Women’s empowerment refers, in fact, to the material and intellectual advancement of women, such as individuality, security, independence, freedom to make decisions. That is, if a woman is free to make choices in her life and can go to work or work safely, that atmosphere is called empowerment for women. In reality, empowerment comes from the conscience. If both the men and women in society are liberal without seeing each other as their opponents, there would be no more barriers to empowering women.

However the process of empowerment does not happen overnight. Women empowerment is an idea that has been the focus of a number of questions over the years. There will still be a segment of society that finds women inferior to men and therefore rejects the initiative to uplift women. Yet we must teach both boys and girls to respect each other. Women empowerment can only be brought about when women are made aware of their right. Most girls grow up to believe that they are inferior to boys and therefore give up before the regressive and patriarchal system of society. Young girls must be taught that they are no less than boys and can achieve anything if they are determined to do so.

Bangladesh has been a role model for women’s empowerment in the world. Bangladesh’s progress in women’s political, social and economic empowerment has shocked the world. Women’s involvement in state operations at home and abroad is almost assured. Even in remote rural areas, women are no longer a trivial matter. Women are displaying their skills at the workplace, showing their achievement. Women are now running the state, conquering the mountains, and playing a leading role in the economic growth of the world. Both men and women today compete in all types of sports. Bangladesh is ahead of its neighbors and several developing countries in the field of women’s rights and empowerment. Bangladesh is one of the leading countries in South Asia to achieve gender equality.

In the Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) jointly conducted with Harvard and the University of California, Bangladesh is ranked number one in the world in terms of the role of women in state power. Bangladesh ranks 47th in the overall empowerment of women, according to the WEF. The political empowerment of women is the reason for this position. The position of Bangladesh in this index is five. The first four are Iceland, Nicaragua, Norway and Rwanda.

Bangladesh ranks second among the 24 countries in the Asia-Pacific region after Australia in the overall index of women’s growth. Bangladesh ranks second among the 36 lowest middle-income countries in the world. According to the Global Gender Gap Study 2016, Bangladesh ranked 47th out of 144 countries, suggesting a better position than any other nation in South Asia.

The concept of women’s empowerment and efforts in this area has helped the country attain a steady progress in gender equality. And the country is experiencing an appreciable change in society because of its efforts in this regard. So we must remember two things in the path of women empowerment that, women empowerment refer to making women powerful to make them capable enough of deciding for themselves and women’s empowerment begins with the act of considering women equal to men.