Speakers at a discussion Monday urged the government to ensure adequate allocation for women in national budget and proper implementation of various programmes targeted to women to ensure their empowerment.
They spotted the challenges to women empowerment, and said the allocated budget does not reach them.
The government shows gender budgeting in every ministry, but it remains only in paper, they also noted.
They were speaking at a session of a pre-budget discussion titled 'Budget for Women Empowerment' at CIRDAP in the city. Shamunnay, with support from The Asia Foundation, organised the programme.
Former chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank and emeritus fellow of Shamunnay Khondker Ibrahim Khaled chaired the session.
Shamunnay project coordinator Dilruba Yasmin Chowdhury presented the keynote paper, where she discussed various aspects of budgetary allocation for women in education, safety net, health and annual development programme (ADP) and their implications in women empowerment.
She said out of the total Tk 89.89 billion allowance programmes budget, Tk 66.91 billion or more than 74 per cent is spent for pension scheme of the government officials and staffs, where only one-tenth are women.
Besides there are only two allowance programmes for women - allowance for destitute women and maternity allowance for poor mothers.
She highlighted that the largest safety net programme targeting women is vulnerable group feeding, where the government spends more than Tk 7.5 billion.
A major portion of the 24 months programme includes providing training to poor women, collecting a small savings, and helping them to be self-employed by providing micro-credit after end of the programme.
"But the training and micro-credit parts, aimed to help those women graduating from poverty, are never done at all," said Dilruba.
She mentioned another employment generation programme for the extreme poor, where there is provision of employing more women. But in reality a small number of women are employed in it.
She recommended setting up c-section at every upazila health complex for ensuring safe delivery and providing ambulance to transport pregnant mothers with danger signs.
In the Vision 2021, the government has set target of bringing down maternal mortality, by increasing rate of delivery by trained birth attendant (TBA) up to 80 per cent. At present the rate is only 31 per cent.
Speakers in the programme observed that the government allocates a significant amount of money in the name of delivering healthcare services across the country. But in reality the poor people, living in hard-to-reach areas, are deprived of the government facilities.
Senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Mahfuz Kabir said the mothers of char, haor, hilly, border and coastal areas do not get healthcare facilities of the government.
Either necessary equipments or vehicles do not function properly or there is no doctor, technician or other manpower required to provide the service, he also said.
"Although a huge amount from budget is allocated for mega health projects, the poor mothers hardly get any benefit," he added.
The speakers also said a significant number of women are employed in agriculture and many other informal sectors, which is not acknowledged in the GDP.
Participation of women in agriculture in a greater number may indicate women empowerment, but is not true in real terms. The quality of job for women in agriculture is very low, they added.
