Make gender budget transparent: speakers

Speakers at a press conference yesterday urged the government to ensure the effective allocation, implementation, and evaluation of the gender budget designated for women's empowerment in the 2024-25 national budget.

They also highlighted that despite the increased allocation, doubt persists regarding whether the budget formulation and implementation processes effectively promote gender equality.

Titled "National Budget 2024-2025: Expectations from Women's Society," the press conference was organised by Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha at the Tofazzal Hossain Auditorium of Jatiya Press Club.

• Annual reports on gender budget activities
• Collateral-free loan for women
• Making gender budget focal points accessible
• Sharing dev policy with public annually

Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, professor of economics at Dhaka University, said, "Gender-sensitive programmes of ministries often receive disproportionately low budgetary allocations and are not frequently aligned with the strategic objectives of women's development policies."

She advised that annual progress reports on gender budget activities should be ensured for accountability and effectiveness.

Dr Sharmind Neelormi, professor of economics at Jahangirnagar University, noted that although the government budgets are gender-friendly, there is a lack of significant review or survey on actual progress.

Rokeya Kabir, executive director of BNPS, stressed the need for equitable resource distribution, stating, "With women constituting half of the population, it's imperative to ensure resource flows in an equitable and effective manner towards the vast majority of those who are resourceless, powerless, have limited income opportunities and are dependent."

She urged for policies that will provide loans to women without collateral.

Speakers also called for ministries concerned to improve their understanding of gender budgeting, integrate gender perspectives into planning and service delivery, and enhance transparency by making information about gender budget focal points easily accessible on their respective websites.

They also demanded quantitative and qualitative analysis to determine the extent to which the strategies for women empowerment meet gender needs and progress.

Additionally, they called for progress reports on how gender budget activities align with the action plan of women's empowerment and national women's development policy to be presented to the public annually.

They emphasised the need for the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, as the lead ministry, to enhance conceptual and monitoring capacity on gender budgeting.