Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury (born 6 October 1966) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the first female speaker of the
Bangladesh
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
Jatiya Sangsad
The Jatiya Sangsad (), often simply referred to as Sangsad and also known as is the unicameral Legislature, legislative body of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 350 seats, including 50 seats reserved exclusively for w ...
since April 2013 until September 2024.
At 46, she became the youngest person to assume that office.
[ She was also the chairperson of the executive committee of the ]Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights.
In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head ...
between 2014 and 2017. She previously served as the state minister
Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior ministers ...
of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of Bangladesh.
Early life
Chaudhury was born on 6 October 1966 in Chatkhil thana of Noakhali
Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...
, Bangladesh. Her father, Rafiqullah Chaudhury, was a Civil Service of Pakistan
The Central Superior Services (CSS; or Civil Service) is a permanent elite civil service authority and the civil service that is responsible for running the bureaucratic operations and government secretariats and directorates of the Cabinet of ...
officer and secretary to the Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), also known by the honorific Bangabandhu, was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman and activist who was the founding president of Bangladesh. As the leader of Bangl ...
in 1972.[ Her mother, Naiyar Sultana, was a member of the ]Bangladesh Public Service Commission
Bangladesh Public Service Commission () is a quasi-judicial constitutional body established in 1972. The commission is responsible for the recruitment of civil service servants in the Bangladesh government. It was formed under Section 137 of Par ...
and the principal of Dhaka College
Dhaka College (), informally known as DC, is a public educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is one of the oldest educational institutions in the subcontinent. It offers Honours degree, honours and Master's degree ...
.[
]
Education
Chaudhury passed her Secondary School Certificate
Secondary School Certificate (SSC), Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) or Matriculation examination, is a public examination in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal conducted by educational boards for the successful completi ...
and Higher Secondary School Certificate
Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Higher Secondary School Certificate, Higher Secondary Education Certificate (HSEC) or Intermediate Examination is a secondary education qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. It is equivalent to the f ...
exams in 1983 and 1985 respectively from Holy Cross Girls' High School and College. To study law, she joined University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country.
The University of Dhaka w ...
and earned her LLB
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
and LLM
A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with Self-supervised learning, self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially Natural language generation, language g ...
degrees in 1989 and 1990 respectively. She received a Commonwealth scholarship to study at the University of Essex
The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...
in the UK. In 2000, Chaudhury earned her PhD degree
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in constitutional law and human rights.[
On 16 July 2014, Chaudhury received an honorary PhD degree from the University of Essex.
]
Career
Chaudhury, the International Affairs Secretary of the Awami League
The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...
, was elected MP from one of the parliamentary seats reserved for women on 24 March 2009 and was state minister
Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior ministers ...
of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (Bangladesh) until her nomination for speaker of Jatiya Sangsad
The Jatiya Sangsad (), often simply referred to as Sangsad and also known as is the unicameral Legislature, legislative body of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 350 seats, including 50 seats reserved exclusively for w ...
in April 2013.
Chaudhury was awarded Asia Society's Humanitarian Service Award on 9 June 2010 in recognition of her role as a leader in advocating the elimination of violence against women and mainstreaming women's empowerment and employment in Bangladesh. Shey received this award from Ambassador Melanne Verveer, then US Ambassador-at-Large, Global Women Issues in a gala award ceremony at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington DC.
On 28 January 2014, Chaudhury was elected MP from the Rangpur-6 constituency that had been vacated by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...
after the 5 January elections. Chaudhury was uncontested in the by-elections and was nominated for speaker by the Awami League the same day. She took oath as the speaker of the 10th Parliament on 29 January 2014, becoming the first person to remain speaker across two consecutive tenures.
Chaudhury was elected chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights.
In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head ...
(CPA) for the next three years in the CPA elections held in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde on 9 October 2014. She was the first Bangladeshi to hold that position, as well as any position in an international forum of this level. Bangladesh has been a member of the CPA Asia region, the biggest parliamentary forum of the world, since 1973. It competed for the post of CPA chairperson for the first time in 2014.
