STAFF CORRESPONDENT

Speakers at a seminar yesterday emphasised the need for urgent legal reforms to guarantee equal inheritance rights for women.

They highlighted the entrenched inequality in Bangladesh’s inheritance laws, which are still governed by the outdated 1961 family law, and stressed that gender sensitivity and legal equality are essential to building a just and inclusive society

The speakers criticised the outdated legal framework for discrimination against women across religious communities and called for a uniform, secular family code that guarantees equal property rights for all, regardless of gender.

The seminar, titled “Gender Sensitivity and Legal Equality are Necessary to Build a Non-Discriminatory and Humane Society”, was organised by Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha (BNPS) at the Women’s Voluntary Association in Dhanmondi.

BNPS coordinator Nasreen Begum, in her keynote presentation, stressed the need to secure women’s rights to inheritance and property, and to foster a gender-sensitive environment that encourages women’s involvement in all spheres of life.

Advocate Deepti Sikder, BNPS director of legal aid, called for abolishing the discriminatory

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