Women's contribution grossly undervalued

THIS is a huge eye-opener to the contribution women make to the national economy, quietly from behind the scene -- patently unrecognised, unapplauded, and taken for granted. But what they produce is tangible and measurable. And, what's more, their role is irreplaceable, admitting of no substitution whatsoever.  

In a pioneering research effort, annual household work by women in the country, which is entirely unpaid, has been estimated in monetary terms at around Tk.675,398 crore, making for 87.2 percent of last fiscal year's GDP.

What we now need to do is to put monetary value to the substantially unmonetised  contribution of women, factor this into the system of national accounting and reflect it on GDP by way of recognising their services and enhancing their self-esteem and  status. This should lead to a mind-set change and macro-economic policy-making that is friendly and non-discriminatory to women.

The figure for unpaid work is 5.4 times higher than the total of women's paid services. Thus, the opportunity cost involved is huge. If the women were to work in paid jobs freed up from some of the unremunerated workloads they could be independent earners. That is why emphasis is laid on increased accessibility to drinking water, natural gas for cooking and setting up of Day-care centres which will give women opportunity for self-development.

With a greater sense of self-worth, the full potential of women as productive asset will be easier to realise. If earlier, we approached women development issues from human rights, moral or fairplay angles, we now have a compelling economic angle to put them squarely on equal footing.