Shazia Omar
Social Security Advocacy & Communications Specialist
UNDP Bangladesh
Op-Eds
Chasing the dream – How social security programs in Bangladesh are helping to empower impoverished women
March 12, 2017
“Last week, I visited Ashashuni union of Satkhira, a flood-prone area where river erosion, limited economic opportunities and increasing salinity caused by climate change made worse by shrimp cultivation have resulted in poverty for thousands of people. There, I met three women.
The first young woman was a bright-eyed lady named Parul Akhtar. She was dressed in a colourful salwar kameez, busy behind her sewing machine, when I arrived at her home.
I asked her to tell me a bit about herself while her son circled us curiously. Parul’s father was a van puller who couldn’t afford the upkeep of his five children, so she was married off young.”
