Bangladesh Mahila Parishad awarded female Language Movement veterans and some other women with its annual Sufia Kamal Honorary Award on the occasion of the poet's 104th birth anniversary yesterday.

They gave the award at a programme commemorating Sufia Kamal organised at Bangla Academy.

At the programme, speakers spoke of Sufia Kamal's struggle for a secular state and women's education.     

"For centuries, philosophers, writers and thinkers produced work that belittled women in different ways. Women were portrayed as fragile and fit only for giving birth and raising children. Sufia Kamal paved a way for generations of women to challenge these established norms," said Ayesha Khanam, president of the parishad.

Begum Akhter Kamal, chairperson of Dhaka University's Bangla department, delivered a memorial speech on Sufia Kamal's poems depicting liberalism.

Language Movement veterans Halima Khatun, Sufia Ahmed, Rawshan Ara Bachchu and Pratibha Mutsuddi received the parishad's award.

Deputy Inspector General of police Mili Biswas, farmer Farida Begum, Rana Plaza survivor Arati Rani Das and union parishad member Mamata Shikdar were given the award for perseverance and facing professional challenges.