Gender budgeting the way forward

Speakers at an event yesterday stressed for a gender-sensitive national action plan, proper budget allocation, and a robust monitoring system to improve women's status and empowerment.

They also emphasised the importance of gender budgeting in reducing inequality, and noted that gender-sensitive planning, budgeting guidelines, and monitoring tools are essential for effective implementation.

Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, with support from UN Women Bangladesh, organised the national workshop titled "Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting (GRPB) Guideline and Monitoring Tools" at a hotel in Dhaka.

Allocation in the national budget is crucial for equitable resource distribution, and gender budgeting is integral to women's economic, social, and political empowerment.

— Rokeya Kabir BNPS executive director

Presiding over the event, Navanita Sinha, deputy country representative of UN Women in Bangladesh, said, "For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, gender budgeting was started for four ministries in 2009-10 fiscal year. Now, gender budgeting is being formulated for 44 ministries."

Proper gender budgeting is important for reducing discrimination and inequality towards women, she added.

BNPS Executive Director Rokeya Kabir said, "Despite comprising over 50 percent of the country's population, women still face discrimination and oppression."

"The policymakers must address issues like the quota system for marginalised communities, sexual harassment of women and girls, and women's inheritance rights," Rokeya Kabir, also a freedom fighter, added.

She highlighted that allocation in the national budget is crucial for equitable resource distribution, and gender budgeting is integral to women's economic, social, and political empowerment.

Prasenjit Chakma, UNDP's assistant country director in Bangladesh, opined that overall development of a country is not possible if half of its population is left behind.

Addressing as chief guest, Prakash Kanti Chowdhury, joint secretary (development) of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, shared that recent financial years have seen gender budget allocations across three thematic areas: increasing women's access to government services, empowering women and enhancing their social status, and increasing women's participation in production, labour markets, and income-generating activities.

UN Women's programme manager Tapati Saha, programme officer Noor Ali Shah, and UNDP's Mohammad Raziur Rahman, presented draft guidelines for gender-sensitive planning and budgeting, while gender budget expert Nilufar Ahmed Karim conducted a question-answer session.

Humaira Binte Farooq, UN Women's programme officer, moderated the event, while Mushfiqua Zaman Satiar, senior policy advisor of the Embassy of the Netherlands, also spoke.