Recognition, valuation of women's unpaid care work stressed

Speakers at a seminar emphasised the importance of women's financial empowerment in Bangladesh and called for the recognition and valuation of unpaid care and domestic work through public-service infrastructure and social-protection policies.

They also stressed the need to ensure equal opportunities for women within the country's development model, warning that failure to do so would prevent women from realising their full potential and ultimately hold society back as a whole.

The seminar, titled "Women's Financial Empowerment in Bangladesh: A Labour Market Perspective", was jointly organised by the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) and Eden Mohila College and held on Wednesday at the Eden Mohila College auditorium.

Prof Dr Mahbub Ullah, convener of the Bangladesh Economic Association, presided over the seminar, while Prof Dr Mohammed Helal Uddin, member-secretary of the organisation, conducted the event.

Prof Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, pro-vice chancellor (administration) of Dhaka University, presented the keynote paper, while Dr Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), attended the programme as a guest.

In his speech, Prof Dr Mahbub Ullah said labour contributing to production is not always mediated through the market, and that a significant portion of women's labour takes place outside the market.

As a result, many of women's contributions to the national economy and gross domestic product (GDP) remain unaccounted for and unrecognised, he added.

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