Vista-1: It was a day of early last decade; I was roaming around the haor of Mithamoin in Kishoreganj sitting on the top of a trawler to prepare a report on fish sanctuaries. After nearly one and half a decade, still I remember the sign on the side wall of a school building in that remote water-land, saying, `Have finished primary, now I am in class six, who will stop me?’ It was portraying an adolescent girl running with her books in the right hand raised upward.

It was a campaign across country by unicef after government decided to provide free education to the girls, instigated on the basis of one of the major millennium development goals, `education for all’. Sheikh Hasina during her first term as premier endorsed the MDGs for a better Bangladesh by 2015. She announced free-education up to secondary level for all girls across country.

Her visionary measures worked, and girls’ enrollment to the school increased significantly. The result is, 67.6 per cent of women are now educated in Bangladesh.

Vista-2: In 2003, when I was working on a report on maternity and child health inside Vasantek slum, the biggest concentration of slum dweller in the country, I met an ailing mother who just gave birth to her third child. She was bed-laden and her eldest daughter of age 6 was the only hand to manage household duties. Both mother and the neo-natal were in dying condition.

The situation is now changed. Bangladesh has the biggest success in achieving the MDG of maternity health. The maternal mortality rates between 1990 and 2013 fell by 70%.

Vista-3: On any of the day in 2005, I was visiting Begunbari slum in the capital to explore a report on maternity leave for RMG workers. I met a girl aged 15/16 with 8-month of pregnancy, who lost her job due to maternity. The employer asked her to leave the job while she was praying for maternity leave to give birth to her child. These days are over now, at present RMG workers are entitled to enjoy 112 days of maternity leave under labour law.

Vista-4: A day of August 2013, classmates of a 13-yr old school-girl saved her from early marriage in Feni. While the classmates came to know about the marriage the collectively went to the district administration and later with the help of administration the marriage was stopped. This is the result of a new nationwide campaign to accelerate action against child marriage called “Girls, Not Brides” initiated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself.

Vista-5: Last week of September 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was attending the United Nations General Assembly. She was a panel discussant of the program by Global Education Initiative where Malala Yousafzai, the young girl from Pakistan, was also present. Malala, in her discussion, urged the world powers to send books instead of arms, pens instead of tanks and teachers instead of soldiers, while prime minister Sheikh Hasina said the `brave voice’ of Malala echoed the voice of her. On the other hand Malala said she always found Sheikh Hasina as her inspiration.

Thus Sheikh Hasina and her activities as premier are also taken as inspiration by many. And that is why she is now being invited to join the Girl Summit-2014. She will be talking against two major social offences against the girls across world called genital mutilation and early-forced marriage. It is believed that Sheikh Hasina’s achievement in women empowerment and protection of women’s rights will work as inspiration in the summit.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron invited Sheikh Hasina to join the program to be held on July 22 in London. Malala Yousafzai will also join the summit.

Having such a prime minister of inspiration, the women in Bangladesh are going advance. Nothing can stop them now to take part in anywhere for the country’s sake. In 1971, significant number of women fought and contributed to achieve the country’s independence. Apart from that the women have been contributing to the country’s police force since 1974, naval and air force in 2000 while armed force in 2002. Country’s biggest economic sector RMG is now a female worker based industry.

The large number of women health workers or schoolteachers has actually helped Bangladesh go up in every aspect of Human Development Index.

The glorious Bangladeshi women are in all national mainstream activities through working at various technical-social-political-industrial-military-economic levels to the coveted position of the prime minister! So, none can stop them!

BDST 1303 HRS, JUL 20, 2014