Rabia Bhuiyan

Rabia Bhuiyan (born 1 March 1944)^[1] is a Jatiya Party (Ershad) politician and a former Jatiya Sangsad member from women's reserved seat 19. She is the first female barrister in Bangladesh.^[2] She is most notable for founding the law school, Bhuiyan Academy, in Dhaka.^[1]

Rabia Bhuiyan
রাবিয়া ভুইয়া
Minister of Social Welfare and Women Affairs
In office 10 August 1987 – 27 February 1985
Member of Parliament for Reserved Women's Seat-21
In office 1986–1988
Preceded by	Gulbadan
Succeeded by	Shamsunnahar
Member of Parliament for Reserved Women's Seat-19
In office 12 June 1996 – 15 July 2001
Preceded by	Sarwari Rahman
Succeeded by	Rabeya Chowdhury
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-01) 1 March 1944 (age 81) Dhaka, Bengal Province, British India
Political party	Jatiya Party (Ershad)
Spouses	AKM Mozammel Hoque Bhuiyan

Early life

Bhuiyan was born on 1 March 1944 in Dhaka in the then British India (now in Bangladesh). She was married to barrister AKM Mozammel Hoque Bhuiyan (1939-2008).^[1][3]

Career

Bhuiyan was elected to parliament from a reserved seat as a Jatiya Party (Ershad) candidate in June 1996.^[4] She and her husband founded Bhuiyan Academy which provides distance learning for law courses from University of London.

Bhuiyan served as the minister of social welfare and women's affairs in the first Hasina cabinet.^[1] In 1998, with the then deputy speaker's consent, she became the first female voted speaker for a one-day parliament session.^[1]

In 1999, Bhuiyan filed a landmark environment case titled Rabia Bhuiyan, MP v Ministry of LGRD which acknowledged that the government has a responsibility to ensure access to safe drinking water.^[5][6]