"On principle, we must decide whether we will have secular laws or Islamic laws," said Jatiya Party lawmaker GM Quader.

The Unesco and the Women for Women jointly organised the discussion on the two organisations' collaborative publication titled, "Marriage, Inheritance and Family Laws in Bangladesh: Towards a Common Family Code," the third major book to explore common law options.

Unesco Representative Wolfgang Vollmann opened the discussion with a French quote, "Women are the future of men."

However, legal realities do not reflect that, particularly with regard to equity and equality, he said.

The book, written and analysed by a team of legal and gender experts "to find ways to identify loopholes in the law and minimise discrimination against women in Muslim, Hindu, Christian and tribal communities", inspired much debate among the participants, reflecting the complexities of establishing a common family law.

Though the speakers agreed that the existing laws need amendments to form a common law, not all were in accord as to what extent.

Speaking as chief guest, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed stressed the need for working within the existing framework towards the end of women's rights, citing banning of child marriage, making marriage registration mandatory and changes in the Family Court as recent achievements of the government in this regard.

"In the Family Court, women are generally victims, so they have avoided the courts. But in the last two years, we tried to mandate alternative dispute resolution. Now cases are dissolved within six to nine months. Seventy to eighty percent of family court cases have been settled through mediation, as against only five percent before. Women now are more eager to come to the courts."

The minister believes that Bangladesh has the "elements of a silent revolution" with regard to women's progress, citing the comparatively greater female voter presence in the last election.

Prominent legal activists, however, were wary of the notion that full legal protection of rights could be achieved through the current system of law.

"Let us face the fact that we cannot confine ourselves by the bounds of religion and then say we have a common law for all people," said Sultana Kamal.

Unesco's study points out that in the three mainstream religions of Bangladesh, women do not have the right to divorce except under special conditions; women are not the 'natural' guardians of their children and inheritance remains a gender-biased issue in which women inherit a smaller share than men from both parental and husband's property.

Bharati Nandi, former member of parliament, said, "If we are really concerned about women's needs and women's rights, we have to see ourselves first as women."

Justice Mahmudur Rahman also spoke at the programme.