Begum Rokeya Day celebrated on December 9 to commemorate the contribution of Begum Rokeya.
She was a pioneer of Bengali women's education and a social reformer for ensuring equal rights for women and men.
Begum Rokeya was born in village Pairaband of Rangpur on December 9, 1880 and died on the same day in 1932 in Kolkata.
The great woman struggled all through her life for establishing women's rights, freedom, education, empowerment and economic emancipation creating a renaissance in the then highly conservative and British-ruled colonial society in the sub-continent.
The birth and death anniversaries of Begum Rokeya are officially being observed as Rokeya Day since 1994 at Pairaband village under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur.
In observance of the day, ministry of women and children affairs has taken programmes and Five eminent women were honoured with the prestigious Begum Rokeya Padak-2022 for their outstanding contributions to women empowerment and social development.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stated at the programme "We've almost fulfilled Begum Rokeya's dreams as we, four key persons, in Parliament- the speaker, the leader of the house, the leader of the opposition and the deputy leader of the House were women. Unfortunately, our deputy leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury passed away a few days ago. We'll fulfill the vacant post by a woman again."
The PM focused on her endeavours to ensure the presence of women in different sectors and posts, including the higher court, the armed forces, Border Guard Bangladesh, the posts of secretary, deputy commissioner (DC), superintendent of police (SP) and even officer in-charge (OC) after formation of her government in 1996 and 2009.
"Today there is the presence of women everywhere," she said.
"Had she (Begum Rokeya) been alive today, she would be happy," said Hasina, adding that the Awami League government established a college and university after her (Rokeya's) name and also arranged training for women in her birth place."
