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Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 01 Jul 2021
Photo: UN Women/Paola Garcia
Paris: Although the international community made bold promises on women's empowerment in Beijing in 1995, most of them have yet to be fulfilled, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a video message sent to the Generation Equality Forum in Paris, France, on Thursday (July 1) evening. This year's forum is being organized under the theme 'Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality'.
At the forum, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promised to ensure 50 percent participation of women in the IT sector by 2041.
"We promise to increase the participation of women in the IT sector, including tech startups and e-commerce, by 25 percent by 2026 and by 50 percent by 2041," Hasina said.
"In 1995, the world community in Beijing made a bold commitment to women's empowerment. Unfortunately, most of those promises have not yet been fulfilled," she stated.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Photo: PID
"Globally, women's participation in politics, economics and the workforce is not inspiring. Today, only 25 percent of lawmakers are women, while women's participation in the workforce is still 31 percent lower than men's. We must change this situation through bold policy measures and concerted efforts," the Bangladeshi prime minister said in her video message.
Highlighting the initiatives taken by Bangladesh in women empowerment, the PM Hasina said, "My government is giving priority to women's empowerment. Our Digital Bangladesh Vision has literally integrated women into the IT sector."
"Our government has launched various programs to build women professionals and entrepreneurs in the IT sector. We are using many digital apps to prevent violence against women. In the last three years, more than 71,000 women and children have been given cyber awareness training to increase security on cyber platforms," the Prime Minister highlighted.