Times have certainly changed for today's woman striving to attain "development, equality and peace" from the conventional mother, wife and homemaker roles tagged to her identity.

On the eve of International Women's Day some eminent women in Bangladesh shared their views with Star City on women's stand in society focusing on various aspects of their development.

Most believe that women in Bangladesh are subject to oppression though they have achieved much in different sectors.

"Though our movements intensified after independence an increase in violence against women was seen in the 1980s," said Hena Das, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) president.

She said that a number of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) worked on projects like women's education, cottage industry, health projects and micro credit project that thrust women's empowerment.

"However, violence against women did not reduce," she said. She added that BMP along with other democratic forces continued the movements, which resulted in enactment of new laws upholding women's position in society.

Ayeasha Khanam, BMP's secretary general regretted that violence against women is becoming rampant by the day.

"On an average, nine to 10 women are confronted with violence in some form. At least 5,689 cases were reported in 2003 in 11 national dailies," she said, adding that they included rape, killing after rape, acid attacks and domestic violence.

She expressed frustration that despite existing laws like the Dowry Prohibition Act-1980, Violence against Women and Children Act-2002 and constant women movements, violence against women is not decreasing.

"Violence against women increased because women are now in the limelight," said Advocate Sigma Huda, secretary general of Bangladesh Manabadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha. She said that though women have been recognized in every sphere they lacked assertiveness.

"Women lacking self-confidence are vulnerable and are easy targets of violence in the present social situations where people have lost patience," she said. "In fact, men feel threatened by the heights that women have reached that leading them take control over women by violence," she added.

Talking about women achievements, Tasmima Hussain, editor of Anonya and former member of parliament (MP), cited examples of millions of adolescents and young women earning forex working 10-12 hours a day in garment factories. She did not fail to mention the numbers of rural women turned entrepreneurs assisted by micro credit loans despite the high interest rate.

"These examples depict the immense participation of rural and urban women in our national life," Tasmima Hussain said. But she thinks that women will lose all their achievements because of a single reason -- insecurity. Women rural or urban, are very vulnerable, oppressed at home, educational institutions, factories or any other workplace. "This results in women searching for security, sometimes provoked to commit suicide," she said.

Most well-known women termed the prevalence of society's patriarchal attitude and culture a major hindrance to women's development.

"Women are still not accepted at decision-making level," commented Sigma Huda. "Even if they reach the top, they are not considered the right choice. Opportunities are open to them only when the male counterpart is not found eligible," she said. Patriarchal attitude is not always cultured by men -- it is innate within women, she quipped.

Ayesha Khanam said lack of clarified idea of gender equality, proper political will and democratic culture in politics for a long time hamstrung development of women in the country. "People, mostly women, are illiterate and lack awareness on women's rights," she said.

The women leaders stressed elimination of discrimination among women in family law. They said the rights of women regarding marriage, divorce, guardianship or inheritance vary in religious denominations, which is unfair.

There is discrimination of men and women regarding inheritance. All the leaders stressed a uniform family code. They said no government had shown any signs to enact such a law to date.

The women leaders stressed unanimously that true representation of women in society is a must for women's development.

Most leaders feel that indirect election to 30 reserved seats for women in parliament hinders the women's contribution to social and national development. They demanded women seats to be reserved for two to three terms in parliament, direct election for women and also increased number of seats.

"Direct election will enhance women's empowerment," said Sigma Huda. However, she added she hopes those women willing to be in parliament will nurse their own constituency so they can achieve their goal under normal process rather than reserved seats.