogue.
CN assistant director Alakananda Das presented the survey report.
Ministry of women and child affairs standing committee president, Mozahar Hossain of Panchagar-2 attended the programme as the chief guest.
Hossain said the government has taken a project of earthwork selecting 500 grassroots women from each Union in association with Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
Beside, under Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme, mostly for women, participants will get 15 kg Atta and Tk 150 per month, he further said.
He also said that the government has prioritised the economic solvency and literacy of grassroots women.
Reserved women seat Member of Parliament (MP) Bilkis Akter Shirin, AED senior programme manager Khaleda Khatun, UP member of Sitakundo, Chittagong Jahanara Begum, CN vice president Mohsin Uddin and executive member Habibur Rahman, SAP Bangladesh Programme coordinator and CN general secretary Nadira Mollick, among others, spoke on the occasion.
On behalf of CN, a human chain was formed at the end of the session for the release 13 stranded fisher men of the country from India.
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