Bangladesh News

Shunning the focus on merely addressing the current needs, the government should look to long-term goals emphasising gender issues while presenting a budget, speakers at a press conference yesterday said.

They said the prioritisation process should aim at achieving the broader goals of women-development issues instead of the three-year ‘mid-term budgetary framework’.

Unnayan Samannaya, Steps Towards Development, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, ActionAid Bangladesh, Unifem Bangladesh and CIDA jointly organised the press conference on ‘National Budget 2008-09: Gender Analysis’, at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium in the city.

The speakers said transparency is needed in the gender statement of the proposed budget in order to ensure the utilisation of the funds allocated for women development.

Presenting the keynote paper, economist Dr Atiur Rahman said direct expenditure for women as proposed in the budget should be specific as it is not clear what amount will be spent on which sector meant for them.

He said though the budget proposes Tk 26,272 crore, or 26 percent of the budget, for ‘gender expenditure’, it does not draw the line between direct and indirect expenditures.

The remaining 74 percent of the budget is gender-blind, he said, adding that empowerment of women should be focused in order to prepare a women-friendly budget.

Dr Atiur, also chairman of the Unnayan Samannaya, lauded including women in the safety-net programmes but said the government should take measures to ensure that money earmarked for such programmes reach monga-stricken, haor and char areas where women are most vulnerable.

He placed stress on the effective implementation of the special social-protection programmes in the proposed budget.

Dr Atiur proposed introducing rationing system for female garment workers in order to ensure their food security.

“Quality of garment products will be compromised if female workers in the sector are not provided with proper food,” he said.

Stating that the ratio of men to women in tertiary education is 66:34, Dr Atiur called on the government to focus on increasing enrolment of women in tertiary and vocational education.

He urged the government to review VAT on health items and services meant exclusively for women through the ‘gender lens’.

Ranjan Karmakar, executive director of Steps Towards Development, Rokeya Kabir, executive director for Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, Nahid Ahmed, national programme manager of Unifem Bangladesh, Nigar Sultana with ActionAid Bangladesh and Humayera Haq of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad were present at the press conference.