Violence Against Women
In-depth study to evaluate cost to nation stressed
Speakers at a dialogue yesterday stressed the need for an in-depth study into what incidents of violence against women are costing the nation.
Previous attempts to study economic costs related to such violence were insufficient and a more comprehensive study is required, they said.
South Asia Partnership Bangladesh and Care Bangladesh jointly organised the dialogue titled “Cost of violence against women and its implications to society” at the city's CIRDAP Auditorium.
According to a study conducted in 2010, 2.05 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product, almost equal to what the government spends on the health and nutrition sector, is lost due to such violence.
Speakers at the dialogue said violence against women comes in diverse forms and so are the related costs.
“We need to understand that violence (against women) is not a private matter. It has greater impacts on the macro level as in the families, the neighbours and also the society at large,” said Dr Julia Ahmed, team leader of COVAW, Care Bangladesh.
COVAW (cost of violence against women) is an initiative of Care Bangladesh seeking to determine the social and economical costs of such violence.
Earlier, Prof Kaniz Siddique of the World Bank presented the keynote paper of the dialogue.
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