# data[].attributes.headline
I was talking to a foreigner about Bangladesh. When he heard we have a woman Prime Minister, he was enchanted. He said, “You are really progressive; you have so much freedom for women.” I was stunned to hear that. Were our Prime Minister and our Leader of Opposition women because we have equality? Were there truly no differences between men and women in our country, no differences in their rights?

# data[].attributes.subject
I was talking to a foreigner about Bangladesh. When he heard we have a woman Prime Minister, he was enchanted. He said, “You are really progressive; you have so much freedom for women.” I was stunned to hear that. Were our Prime Minister and our Leader of Opposition women because we have equality? Were there truly no differences between men and women in our country, no differences in their rights?

# data[].attributes.body
Of course not. I told the foreign guest that these women had risen to such positions because of their husband or father, not entirely on their own merits. What do you say, honorable Prime Minister? And what about you, Leader of the Opposition? Will you deny this? Even if you have used your husband’s or father’s name to climb so high, I am still proud of you because you are women. But what is the use of being women in power if it brings no change? If you study law but do not reform it, if you master statecraft but maintain the status quo, what good does it do for women? I am not speaking of the Indemnity Bill, VAT, or rising prices—these are problems that affect everyone. I am speaking specifically about women: the tired, dispirited, undernourished, ignorant, speechless, and powerless women of the third world. My subject is women.

# data[].attributes.body
As soon as you entered politics, the end of your saris covered your heads. The male politicians did not begin to wear caps, though Islam asks both men and women to cover their heads. But women are forced to follow religious rules much more than men. I know you are not used to covering your heads. The woman who has gone to the university, who has been the wife of a Lieutenant General, is not used to these orthodox notions. I know you do them because the ministers in your cabinet tell you to do so. Your male colleagues have taught you to hide your heads to win votes.

# data[].attributes.body
Isn’t that deception? Aren’t you deceiving yourselves too? I’m sure you remember that if you are a woman, society doesn’t let you forget it—for in every step you take, there is some restriction, some order forbidding you from doing things, some sanction. Women grow up in the midst of all these restrictions. Didn’t you ever feel discontented and angry against them? I know you did, every woman does. But then why don’t you do something about them now? Why don’t you raise your voice against all the oppressive restrictions on women?

# data[].attributes.body
Every day we read about women being murdered, raped, disfigured by acid. No one is caught for these crimes because laws have loopholes. Will these loopholes exist forever? Dear Prime Minister, I am proud of you because you are brave. I give you my deepest respect. When you travel in your motorcade, we hear the sirens wailing. Walk with us one day on these dark streets, on these unsafe pavements; see how lustful male hands clutch at you. Please come, our leader of the opposition, you too must see how women are sold on our streets for the price of a vegetable. If you see it, will you not think women are objects of consumption? Even you, however high you may rise, cannot escape this taint.

# data[].attributes.body
If you don’t rehabilitate the numerous girls living in brothels, then who will? If you have seized power because you want someone to pay for the deaths of your husband and father, I have little to say. But if you have another consciousness, another awareness, then surely you would do something for the buying and selling of women, child marriages, polygamy, rapes, kidnappings that women are subjected to every day in our villages, in our cities. I have deep faith that women would be more eager to address these problems than men. Won’t you? Or is it that you are just the representative of some man? All these are impossible for you to achieve because the pressure from male colleagues, the pressure from religion, the pressure of imperialism, the pressure of foreign aid keeps you clinging to your seat for dear life. And you have no thoughts of your own, no feelings, and no conscience of your own.

# data[].attributes.headline
Please choose any one question from the list below and write its answer. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Please choose any one question from the list below and write its answer. 