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Speakers slam ‘gender blind’ provincial budget

Karachi

Various members of provincial assembly as well as representatives of civil society organizations and economic experts have termed the budget 2009-10 as an unfriendly budget for women since “it does not sufficiently address the issues of the women who constitute more than half of the country’s population”.

They were speaking at a review program on the “Provincial Budget 2009-10 as per Gender Lens”, organised by the Aurat Foundation under its Legislative Watch Program (LWP) at a local hotel on Friday.

Renowned economist Muhammad Sabir said: “Although the slogan of the budget 2009-10 is to empower women and girl child, gender issues are not sufficiently addressed in the budget”. Going through the budget speech, he said that it was not “gender neutral” but “gender blind” budget and it could not be called balanced since the specific requirements of women were not understood by the budget makers.

Another speaker on the panel, Huma Amjad from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), said that the budget did not have long-term effects for women, since the institutional deficit was not addressed. Merely the presentation of the budget by a woman did not make it a women-friendly budget, she opined. “The budgetary allocation should be geared to enable and empower women to earn instead of giving them financial aid,” she said, adding: “It is a fire brigade approach since the budget provides temporary aid to women while initiatives that would empower women in the long term are not being taken.”

Senior Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who had presented the budget for five consecutive years in the past, said: “A budget, in its true sense, is a policy instrument brought by a government with a specific vision and with an equal participation of parliamentarians, legislatures, institutions and civil society”. However, he added, this was not the case in the current budget which was prepared without the participation of the quarters concerned.

Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Jam Madad Ali stressed the educational and health requirements of women, and suggested that cottage industries should be provided to women. “There is a dire need to pay special attention to the women in the interior of the province,” he said, adding that girls’ schooling and setting up technical training centres for women would help in their empowerment in the long term.

Speaking as chief guest, Advisor to Chief Minister Sharmila Farooqi, defended the budget, saying that Finance Minister Hina Khar did not only present the budget but also contributed in its preparation. She said that the budget includes a number of provisions for women focusing on their health, educational and financial empowerment needs, and referred to the Benazir Bhutto Women Support Program and the Prime Minister’s program for technical training of women in various fields. “The government has a nutrition plan for young girls, besides the Women Development Department is working on street children,” she added. She also spoke about the government’s initiative to revamp health centres across the province and recruiting lady health workers.

Farooqi said that the government has tried its best to present women-friendly budget, saying the budget has a lot to offer to the women. She, however, added that the government has invited suggestions to bring improvements in this regard.