On the occasion of Bangladesh's winning the prestigious Women in Parliaments (WIP) Global Forum Award for "Regional leadership in closing the gender gap in politics" Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has urged the nations to commit to reduce gender gap by ensuring women's participation at all levels of decision making.

She reminded the participants at the summit that reducing gender gap is essential to ensure "access to justice" or "participation in democracy", said a foreign ministry press release on Thursday.

Without ensuring active participation of women and the incorporation of women's perspective at all levels of decision-making, governance and development, nations would not be able to accomplish equality, stability, dignity and peace, the Prime Minister said through a video message which was played at the closing ceremony of the WIP Summit at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 25.

Through her video message Sheikh Hasina informed the conference about the accomplishment of women in Bangladesh in every field such as politics, administration, defence, peace-keeping, economic development and so on which could happen, in her words, due to the genuine political will of the government.

The Prime Minister also stated that Bangladesh had been actively engaged in securing gender equality and women's empowerment at the centre of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

She reaffirmed her government's commitment to establish women's rights and eradicate gender-based violence and discrimination from the society. Her message earned much accolades from the distinguished participants of the summit.

Based on the rankings of the World Economic Forum's "Global Gender Gap Report 2014", in the regional category "South and Southeast Asia", Bangladesh won the award for its outstanding success in closing the gender gap in the political sphere.

Sheikh Hasina was invited by the founder of the WIP to receive the award at Addis Ababa. On her behalf, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam accepted the award at the headquarters of African Union, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on March 24.

BSS/RI