Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the world needs to act urgently to stop the rollback of hard-earned women empowerment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our hard-earned progress is at risk of rollback. We need to act urgently to stop this. For that, we must place women at the front and centre of Covid recovery,” she said. The Prime Minister said this while addressing the High Level Meeting on Women Leaders conveyed by the President of the General Assembly Volkan Bozkır at the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday. She highlighted three points — localising the Advisory Board on Gender Equality, nurturing women-led organizations and convening a leaders’ summit to reinforce common agenda for gender equality -- to bring women progress back on track. About the summit, Hasina said, “All leaders – not just us - should join and present concrete commitments for advancing gender equality.” The Prime Minister said the Covid impacts have been especially hard for women. “Unpaid care work has increased. Gender-based violence has risen. Unicef anticipates additional ten million child marriages before the end of this decade.” Read: Covid: A catalyst for women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh! In Bangladesh, she said, emphasis has been put on women empowerment. In their political empowerment, Bangladesh ranked 7th in the world. Increased number of women is joining the workforce.