DHAKA: Bangladesh`s caretaker government has overturned a long-standing protocol requiring women officials to be addressed as `sir`, calling it an `odd` relic of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina`s government.
A statement issued by the press wing of the caretaker government late on Thursday said the directive mandating the use of `sir` for women in official roles had been `annulled`.
`During Sheikh Hasina`s nearly 16-year-long autocratic rule, a directive was reportedly issued requiring public officials to address her as`sir`,` it said.`This practice extended to other high-ranking women officials, who were and still are _being called `sir`, which is clearly odd.
A new committee has been formed to revise other protocol-related directives, the statement added.
A woman bureaucrat said the caretaker government took the call without consulting women officials. `The tradition began during Sheikh Hasina`s tenure, but many women officers supported it, finding the address gender-neutral,` said the official.
