UNB, Dhaka :
Speakers on Tuesday demanded greater budgetary allocation in the next national budget to foster women’s empowerment and increasing their social status.
The speakers made the demand from a seminar titled “National Budget 2015-16: Expectations of Women,” organized by Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS) at Jatiya Press Club in the city.
Former Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali attended the seminar as a chief guest. Chaired by BNPS executive director Rokeya Kabir, Dr. Saima Haq Bidisha, UN women’s program coordinator Tapati Shaha also spoke on the occasion. Former senior research fellow of BIDS Dr. Pratima Paul- Majumder presented the keynote paper.
Pratima Paul-Majumder said the 2014-15 budget was particularly disappointing, as the total budgetary allocation for women, by bringing their empowerment into the fold of mainstream national development, has gone down even as the number of gender-sensitive projects has gone up.
Despite everything, women continue to lag behind men in terms of achieving parity in almost every field. Dr Majumder said this can be addressed, but programs like vulnerable group development (VGD), vulnerable group feeding (VGF) or microcredit won’t
be able to ensure the ultimate development of women. Rather, she advised ensuring proper budgetary allocation in women’s education, health, safe housing, transportation and training IT sector.
Allocation for women’s health went down by 4 percent in the 2014-15 budget from the 2013-14 allocation.
Observing that water, electricity and fuel are very influential elements for women’s empowerment, Shawkat Ali suggested introducing separate quota system on every one of these for women. He also stressed on separate budgetary allocation and projects in order to meet women’s own special needs and fix problems.
Rokeya Kabir said, besides merely increasing the budgetary allocation for women, the government must also monitor and evaluate whether allocated budget expenditure in respective sectors is maintaining standards.
She also demanded 13% of budgetary allocation directly for women for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Speakers on Tuesday demanded greater budgetary allocation in the next national budget to foster women’s empowerment and increasing their social status.
The speakers made the demand from a seminar titled “National Budget 2015-16: Expectations of Women,” organized by Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS) at Jatiya Press Club in the city.
Former Deputy Speaker Shawkat Ali attended the seminar as a chief guest. Chaired by BNPS executive director Rokeya Kabir, Dr. Saima Haq Bidisha, UN women’s program coordinator Tapati Shaha also spoke on the occasion. Former senior research fellow of BIDS Dr. Pratima Paul- Majumder presented the keynote paper.
Pratima Paul-Majumder said the 2014-15 budget was particularly disappointing, as the total budgetary allocation for women, by bringing their empowerment into the fold of mainstream national development, has gone down even as the number of gender-sensitive projects has gone up.
Despite everything, women continue to lag behind men in terms of achieving parity in almost every field. Dr Majumder said this can be addressed, but programs like vulnerable group development (VGD), vulnerable group feeding (VGF) or microcredit won’t
be able to ensure the ultimate development of women. Rather, she advised ensuring proper budgetary allocation in women’s education, health, safe housing, transportation and training IT sector.
Allocation for women’s health went down by 4 percent in the 2014-15 budget from the 2013-14 allocation.
Observing that water, electricity and fuel are very influential elements for women’s empowerment, Shawkat Ali suggested introducing separate quota system on every one of these for women. He also stressed on separate budgetary allocation and projects in order to meet women’s own special needs and fix problems.
Rokeya Kabir said, besides merely increasing the budgetary allocation for women, the government must also monitor and evaluate whether allocated budget expenditure in respective sectors is maintaining standards.
She also demanded 13% of budgetary allocation directly for women for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
