Women leaders at a roundtable on Monday underscored the need for effective distribution, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the gender budget, allocated in the proposed national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2026-27.
They made the call and expressed the concern at a roundtable titled "Gender Budget 2026-2027: Reactions from Women", organised by Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (BNPS) in the city.
Women leader and Vice-Chair of BNPS Executive Council, Dr. Makhduma Nargis Ratna, presided over the event, moderated by BNPS Director Shahnaz Sumi. Dr. Sharmind Nilormi, Professor of Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University, presented the keynote paper.
CPD Research Associate Pritilata Haque, Professor of Department of Women and Gender Studies at Dhaka University Tania Haque, General Secretary of Mahila Parishad Dr. Maleka Banu, Gender Budget and Planning Expert Nilufar Karim, and Special Correspondent of the Financial Express Munima Sultana spoke on the occasion, among others.
Professor Dr. Sharmind Nilormi said there is no shortage of the government's declarations and initiatives regarding women's development. In the FY 2026-2027, the government has proposed various gender-related expenses, which account for 34 per cent of the national budget and 4.0 per cent of the total GDP.
Programmes like free education for women up to the master's level and providing family cards to approximately 40 million underprivileged and poor women are also commendable, she added.
However, the budget for a safe working environment for women has decreased by 12 per cent, for their cyber security by 7.0 per cent, mobility and security by 30 per cent, health and welfare by 22 per cent, and for effective receipt of the government services by 34 per cent.
Dr. Makhduma Nargis Ratna said lower budgets are allocated even for the gender-sensitive programmes of the ministries.
"We do not see any account of whether the allocations are being made according to the action strategy of the National Women Development Policy during the planning and monitoring of allocations for women in the budget."
"A progress report related to the gender budget must be prepared and presented to the public every year," she added.
Dr. Maleka Banu said the issues of the absolute necessity of expanding one stop crisis centres (OCC) up to the upazila level, the government's legal aid, and increasing the number of shelter homes for the abuse victims have not been prioritised while considering women's safety and security.
"It is a budget for women, yet no discussions were held with women. As a result, there is a question about how women-friendly it has become," she opined.
saif.febd@gmail.com