“INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRATION 2019” ORGANIZED BY IEEE Bangladesh Section AND WIE AG, IEEE B

Organizer: IEEE Bangladesh Section and WIE AG, IEEE BDS

Venue: Asia Hotel and Resorts

Date: March 08, 2019

Attendees at the WIE Women's Day celebration 2019

IEEE Bangladesh Section and IEEE Women in Engineering Affinity Group IEEE Bangladesh Section organized ”International Women’s Day Celebration 2019” at Asia Hotel and Resorts on 8th March. The theme of the event was “Balance for Better”.

Anamika Bhakta, Vice President, Robi Axiata Ltd. and current chair of Women in Engineering Affinity Group of Bangladesh moderated the event with the assistance of two vice chairs of the group, Lamia Iftekhar and Raisa Fabiha and the secretary of IEEE Bangladesh Section, Raihanur Rashid. 44 accomplished professionals from more than 22 institutions joined the event. Prof. Dr. Dil Afroza Begum, Member, University Grants Commission of Bangladesh attended the program as the chief guest.

Honorable chief guest, Prof. Dr. Dil Afroza Begum(middle) with the Chair, Vice-Chair and Ex-Chair of WIE

Prof. Dr. Celia Shahnaz, Department of EEE, BUET, Chair of IEEE Bangladesh Section and founding Chair of Women in Engineering Affinity Group of Bangladesh at the outset of the event delivered the welcome speech. She spoke about the vast number of significant activities of WIE Affinity Group in 40 universities of Bangladesh, the arduous efforts of the group to become the best one in the world and the remarkable international achievements and recognition the group has attained by working for the women in the local community of Bangladesh. She urged everyone to contribute towards retaining this glory.

The honorable chief guest of the event, Prof. Dr. Dil Afroza Begum then delivered her valuable speech focusing on her effort in eliminating gender discrimination in STEM education. Also she marked the significant increase in GDP as the outcome of those struggles which led to form women friendly policies. She expressed her hope that if women are supported by their male-counterparts, rapid increase in economic growth will be possible by 50% GDP contribution from women, which will ultimately turn the country into a developed one by 2041.

The present female guests shared their experience-based opinions about how to ensure “Balance for Better” while imparting technical contribution to help progress the women in the engineering sector in Bangladesh. Among the present female professionals, the notable were Tasneem Tariq, Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, BUET, Achia Khaleda Nila, Founder and CEO, Women in digital, Afroza Akter, Lead Tech Evangelist at Mentor Nations, Anika Yunus, Professor, department of Water Resource Engineering, BUET, Tamanna Motahar, Advisor of NSU ACM-Women Chapter, faculty members from NSU, Nova Ahmed and Farah Deeba, Nashiyat Fyza, Development Manager, Information Centers on Nuclear Energy (ICONE), Fatema Ahmed Nisha, Assistant Engineer, PDB.

Undergraduate and graduate students from WIE student branches of different universities of Bangladesh including BUET, Dhaka University, North South University, Prime Asia University, University of Liberal Arts, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, University of Asia Pacific, East West University, Independent University of Bangladesh, United International University, Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, Institute of Science, technology and trade, Daffodil International University, BAUST, and a number of male engineers from Robi Axiata ltd., Grameenphone, Teach for Bangladesh, Bangladesh Power Development Board, Dhaka Power Distribution Company, Energypac Engineering ltd., Banglaphone were also present in the event. The present successful women engineers motivated the students to stay focused to achieve the dream goals of life. They also thanked the present male engineers for their support to mark the International Women’s Day.

The struggles experienced by a woman engineer, the identified problems and their technical and realistic solutions have been well discussed among the present guests, thereby making the event a grand success.

The event ended with a group photo and cake cutting as a part of celebration of International Women’s Day 2019. Prof. Dr. Celia Shahnaz proposed vote of thanks to the event moderator and the guests. She requested everyone to encourage other women in their success. Everybody in the event reckoned that the event would inspire women engineers to become more dynamic to contribute to the development of the nation and to achieve international recognition.