In her role as CPA chairperson between 2014 and 2017, Chaudhury has both attended and presided over a number of landmark events. On 9 March 2015, she addressed an audience including Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, members of the royal family and British and Commonwealth dignitaries at an Observance for Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...
in London, UK. She also opened the 46th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Africa Region Conference held in Nairobi, Africa between 10 and 13 August 2015. Chaudhury participated as a panel speaker in the "Tackling inequality, empowering women and girls and leaving no one behind" interactive dialogue session at the Sustainable Development Goals
The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
Summit held in New York 25 September 2015. As speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament, she has participated in a number of successful bilaterals, most notably with Indian and Chinese officials, including the Indian prime minister, president and speaker, the Chinese president, vice president and chairman of the National People's Congress.
Chaudhury has also been honoured with a Women Leadership Achievement Award at the 2nd World Women Leadership Congress and Award (WWLCA) 2015. Addressing a seminar "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future", Dr Chaudhury called for integrating women in the mainstream of development. She said the women community and all others would have to work together to face the challenges on the way of establishing women leadership across the world. Along with the government, all non-government and corporate agencies would have to work together to establish gender parity in society.
Chaudhury was a practising advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme Court
Supreme Court of Bangladesh () is the highest court of law in the country. It is composed of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division, and was established by Part VI, Chapter I (Article 94) of the Constitution of Bangladesh, adopte ...
and was one of the members of the lawyers' panel to conduct the cases filed against Sheikh Hasina during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007–08. Her key areas of work include human rights, constitutional law, gender issues and judicial reviews by way of writs. She is a Resource Person for several institutions including University of Dhaka, BRAC University
BRAC University (, also known as BRACU) is a private research university located in Merul Badda, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in 2001 as a branch of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed's BRAC under the Private University Act 1992.
History
Sir ...
, Dhaka International University
Dhaka International University () is a private university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The university was established on 7 April 1995.
Campus
Dhaka International University (DIU) has a permanent campus located at Satarkul, Badda, Dhaka. The campus cov ...
and Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs.[
]
Personal life
Chaudhury is married to Syed Ishtiaque Hossain, a pharmaceutical consultant.[ She has a daughter and a son.
]
Publications
Chaudhury served as editor of ''Bangladesh Legal Decisions'' (BLD), Law Report Series published every month by the Bangladesh Bar Council from 2003 to 2008. She developed several dialogue and concept papers with various relevant non-governmental and human rights organizations on human rights issues. Her published articles include:
* "Role of the Judiciary in the Development of Human Rights", published in 1999, published by Ain O Salish Kendro
The Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) ( (আসক); Centre for Law and Mediation) is a non-governmental legal aid and human rights organisation in Bangladesh. It is one of the leading human rights organizations of the country and is highly active in i ...
* "The Least Dangerous Branch and the Power of Judicial Review: Impact on the Development of Fundamental Human Rights", published in 2000, published by Ain O Salish Kendro
* "Right to Life and Its Dimensions", published in 2000, published by Ain O Salish Kendro
* "Practice of Democracy: Importance of Free and Fair Election in Bangladesh" presented as the keynote paper in a seminar organized by Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs, Bangladesh Heritage Foundation
* "Electoral Rights: Bangladesh Perspective", Conference Report on Human Rights and Governance, Local and Global Perspective, 16–18 January 2005, Manusher Jonno and Partners
* "Regional Position Paper on Status of Women in South Asia" written for SAAPE as Regional Thematic Focal Person from Bangladesh.
References
Notes
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhury, Shirin Sharmin
1966 births
Living people
People from Noakhali District
People from Chatkhil Upazila
Politicians from Chittagong Division
Alumni of the University of Essex
Awami League politicians
11th Jatiya Sangsad members
10th Jatiya Sangsad members
Women members of the Jatiya Sangsad
State ministers of women and children affairs of Bangladesh
Women government ministers of Bangladesh
Speakers of the Jatiya Sangsad
21st-century Bangladeshi women politicians
Women legislative speakers
12th Jatiya Sangsad members
Holy Cross College, Dhaka alumni