Speakers at a virtual seminar on Saturday stressed to explore the economic rationale for increasing public investment in social protection and spending on care work and investment to reduce gender gaps.
SANEM and Manusher Jonno Foundation jointly organized a webinar titled “Integration of Care Economy in Policy Formulation”
Planning Minister MA Mannan the event as the chief guest while Dr Selim Raihan, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, and Executive Director of SANEM moderated the seminar.
While addressing, Planning Minister highlighted the importance of a holistic approach as a large part of the population is unaware of the recognition of the unpaid care work.
"The Prime Minister and the government is trying to take steps strategically to address the issues. The solution to remove stigma is to have appropriate laws and regulations. Affirmative actions are being implemented in Bangladesh. Initiatives such as mandatory three female members in union level or one women vice chairman in Upazila level, 60% of the employment in primary school reserved for women, etc. steps are already taken", Minister added.
Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, and Research Director of SANEM delivered the keynote presentation at the beginning of the event.
Mr Md. Saiful Islam, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Social Welfare; Ms Baby Rani Karmakar, Joint Secretary of the Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance; Dr Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD); and Dr Sheikh Muslima Moon, Additional Director of the Department of Women Affairs, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, were among the esteemed panelists who were present in this webinar.
Dr. Selim Raihan in his inaugural speech highlighted the importance of women’s contribution and recognition in policy formulation in achieving larger development goals like the Five Year Plan, Sustainable Development Goals. He also said various empirical work has already been done but the importance of its reflection and implementation in policies is important. Addressing the institutional challenges to implement the policies is also important.
Shaheen Anam, Executive Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) in her opening remarks emphasized disseminating the research outcomes to the proper authority.
She said focusing on the care economy can lessen the burden on women and ultimately ensure their participation in paid and formal work.
Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha in her presentation said Bangladesh has done impressively well in many socioeconomic factors but has many challenges in terms of women empowerment. One area which requires policy attention is women’s economic contribution and participation in the labor market.
She said in the global gender gap report, Bangladesh’s performance in economic participation and opportunity has not changed significantly. Women spend a large portion of their time in unpaid care work.
Md. Saiful Islam in his speech 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 labor force.
Mr. Islam also assured that young women’s participation in unpaid care work and the solution will be incorporated in the policy documents.
Baby Rani Karmakar has termed the unpaid care work as an intangible asset. She said, our failure to recognize the unpaid care work has caused the stigma linked to unpaid domestic work. She said the government is emphasizing the capacity building and training of women along with building an image in the family.
She appreciated the establishment of Kishori Club to build a positive mentality. She also emphasised the holistic approach to the issue.
Dr Sheikh Muslima Moon has emphasised changing the outlook of the population. Both males and females should work both at home and outside.
