For the first time, women's unpaid care work has been formally recognised in a budget speech by a finance ministry head.
In the speech for the fiscal year 2025-26 budget, Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed also emphasised on inclusion of the work in the GDP for inclusive economic growth and gender equality.
Through "silent and relentless" efforts, women are making their households a nest of peace, where the working people return at the end of the day and children grow up safely.
"In the future, necessary steps will be taken to add their contribution to GDP based on financial criteria," the Finance adviser said, adding that their important role is often underestimated.
The value of unpaid care work is 2.5 to 2.9 times, higher than women's income from paid labour, according to a survey by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and Manusher Jonno Foundation.
However, a gender-responsive budget (GRB) has not been announced for FY26. During the last two decades, there were proposed gender allocations in the operations and development through 44 ministries.
Moreover, there is no allocation announced for the Ministry of Women and Children affairs in the budget for fiscal year 2025-26.
The Finance adviser said Tk 300 billion refinance scheme has been launched to make it easier for women to get loans up to Tk 2.5 million without any collateral.
He proposed to allocate a fund of Tk 1.25 billion in the next fiscal year to strengthen the economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs by improving the business environment for them.
Besides, he proposed to increase monthly allowance for aged women to Tk 650 from Tk 600, and deserted and destitute women to Tk 900 from Tk 850.
The adviser announced increase of allowance under the month and child benefit programme to Tk 850 to Tk 800 and for disadvantaged communities to Tk 650.
In another head, Dr Salauddin said under the Vulnerable Women Benefit Programme, 1.04 million destitute women are being provided with 30 kg of rice per month.
However, gender specialists criticised the previous government's announced GRB and demanded such budget should be prepared addressing gender inequalities and promoting gender equality to align with the sustainable development goals.
Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) appreciated the Finance adviser to accord formal recognition to women's unpaid care work in his budget speech recognising women's household and care work in the national budget is crucial for achieving inclusive economic growth and gender equality in Bangladesh.
Traditional economic indicators often render women's significant contributions through unpaid domestic labour virtually invisible, said MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam in a statement on Monday.
smunima@yahoo.com
