The glory that young women athletes brought to the country in recent times has encouraged more girls to join sports and is bringing about a gradual change in attitude towards female Bangladeshi players, speakers were of the view.

They said there should be more patronage for women in sports, more resources allocated at the national level, and the media can also play an important role in ensuring gender equality.

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Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union in Bangladesh Charles Whiteley, Deputy Head of Delegation Dr Bernd Spanier, Vice Chancellor of American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) Dr. Carmen Z. Lamagna, Prof Dr Farheen Hassan, National footballer Rupa Akther and National shooter Ardina Ferdous, Associate Dean, AIUB Dr ABM Rahmatullah, and Laetitia Weibel Roberts and Maurice Len Brooks from International Labour Organization recently joined two separate discussions on sports and diplomacy and the dark side of World Cup 2022.

“Brilliant to meet members of Bangladesh women’s football team and shooting champions,” Ambassador Whiteley tweeted.

“We are very proud of these girls,” said AIUB VC Dr. Carmen, adding that popularity of women’s sports is growing though traditionally sports is a male dominated world.

“When I look through my window from my office I see girls are playing. I am very happy to see girls playing football, cricket and volleyball. Once the swimming pool is open, we will also have our time there,” she said.

The AIUB VC said sports can benefit all and it can also be a life changer.

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Prof Farheen said the players are very young and the journey started a few years back. “I hope there will be equal pay for the male and female players, removing gender discrimination. They will be the ambassadors. They are not only changing the sports world, they are also changing the overall culture and Bangladeshi society.”

Shooter Ardina said the success of the national football team was an inspiration for all sports in general and this actually helped them.

She said they feel this is going to work as an inspiration for all other sports and help overcome the obstacles.

Footballer Rupa said they initially faced a lot of adversities and obstacles.

Of course after success stories, she said, the attitude started changing and people began to motivate them them.

Rupa recalled the man behind the miracle — Mofiz Uddin, and said they were motivated by the teacher who used to encourage parents to send girls to play football.

More girls are coming to play and the entire village has seen rapid development, including electrification, Rupa said, adding that the teacher is still encouraging parents to send their girls to play football.