Mahabub Ara Begum Gini, MP, and also an Awami League Whip in the Parliament said on Wednesday that women should be financially sound and independent so that they can take  their own decisions. 
 "Women should not depend on men. From the beginning of their journey they should be mentally independent and financially strong enough, so that later none can take their decision on their behalf," she said at a roundtable discussion on 'Demands for ensuring the rights of the rural farmers in food security' organized by Oxfam, to mark the International Rural Day at the National Press Club.
She also underscored the need for the documentation of the expenditure of the rural farmers, and said that all the rural farmers should keep the records of their production and cost.
Referring to government's statistics, Mousumi Biswas, Campaign Officer of the Oxfam, noted that the total number of rural women farmers in 1999 was 30 lakh and in  2009-2010 the number was 80 lakh.
Citing different types of discriminations that are creating obstacles to women development, Shirin Akter, MP, said that women need to be united to remove all unequal treatments to them. Giving suggestions for changes in the Agriculture Policy, she said that the law must be updated to meet the demands of the time.
At the end of the discussion, speakers raised some demands, such as reorganization of the role of rural women in agriculture sector, taking effective steps and arranging large campaign for the women farmers in  rural level so that beside engagement  in the agriculture sector, they can take their own decision in the family level, taking effective steps by the policy makers for ensuring the rights of the rural women farmers, giving subsidy by recognizing rural farmers-  introducing Family Agriculture Card, adopting  appropriate policy by the government  so that customers can purchase products directly from the rural women farmers instead of depending on middlemen.