Begum Rokeya Padak
| |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Women's activism |
| Location | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Presented by | Government of Bangladesh |
| First awarded | 1995 |
| Last awarded | 2022 |
Begum Rokeya Padak, named after Begum Rokeya, is a Bangladeshi national honour conferred on individual women for their exceptional achievement. The award is given by the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh. The award recognises the pioneering contribution of an individual in empowering women and raising women's issues.
Each awardee receives a gold medal weighing 25 grams of 18-karat gold, a certificate of honour, and a sum of cash. The amount of the cash reward was tk 2,00,000 from May 2017. Next it was increased to tk 4,00,000 from November 2019.
Award winners
As of December 2020, 61 awards had been presented:
- 1995 – Shamsunnahar Mahmud
- 1996 – Sufia Kamal and Nilima Ibrahim
- 1997 – Nurjahan Begum
- 1999 – Angela Gomes and Setara Begum (Rahman)
- 2001 – Hena Das, Maliha Khatun and Beggzadi Mahmuda Nasir
- 2002 – Akhtar Imam and Zohra Begum Kazi
- 2003 – Taiyaba Majumder and Maleka Ashraf
- 2004 – Begum Husna Banu Khanam and Dilara Chowdhury
- 2005 – Rokeya Mannan
- 2007 – Latifa Akand and Hosne Ara Begum
- 2008 – Sultana Sarwat Ara Zaman and Nasrin Parvin Huq (posthumous)
- 2009 – Razia Hossain and Mamtaz Hossen
- 2010 – Meher Kabir and Ayesha Zafar
- 2011 – Begum Meherunnesa Khatun and Hamida Khanam
- 2012 – Mahfuza Khanam and Syeda Jebunnesa Haque
- 2013 – Hamida Banu and Jharna Dhara Chowdhury
- 2014 – Mamtaz Begum and Golap Banu
- 2015 – Bibi Russell and Taibun Nahar Rashid (posthumous)
- 2016 – Aroma Dutta and Begum Noorjahan
- 2017 – Mazeda Shawkat Ali, Baby Maudud (posthumous), Suraiya Rahman, Shobha Rani Tripura and Masuda Faruk Ratna
- 2018 – Zinnatunnessa Talukdar, Zohra Anis, Shila Roy, Rama Chowdhury (posthumous) and Rokeya Begum (posthumous)
- 2019 – Begum Selina Khalek, Shamsun Nahar, Papri Basu, Begum Akhtar Jahan and Nurun Nahar Faizannesa (posthumously).
- 2020 – Shireen Akhter, Brig Gen Nazma Begum, Monjulika Chakma, Begum Mushtari Shafi, and Farida Akter
- 2021 – Hasina Zakaria Bela, Archana Biswas, Shamsunnahar Rahman Paran (posthumous), Zinat Huda and Saria Sultana
- 2022 – Rahima Khatun, Kamrun Nahar Begum, Farida Yasmin, Afroza Parveen, and Nasima Begum.
- 2023 – Khaleda Ekram (posthumous), Halida Hanum Akhter, Kamrunnesa Ashraf Dina (posthumous), Ronita Bala, and Nishat Majumdar.