The sports realm has always been considered a man’s world. However, over the years, women have more than just proven this notion to be wrong with their achievements. Bangladeshi women are no exception, as over the years they have proven their worth in both national and international levels.
In a bid to highlight the outstanding achievements of women while inspiring more women to take up sports, Action Aid organized ‘Of Struggles and Liberation: Celebrating Women in Sports’ on the 6th of March. A joint collaboration with Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB), the event featured 11 women pioneers of sports in Bangladesh and celebrated their achievements in front of an audience that was comprised of members of the parliament, civil society, educators, students, sports personalities, and journalists. The 11 ‘icons’ included the likes of Shirin Akhter – fastest woman in the country, Ashreen Mridha – captain of the basketball team, Rumana Ahmed – captain of the cricket team, Maria Manda – captain of the U-15 football team, among others who were all given an introduction that described their highlights and struggles, as well as being awarded with flowers and certificates.
Speaking to Farah Kabir, Action Aid’s country director and organizer of the event, we got exclusive insight on the origin and inspiration behind everything. “Action Aid is a human rights-based organization particularly focusing on young women. I feel as if sports are an avenue for bringing people into leadership for building up self-confidence, for giving them the aspiration to reach greater heights, so why should girls and women not be a part of it? Because it was imperative to create a platform for girls and women and truth be told, we don’t have to do much other than that because our girls are stars,” she stated.
Farah also believes that the notion that women and sports don’t go together is long-gone and people’s mindset about sports being a career is also slowly changing. So, this is as good a time as any to influence that mindset to include girls and women as well. Furthermore, empowering women in sports will also give them the physical and mental capabilities to stand up to and overcome adversities such as discrimination, violence, and stereotypes. Farah urged the government and the private sector to invest more so that more women can join this revolution.
Among the teams present in the event, we had the chance to speak to a few representatives of the national women’s cricket, football and basketball team.
Bangladesh national women’s cricket team
The national women’s cricket team was formed in 2007 and they took the women’s cricket scene by storm by winning the ACC championship, beating Pakistan in the group stages of the Asia Cup, and then gaining ODI status in 2011, after finishing fifth in the 2011 Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. Individuals that standout in the team includes Khadija Tul Kubra, who was signed by Melbourne Stars and is set to play in Big Bash T20 in Australia. “I feel as if we need more challenges domestically and also more family support. I personally had a lot of support from my family but most girls are not as privileged. I get a rush that cannot be described in words every time I play cricket and every person has the right to experience that,” added Kumra.
Bangladesh U-15 women’s football team
The rising stars of Bangladesh, the U-15 girls are undoubtedly among the most exciting sporting prospects of the country, and they proved it when they beat India in the grand finale of the Staff U-15 Championship last December. Maria Mandal is the captain and the centerpiece of the team. “I actually found my passion for football when my school made it mandatory for girls to play sports. I simply love every aspect of the game on the pitch but getting to visit new countries off of it is not too bad either,” stated Maria with a big smile on her face, when asked about her journey. Golam Rabbani Choton, the coach of the team expressed his gratitude towards the football federation for all their initiatives that include 41-player training facility as well as a women’s football league.
Bangladesh women’s basketball team
Although Basketball is not as popular as other sports in Bangladesh, the women’s basketball team boasts some of our finest athletes who have been breaking barriers and making a positive statement through their achievements. But they face a lot of challenges, speaking to the captain of the team, Ashreen Mridha, we got to know about some of these challenges, “Basketball is a sport that requires infrastructure, it cannot be played on any field, you’d need a specialized basketball court for it. It becomes increasingly difficult to continue playing this sport beyond school or college level, which is sad because the feeling you get when you wear a jersey bearing the flag of Bangladesh is unbeatable.” Benazir Sarker of the national team explained how we need more sports facilities and more encouragement from families. “Encouragement and facilities will do half the work; the rest is finding out the talented girls who are all over the country. And there are a lot of them.”
Photographs by Sariful Islam