Participants at a discussion yesterday urged the government not to cut back funds allocated for women-related projects in order to raise money for the proposed Padma multipurpose bridge.
The seminar on “budget for women empowerment” was jointly organised by Shomunnoy, USAID, The Asia Foundation and UK Aid at the Cirdap auditorium in the capital.
Khondker Ibrahim Khaled, former chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, said: “A society cannot make itself better by depriving 50% of its members. In our society, women are forced to stay back in the name of religion, and to fight this situation, we need to improve our education system. We need to formulate a single education system for madrassas as well as Bangla and English medium schools to overcome darkness which will eventually help us to empower women."
Mahfuz Kabir, team leader of Prodip, a USAID-funded programme, said although the country had limited resources, the government should not slash the budget from any women-friendly projects.
The speakers said while the government was gradually increasing allocations for women-related budgets, the number of unemployed women was increasing at a rate faster than the number of women eligible for work as job creation was slow.
