Sultana Kamal
Executive Director
Ain O Shalish Kendra

We have not received details yet, but the thing is on the topic of women, what we always say is since there is a separate Ministry for Women, other ministries do not take responsibility for women. This is reflected in the budget. Whenever we have brought this topic up, those who are in charge of women’s affairs tell us they have nothing to do because there is no allocation. This is a perennial problem, and it is true for this budget too. And given how the policy for women has changed, there is no way to know how much is the development or emancipation or participation and ownership at all levels. Even though these issues are always there, there is a tendency to ensure participation but not ownership. We need to point this out – there is a difference between participation and ownership. There is no proper allocation towards ownership and we have not seen an effort to recognize this.

The second thing is, given how the prices of everyday goods are increasing, we have not seen any initiatives that attempt to bring this to tolerable levels. But this affects basic rights of women because it is women who always have to make the sacrifices. She eats less, spends less on her health, on her education, reduce on her necessities, because women tend to reduce her spending first when this happens. This is because she has responsibility for her family, and she has to manage it within her means.

We have also not seen anything that encourages production-related activities. I want to say something in particular about the garments industry. In all the debates we have seen on this topic, and you will remember this, see if you agree with me, the question that is being asked constantly is, what is the guarantee on investment? But there is no guarantee on labour, and you will notice that most of the labour force is women. What is there for the protection for women, because where women go to work, do rules and regulations exist and are the followed? Have any steps been taken to reduce their suffering? There is nothing on this either. So we find nothing to be elated about as far as production-related issues are concerned.