Date:
Author: S M Shaikat
For years, I have worked at the intersection of youth leadership, public health, democracy and climate justice in Bangladesh. Across these spaces, one truth has remained constant: gender inequality is not a side issue. It is deeply embedded in how systems are designed, decisions are made, and resources are distributed.
In Bangladesh, young women and girls continue to face structural barriers in accessing healthcare, participating in leadership, and influencing policies that directly affect their lives. These inequalities become even sharper during crises. From climate-induced displacement to rising digital violence, it is often girls and young women who bear the heaviest burden. Yet their voices remain underrepresented in the solutions.
My leadership journey has been shaped by this reality.
At SERAC-Bangladesh we have spent years building youth-centred models that challenge exclusion and expand access. Through our adolescent health programmes, we introduced the Volunteer Peer Leader model within public Adolescent Friendly Health Corners, helping thousands of young people, especially adolescent girls, access accurate information, referrals and safe spaces for sexual and reproductive health. We learned that when young women are equipped with knowledge, confidence and agency, they not only improve their own health outcomes -- they transform families, communities and the systems around them.
Beyond health, I have also worked to create democratic spaces where young women can meaningfully participate in public decision-making. Through the Urban Youth Council model, developed with technical support from United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) we institutionalized youth participation within city governance in Bangladesh with a firm commitment to gender parity. Today, women hold 50 per cent of council seats. This was never about meeting a quota; it was about ensuring that the lived experiences and leadership of young women become part of local governance. Representation matters, but meaningful participation matters even more.
One of the most powerful lessons I have learned is that gender equality cannot rely on goodwill alone. It requires systems change.
This understanding also shaped Peace Adda, a youth-led dialogue platform I founded to strengthen social cohesion and counter polarization. Through interfaith dialogue, storytelling and safe spaces, we have engaged thousands of young people, many of them young women, to challenge harmful social norms, build empathy, and reclaim their voices in public discourse. In societies where women are often expected to remain silent, creating spaces to speak, lead and influence is itself an act of transformation.
Today, new challenges continue to emerge. Digital spaces, while creating unprecedented opportunities for participation, are also exposing young women to technology-facilitated gender-based violence, misinformation and exclusion. Climate change is intensifying existing inequalities, increasing unpaid care responsibilities, and disproportionately affecting women and girls. Meanwhile, health systems remain under-resourced, leaving mental health and sexual and reproductive health services inaccessible for far too many adolescents.
Yet I remain hopeful.
Across Bangladesh and beyond, I see a generation of young women who are no longer waiting for permission to lead. They are organizing communities, influencing policies, driving innovation, and demanding accountability. Our responsibility as policymakers, development practitioners and civil society leaders is to ensure that the institutions around them are ready to recognize, invest in, and sustain that leadership.
Being part of the UN Women 30 for 2030 network has reinforced my belief that advancing gender equality requires more than amplifying youth voices; it requires sharing power with young people and creating lasting pathways for their leadership. Across Asia and the Pacific, I have seen inspiring young leaders prove that inclusive leadership delivers stronger and more sustainable outcomes.
Gender equality is not only about fairness. It is about building healthier societies, stronger democracies, and more resilient futures. I believe our collective responsibility is to move beyond inclusion as a checkbox and embrace co-creation as a principle. Because when young women lead, communities change. When institutions listen, systems become more equitable. And when leadership is shared, gender equality becomes not just an aspiration, but a reality.
S M Shaikat, is a Bangladeshi youth development practitioner, policy advocate and executive director of the non-governmental organization SERAC-Bangladesh. He works to promote youth leadership, gender equality, public health, climate justice and democratic governance. He serves on several global advisory bodies, including the UN Women 30 for 2030 network, World Health Organization Civil Society Commission, and UHC2030 Civil Society Engagement Mechanism Advisory Group.