Rubana Huq: Emblem of empathy
Chosen as one of BBC’s ‘100 Women,’ Rubana mentors an impoverished girl who dreams of design“I think God has given me the special gift of touching young lives,” she says, sitting against a window on the tenth floor at her office in Uttara, overlooking the city. Rubana Huq – mother, entrepreneur, writer, PhD candidate and philanthropist – speaks of everything wrong and everything right with our people, delving into the details out of her own world, knitting a story of her fifteen year journey. “We have to come out of the bubble. We have to stop living sheltered lives. We need to be sincere to our own focus,” she says.
“I think God has given me the special gift of touching young lives,” she says, sitting against a window on the tenth floor at her office in Uttara, overlooking the city.
Rubana Huq – mother, entrepreneur, writer, PhD candidate and philanthropist – speaks of everything wrong and everything right with our people, delving into the details out of her own world, knitting a story of her fifteen year journey.
“We have to come out of the bubble. We have to stop living sheltered lives. We need to be sincere to our own focus,” she says.
BBC 100 women
Rubana was selected by the BBC for their 100 women conference last year, in which they brought 100 women together from all over the world.
“We were chosen to be together, and it helped us form a club of 100 women who were interacting with each other on different planes,” says Rubana, reminiscing about the gathering, which exposed them to each other’s stories and challenges.
The BBC conference included several topics, one of which was a discussion on a recent study that said the gender gap had narrowed.
“No one agreed that the gap had narrowed. We were all still grumbling. We all spoke about the glass ceiling for women that still exists,” Rubana recalls.
Rubana says she enjoyed the celebratory spirit of all the women.
“There was no shy person! We all stood up for our own convictions.”
The mix was eclectic, ranging from artists and singers to comedians, entrepreneurs, athletes and politicians.
“We were all very tight, and at the same time divergent in our views. The beauty of multiplicity and divergence came through in the conference. We had so much life in all of us.”
Transcending boundaries, touching lives
From the selected 100 women, ten were then chosen to mentor another ten young ladies. As a part of this, Rubana had been communicating since October with Srey Mom, a scavenger in Cambodia who made a living salvaging things from a dump.
“She told me she wanted to be a designer, but I had no idea about her capabilities: no idea she could draw or even read. I knew she didn’t have a formal education.”
“The 20-year-old has an indomitable spirit. She had the courage to communicate with me and insist that she wanted to be designer. I sensed so much courage and spirit in her. Amongst all these accomplished women, she was unfazed. She wasn’t intimidated.”
In awe of the spirit of Mom, Rubana paid a visit to her in Cambodia in January, to see how she lived and what her potential was.
Given her lack of formal education, the designs were very rough initially. Thus, Rubana asked her to make some sketches and send them over, which she did within a week.
“Then I prepared the counter samples, and did a label and handtag for her, with her story.”
Rubana then invited Mom to Bangladesh, and, during the visit, took Mom to her own factories to understand commercial design, where Mom also bonded with the workers.
Rubana then surprised Mom with a mini fashion show, where the factory workers modelled Mom’s designs. Rubana also managed to sell one of her designs to a buyer, who has chosen to remain anonymous.
“As a society, we lack empathy. We don’t put ourselves in others’ shoes. I try to swap places and think ‘What if I were there?’ I have been doing this for the past 10 years or so, and it has done me good. It’s a strong wake up call and pushes your consciousness to the edge; it’s a leap of faith you have to take, thinking ‘What if I were there?’”
“I am happy we’ve been able to connect with and inspire each other. She was able to touch my life as much as I touched hers. I gave her a material platform to showcase her work, and she gave me the spiritual platform to come to terms with myself,” says Rubana.
The BBC followed Rubana to Cambodia and has done a short documentary on Mom’s journey with Rubana, entitled “Designing a Dream” which will be aired on March 8 at 9:30am and at 10:30pm, and on March 9 at 4:30am and 4:30pm.
The women of Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Rubana says, three out of the four million workers are women. “They go in and work, and yes that changes the economy, but does it change her life? She earns her bread, she is probably more emancipated than many of us. She doesn’t have to answer to the society we live in. There’s no social accountability, but she’s still abused, looked down upon and downtrodden. There is no change in her fate.”
Rubana expresses her disappointment that not many women have made it to a supervisor’s position at the factories: “I used to hear: ‘They are not educated enough.’ Then when I asked how much education they need, I heard: ‘They are not motivated enough.’ I find that very hard to believe because women are the most loyal workforce,” she says.
She has made it compulsory to counsel women and encourage them to break these stereotypes at her factories.
“Within our own little worlds, we have so many hurdles to cross, and men are just so stubborn. There’s a male stubbornness that refuses to let women pass through. We’re always working against the current. And you just have to cross it.”
Myriad identities
As Managing Director of Mohammadi Group, the head of MG Properties Limited, founder of the company Vive Construction and Interiors, founder and editor of the literary magazine Monsoon Letters, and as a PhD candidate at Jadavpur University in Kolkata – Rubana has a myriad of identities.
“But above all, I’d like to think I am most successful as a mother. That comes above all for me,” she says, adding that she is in touch with her three children 24/7.
Regarding her professional careers, she feels the gap is widest between literature and the corporate world.
“I wear different hats, but they are all interrelated, all a part of my passion circle. I’m very passionate about poetry, workers’ rights, marketing, networking and South Asia. These are roles I fit into. I juggle.”
Rubana is a fitting example of her own words. She vivaciously pursues all her roles, and is considering going into teaching and activism.
But how does she find time for all this?
“I have a general principle of compartmentalisation. But the reason I’m doing my PhD is to teach young kids.
“You can take your life where you want to take it, don’t set any limits, never look back. You have to rise from the ashes. There’s nothing that should stop you. As long as you’re looking, opportunities will be there.”
“So,” she concludes, with a hint of anticipation, “a new journey awaits me.”