Spread Her Wings: Let Her Fly

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by Mr. Asadur Rahman Nabin, National Officer on Human Rights and Peace from BMSS Bangladesh, medical student of Bangladesh Medical College. He is affiliated to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA), cordial partner of The Sting. The opinions expressed in this piece belong strictly to the writer and do not necessarily reflect IFMSA’s view on the topic, nor The European Sting’s one.

Women have struggled in establishing their rights from the time of Renaissance or even longer before. The most decisive decision about their rights came after the industrial revolution that changed the perspective on how everyone looks on to Women Rights, Women are the most respected and honored person in the community. They are the ones who bring about live to the earth.

The first step towards establishing women rights in the society was the admission of young women into the world of higher education lent increasingly irresistible and irreversible force to the advancement of the human rights of women¹ back in the 19^th century. Later that century; women got the rights to actively take part in literature and science.  The International Council of Women was set up towards the end of the nineteenth century: 66 American and 8 European women attended its first and founding convention, held in Washington in 1888.²

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in1948, enshrines the principle of equality between women and men and prohibits discrimination against women. Article 2 of the Declaration states that: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex …“. The Declaration also reaffirms the principle of equal political rights for men and women.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the UnitedNations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the High Commissioner for Refugees (HCR) are working to improve the status ofwomen. The right of all women to better living conditions and access to adequate health services are among WHO’s concerns. UNICEF fights for the rights of all children, girls and boys alike, and recognizes that the advancement of the girls’ rights is inextricably linked to the rights and the status of women. The High Commissioner for Refugees is directly involved in protecting the rights of refugee women and girls, who make up the majority of refugees.

We all have a role to play to establish women rights. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have mentioned earlier in 2020 that “Women’s rights are threatened and attacked” on many fronts, she warned, adding that there over this period there has been “a backlash and the resurgence of gender inequality narratives based on age-old discrimination”.³ We as medical students should advocate the population from all around the world about women rights and why it should be established. IFMSA has undertaken various activities throughout the years where medical students were made aware and were advocated to make other people aware about women rights and as to how it can be established. We should also incorporate topics regarding women rights in the curricula so students can know its importance and can play certain role in its establishment.

References

1. Encyclopaedia Universalis, Corpus 7, p. 831. In 1872, Cornell University was the first school in the easternUnited Statesto becomeco-educational.
2. The participants made a plan to take a step to stop this oppression.
3. https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/02/1058021

About the author

Asadur Rahman Nabin, National Officer on Human Rights and Peace from BMSS Bangladesh, medical student of Bangladesh Medical College. He is a part of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations and is a human rights advocate. He is also a person who has designed and performed around 5 activities on advocating students on women rights.