“Freedom is really very important. Until everyone is free, freedom is useless.”

Kamla Bhasin, Indian developmental feminist activist shared her life stories in an event, “An Evening with Kamla”  in Dhaka on Saturday.

The renowned activist said to the audience at Chhayanut auditorium, “You don’t need to know feminism. You need to know you are a human being. You have a right to freedom, mobility, and self-respect.”

“It’s family that say’s ‘no’ where the constitution says all citizen’s are ‘free’ and ‘equal.’ It is the fear that keeps us bounded. No one questions religion – that how religion teaches us to kill, we are afraid to challenge religion, even culture. We made culture, we can change it, we made patriarchy, we can change it,” she added.

Kamla portrayed her perception of how capitalism and patriarchy is closely related by providing data which shows that 80% of boys aged between 12-18 in South Asia are into pornography which supports gender norms through abusing women and then taking advantage of it.

Capitalist patriarchy is the “demon” according to her.

Christian Aid, Sangat – South Asian Feminist Network, and One Billion Rising organized this event which was wrapped up in a positive note by Kamla saying, gender equality is a win for everyone.

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