Women's Affairs Reform Commission

The Women's Affairs Reform Commission was established by the interim government in November 2024 to prepare a report on women's equal rights, restoring their dignity, respect in society, and reducing the discrimination.

Report and proposals

On 19 April 2025, following the commission's reform report being made public, it was criticized by the public. The report contained 443 proposals on 15 different subjects, including marriage for women of all religions through uniform family law, recognition of sex workers as workers, removal of Muslim inheritance law, expanding the number of parliamentary seats to 600, and reserving 300 of those for women.

Criticism

Many organizations opposed the proposals, calling them anti-religious, immoral, unconstitutional, and undemocratic. Several Islamist parties have demanded the abolision and reform of the commission.
The National Citizen Party expressed its dismay at some recommendations of the report of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission, calling them "dialectal" to the social and religious values of Bangladesh, and urged constructive dialogue with representative stakeholders in this regard. Nevertheless, its leaders were seen criticising Hefazat-e-Islam, accusing it of violent rhetoric and hate speech against women in their rally over the report of the commission.
On 16 May, counter protests were led by various leftist and feminist organisations.