Summary: SANEM-Manusher Jonno Foundation Webinar on Integration of Care work in Economy

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Summary
SANEM-Manusher Jonno Foundation Webinar on Integration of Care work in Economy
20 November 2021

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” on 20 November 2021. Mr M. A. Mannan MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Planning graced the event as the chief guest. The webinar was moderated by Dr Selim Raihan, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka, and Executive Director of SANEM. 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.

A stigma is linked with the household services which overburdens or hinders the employment and educational opportunities of female family members who choose to enter the formal labour sector. The existing economic paradigm ignores the realities of households where such services are required for survival as well as the provision of factors of production of the market. These services take time and effort and would have been rewarded or compensated with a wage if performed by someone else. Formal acknowledgment and putting a value on unpaid care work is the first step toward recognizing women’s contributions that is often unnoticed. This will also alter the societal perception of inferiority for these works. Against this backdrop, South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) has been working alongside Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) to help make the concept more integrated and recognized through gender-responsive policy and budget allocation. In continuation of the previous efforts, SANEM and MJF have delved further into the role of policy interventions to shape towards recognizing, reducing, and redistributing the unpaid care work.

Dr. Selim Raihan started the webinar by highlighting 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.

Ms Shaheen Anam, Executive Director, Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) in her opening remarks emphasized disseminating the research outcomes to the proper authority. She also said focusing on the care economy can lessen the burden on women and ultimately ensure their participation in paid and formal work. Having proper policy interventions for this will also have a positive impact on the national GDP. Recognising unpaid care work will ensure equality for women through dignity.

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. 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. The unaccounted work should be recognized and given dignity to reduce domestic violence, ensuring women’s participation in formal work, implementing SDG goals, etc. She emphasised the 3Rs: Recognizing the value, Reducing responsibilities and Redistributing the work. Dr Bidisha also added that the female youth of the country aged from 15-29 years spends a mentionable hour of their day in unpaid care work. Women who do not participate in the formal labor market spend 6 hours on average, in household activities whereas women in the formal labor market are spending an average of 3 hours daily. While Bangladesh is passing through the window of demographic dividend, having half of the population working in unpaid care work for such longer hours is a barrier to their economic opportunities. A study revealed that if given monetary value, women’s contribution in unpaid care work equals around 40 percent of the total GDP of Bangladesh. Recognition and reduction of the burden of the women’s unpaid care work are more important than assigning a monetary value to it. The presentation also showed that having children less than 5 years reduces the probability of women’s labour force participation by 2.4%. In her presentation, Dr Bidisha talked about a care economy model which shows direct and indirect means. Under the direct means, the government can facilitate various training programs and can incentivize the private sector through fiscal policies like tax rebates. Under the indirect means, cash transfer, child care voucher, community-based arrangements for the poorer population, subsidised daycare centers, etc. initiatives can be taken, under http://premier-pharmacy.com/product/cialis/ social protection. Updating the policy documents, reorienting the social security structure, reducing the burden, and providing relevant schemes for unpaid work were recommended.

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. The government has a project amounting to 232 crores for helping the destitute women so they can earn being at home. Various allowances are given in 150 Upazilas. He also said government is trying to ensure women’s participation in various projects. Mr. Islam also assured that young women’s participation in unpaid care work and the solution will be incorporated in the policy documents.

Ms. 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. Men should participate in domestic work as they would in paid work and women should also work outside as they are already doing domestic work. Allocation of responsibility is the most important in her opinion. She also talked about the equal rights of women in ownership of assets. Dr. Sheikh Muslima Moon also said promoting and reaching out to people so that people can avail all the opportunities created.

Women’s income gets raised by 2.5 to 3 times if unpaid care work is estimated along with the paid work, said Dr. Fahmida Khatun. Women lack access to power as they have less financial support than men. Talking about women’s willingness to work, she revealed from a CPD study that around one-fourth of the women were not willing to do any paid job as they believed doing household chores and taking care of children is their primary responsibility while a few of them wanted to do a part-time job. So, unaccounted care work is having an impact on women’s participation in the labour market. Not only for the poorer and less education section, but women having higher degrees also face this. A large part of the university toppers is female. They get dropped out in the middle of their career due to increasing household responsibilities. As a result, fewer women are seen in managerial positions. Dr. Fahmida Khatun also stressed the exemplary and timely data collection on women’s participation in unpaid care work.

Banasree Mitra from Manusher Jonno Foundation said pointing out the objectives and the indexes used for estimating the rate of success is necessary to make the process faster. An evaluation report is also needed after a regular interval. She also emphasised the importance of valuing unpaid care work not as women’s job but as a household job.

At the end of the session, the chief guest of the event, Mr M A Mannan highlighted the importance of a holistic approach as a large part of the population is unaware of the recognition of the unpaid care work. He also said that the Prime Minister and the government is trying to take steps strategically to address the issues. He also said the solution to remove stigma is to have appropriate laws and regulations. The minister also added that 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.

Download the presentation of the webinar.

News Coverage:

The Daily Star: Tune policies to increase women’s role in economy: analysts

The Daily Star: Experts say at a webinar organised by Sanem, Manusher Jonno Foundation

The Financial Express: Recognition of ‘unpaid care work’ can enhance women’s formal labour market participation

The Business Standard: 1% rise in female employment could add $11.3 billion in GDP: Sanem

Dhaka Tribune: Sanem: 1% rise in women employment can cause 0.31% economic growth

New Age: Lack of proper policy limits participation of women in direct economy: economists

Business Insider Bangladesh: Women’s unpaid work equals 40% of GDP: SANEM

The Business Post: Bring care service into formal labour market’

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