The 1978 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Tahrunnesa Ahmed Abdullah

No language can describe the gratitude that I want to express for honoring me with such a great Award. I want to thank the Board of Trustees and the people of the Philippines on behalf of myself, my family, my people, especially the women and the Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, for this unique honor.

On this important evening in my life, I recall the late President Ramon Magsaysay, who endeared himself to thc people of the Philippines and the world by his devoted and sincere service to the cause of his fellowmen. I also remember Mr. Akhter Hameed Khan, under whose able guidance I started working with the most underprivileged of people anywhere—the rural women of Bangladesh; he was a Magsaysay Awardee in 1963. I also remember my colleagues and friends in and outside the government in my country, who always actively supported my program. Last but not least, I remember my sisters in rural Bangladesh who, with their scanty resources, are determined to bridge the gap of centuries in years in bringing a change in their lives.

I believe development cannot have its full impact unless the cause of women is woven into the overall cause of community progress. Development is total or it is ineffective. Women's participation in development is a goal in its own right. I think by giving me the Award you have really honored the simple, hardworking and underprivileged women, who live and die unnoticed, unheard of in the countless villages of my country and in many other Asian, Latin American and African states. Though almost half the population of any country, they are trampled on, pushed around and looked down upon as a result of centuries of neglect, superstition and segregation.

Most of the rural women in Bangladesh feel bound by village standards of purdah. In effect women are physically confined to their households. They perform much of their work, which tends to be sex-specific, within the shelter of their courtyards. The result is that women have access to the world outside purdah only through intermediaries—young children, fathers, brothers and grown sons.

We, the few privileged people living in the cities, have no concept of their hardship and limitations. Obedience, self-sacrifice and submission are the social strategies women use to provide themselves some guarantee of security and survival.

It has been my privilege to get to know them through rural women's cooperatives which are based on the recognition that rural women are integrated in the household and rural economy of Bangladesh. Because they are sexually segregated in their work and in social functions, separate cooperatives for women are considered necessary at this point to enable them to have direct access to supervised credit, inputs, modern knowledge and leadership training. Women must be enabled to make their own creative contribution. The integration of rural women in the social, economic and political life of the community will enhance women's personal dignity and lead them toward more equal citizenship and fuller family responsibility.

Through my humble work I have just touched the fringe of the immense problem that lies ahead in ameliorating the condition of rural women in Bangladesh.

I am sure your recognition of this work will encourage the dedicated sincere people who have been and will be working to bring about improvement in the condition of underprivileged women all over the world, to enable them to stand beside their fathers, brothers and sons with dignity, honor and in equal usefulness.

I conclude with my grateful thanks once again to the members of the Board of Trustees and the people of the Philippines.