‘Recognise value of work to reduce violence against women’

Recognising the value, reducing responsibilities and redistributing the care work for women are necessary to reduce violence against them and provide them with opportunities to contribute to the economy, analysts said today.

Economists, researchers, social workers and government officials made the comments in a webinar titled "Integration of care economy in policy formulation".

The event was organised by SANEM and Manusher Jonno Foundation.

The unaccounted work should be recognised to reduce domestic violence, ensuring women's participation in formal work and implementation of sustainable development goals, said Sayema Haque Bidisha, research director of SANEM.

She emphasised the 3Rs: recognizing the value, reducing responsibilities and redistributing the work.

Bidisha, also a professor of the economics department at Dhaka University, also said that the female youth of the country aged from 15-29 years spends a mentionable hour of their day in unpaid care work.

Recognition and reduction of the burden of the women's unpaid care work are more important than assigning a monetary value to it, she added.

Md Saiful Islam, additional secretary of the ministry of social welfare, reiterated the importance of 3R for recognizing unpaid care work.

He talked about various ongoing projects of the government which facilitate the participation of women in the labour force.

The government has a project amounting to 232 crores for helping the destitute women so they can earn being at home, he said adding various allowances are given in 150 upazilas.