International Women’s Day 2026 will be observed tomorrow, 8 March, under the theme “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls.” Ensuring legal identity is fundamental to safeguarding women’s rights. Without official recognition through birth and death registration, women and girls often face barriers in accessing education, healthcare, social protection, and legal justice. Strengthening the birth and death registration law is therefore a crucial step toward protecting women’s rights and ensuring justice.
Birth registration is the first step in securing the future of a girl child. Without it, proving age becomes difficult, which creates significant challenges in preventing child marriage. Child marriage increases the risk of early motherhood, deprives girls of education, and exposes them to greater risks of violence and exploitation. Lack of registration also heightens vulnerability to human trafficking and hazardous labor. Similarly, the absence of death registration can create serious complications after a woman’s death. Without official records, her property and inheritance rights may remain unprotected, increasing the likelihood of disputes among relatives over assets and legal claims.
Bangladesh has pledged to ensure registration for all by 2030, but still nearly half of the population remains unregistered. The limitation within the existing law remains a major obstacle to achieving this goal. Experts suggest that reforming the Birth and Death Registration Act 2004 to shift responsibility from families to healthcare institutions could significantly improve coverage. Since nearly two-thirds of births in Bangladesh occur in healthcare centers, making registration mandatory at these institutions would enable automatic registration of most newborns at the time of birth.
On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2026, ABM Zubair, Executive Director of research and advocacy organization PROGGA, said, “Women’s rights begin with legal identity. Making registration mandatory through healthcare facilities would accelerate progress toward achieving universal registration within the stipulated timeframe, while strengthening the protection of women’s rights and paving the way for justice and equality.”
