Published in The Daily Star on Wednesday, 6 May 2015.
EDITORIAL
Women’s contribution to development unrecognised
Gender discrimination more prevalent in informal sectors
WOMEN, despite making huge contributions to the economy and the country’s overall development, are seldom evaluated properly for their work. This is especially true for rural women who actively participate in agriculture.
A seminar organised by Karmojibi Nari, OSHE foundation and Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF), has revealed that the labour of the female workers in three main areas – the growing of potato, maize and poultry farming – is not recognised. The reason is that such workers are not included as part of the formal sector and therefore remain ‘invisible’.
Apart from household work (also not recognised officially) rural women are actively involved in farm activities – from selection of seed to harvesting and storing of crops. Despite their crucial role in agriculture, the general undervaluing of women by society, deprives them of equitable economic opportunities and access to resources. They are not even considered farmers and it is the men who market the produce and control the income. According to MJF’s research, women who work as unpaid workers accounted for 45.6 percent of total employed in agriculture.
A Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) study has estimated the value of women’s unpaid work to be 76.8 percent of the GDP of the 2013-14 fiscal year. Women’s contribution to agriculture, other informal sectors and to the household must be quantified when determining the country’s GDP. Not only that, the government must initiate awareness campaigns to make society recognise the vital role of women in the country’s economic growth.