'Park has won for all Korean women'
Ambassador of Bangladesh Enamul Kabir
President-elect Park Geun-hye
By Kim Se-jeong
The Ambassador of Bangladesh Enamul Kabir believes a new leadership in Korea led by Park Geun-hye will usher in unprecedented positive change to the country.
“We are very encouraged that another female leader has come. We’re hopeful that with Park being the president, this country will develop further in the future,” Kabir said during a recent interview with The Korea Times.
He based his remark on changes that have occurred in his own nation that are continuing to evolve.
The Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni is female and so are the Agricultural Minister Matia Chowdhury and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
More women are also apparent in the private sector, the ambassador said.
“Now, they’re coming into business as well,” the ambassador said. “We have 80 million (women). Girls are now leading the country.”
The World Bank confirms his claims.
A 2007 report by the global financial institution recognized significant accomplishments in the areas of empowering women and gender equality.
“Women in Bangladesh have won important first round victories in terms of visibility and mobility against great odds of gender-based inequalities and discrimination,” the report said.
Educational opportunities for women, especially in girls’ secondary education has seen an unprecedented improvement. Bangladesh is becoming a successful country within the developing world with low birth and mortality rates — these were almost halved between 1989 and 2004. The now famous microcredit scheme has also given women access to credit as well as empowering them to find a “voice, solidarity and ability to access other services.”
The ambassador says the profound changes are not easily explained.
“You can’t explain why. There’s no full proof, but that’s how it is,” he said.
Change too is happening within his own family.
“I have two children — in their 20-30s. I have given priorities to my boys, but now, I am giving a better education to my girl than to my boy. Previously, during my father’s time, this would not have been the case. Psychological change and a paradigm shift is happening in people’s minds.”
The World Bank report recognized a significant effect caused by the shift toward equal opportunities.
“The newly independent state in 1971 had a dream of a new society, for which the state created a Constitution that focused on principles of equality and liberty.” Under the Constitution, the state ratified several international conventions and participated in conferences regarding women’s interests. A Five Year Plan laid the groundwork for improving gender equality as well.
Additional credit can be attributed to Bangladesh’s unique society that enabled the objective of gender equality to become a collective goal. “Unlike other countries in South Asia, Bangladeshi rural society has a high degree of linguistic, religious and ethnic homogeneity,” the report stated.
With some challenges still left to be tackled, the World Bank office in Bangladesh runs the “Empowerment and Livelihood Improvement” project. This is an initiative focused on tackling poverty in the northern part of the country, improving the quality of secondary education, generating employment opportunities for the poor and pursuing a primary education development program.
Ambassador Kabir is a career diplomat, having served in France, Vietnam, Bhutan, the Philippines, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.
Aware of the big presence of Korean private companies in Vietnam and their vibrant activities, the envoy expressed his wish for the same thing to happen in Bangladesh.
“What you’re doing in Vietnam — exactly the same thing can be done in Bangladesh.”
Along with Singapore and Japan, Korea is one of the three largest investors in Vietnam. Just like in other developing countries, the initial investment in Vietnam was in the labor-intensive clothing manufacturing industry.
Taekwang Group with a troubled chairman who was once the honorary consul of Vietnam in Korea had a lucrative business producing shoes and clothes in Vietnamese factories and selling them abroad.
Samsung Electronics shifted the direction of investment. Cell phone manufacturing lines realized a transfer of skills to Vietnamese workers. Factories continue setting new records of production.
Lotte Group is another big investor with more than 130 Lotteria, a fast-food franchise, up and running.
In Bangladesh, the textile industry is currently attracting the most investors from Korea. Youngone, the distributor of The North Face brand in Korea, is the biggest single investor in Bangladesh, running factories.
The ambassador stated that Bangladesh admires Korea’s achievements, in particular the shipbuilding and information and technology industries here.
Korea and Bangladesh established diplomatic ties in 1973. Celebrating the 40th anniversary, this year was designated as “Visit Bangladesh” year by Korea, and the embassy in Seoul is preparing promotional activities throughout the year.