Tehreek-e-Niswan and All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) organised a discussion meeting at Phulwari Sharif, Bihar on September 13 on the theme “Right to Education and Employment and Muslim Women.” A large number of women participated in the meeting and discussed the growing barriers faced by Muslim women and girls in accessing education, employment and public life.
Addressing the meeting, Tehreek-e-Niswan National Convenor Dr Farhat Bano said that the Constitution guarantees equality and prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, gender or class. Yet, discrimination against minority and marginalised communities, particularly women and girls, has intensified in recent years.
She said that communal politics and the atmosphere of fear created against Muslims are pushing women further away from education and employment. Fear and insecurity restrict women's mobility and participation in public life. She also criticised the closure and merger of government schools, pointing out that increasing distances from schools have forced many girls to drop out of education.
AIPWA National General Secretary Meena Tiwari recalled the long history of women's struggles for education. She said that pioneers such as Fatima Sheikh and Savitribai Phule, among the country's earliest women educators, faced severe social opposition but refused to retreat from their mission. She also recalled the contribution of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain and other women who worked for women's education in Bihar during the 20th century. She noted that Rashid-un-Nisa established an early girls' school in Patna where girls belonging to different religious communities studied together.
The meeting strongly condemned the police action against women journalists and students. It protested the beating of Delhi-based women journalists Shaheen Khan and Nafisa Khan at a police station, the arrest of Saba Afreen during the Patna student movement, and the arrest of journalist Huda Zariwala in Saharanpur. Speakers said that these women had been targeted and harassed because of their Muslim identity and demanded an end to such discriminatory repression.
The speakers stressed that the fight for women's education and employment cannot be separated from the struggle against communal discrimination, state repression and the politics of fear. They called for strengthening the democratic and constitutional rights of Muslim women and ensuring equal access to education and employment.
Afshan Zabin, Nasreen Bano, Gulshan Khatoon, Abda Khatoon, Anusha Mansoor, Anita Sinha, Dr Meera Dutt, Anuradha and Priya Gupta also addressed the meeting. The meeting was conducted by Afshan Zabin and Nasreen Bano.
