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Closing the Gender Gap
The cabinet meeting on Tuesday at Uttara Gonobhaban tn Natore took a number of important decisions which, if properly executed, would help the northern region to come out of its four-decade-old state of Umbo. It also took a decision making school tuition for girls free up to the level of class eight. Under the on-going universal compulsory primary education project all students of the primary or up to class five level are already exempt from paying tuition fees. The extra benefit to the girl students is designed to promote the cause of women's education. We had such a weighted tuition decision also at the fag end of the autocratic Ershad regime. But the welcome bias had its beginning way back in 1972 when girl students were exempt from paying money In the present projected manner. We have, as such, still to see that the design works although the successive governments' repeated commitment to the cause of women's education is a matter of gratification.
Spread of literary among women is specially important for us on two counts. It will, first, surely have a big inhibiting impact on the rate of our population growth which must be reined in to around one per cent before the century is out — if we want to engage the development challenge meaningfully, that Is. Secondly, a literate woman is a better and sure-fire bet against grooming illiterate children. The literacy challenge can best be met in the home rather than in the schools. The society has remained three-quarters illiterate in spite of having more literate males lording it over at the homes than would fit that national rate. If only more women were literate, the literacy profile would have been profoundly different without the government needing to pay a paisa for it.
It is good that the successive governments are making it a matter of special care that women at least catch up with men in the various spheres of human development and socio-economic activity. This is but a dictate of democracy. Seeing that no one is discriminated against because of gender-difference and making positive efforts to rid the society of what can well be labelled as sexploitation — these twin goals, unrealised in the last ten thousand years amongst almost all of civilised mankind — will at last be within our reach with a gender-wise balanced rate of literacy and gainful employment.
Independently of the governmental protestations of appreciating these urgent points and backing that up with some going through the motions — the society's needs have been relentlessly tugging at the home-contained women to come out and take their place in what a man's world would only grudgingly let. And they are proving better workers in open competition with men — be it in the garments sector or in the constructions. They are proving more dependable borrowers from the Grameen Bank, making in almost all the cases the best use of the money borrowed. This undoubtedly shows that more women workers would not only ensure but also add pace to that all-important thing — development.
So far women have been coming out to 'man' , rather unskilled Jobs in the garments factories or in roadbuilding. This has been occurring without any programmes. What now the government and the other agencies of channelising the society's powers must give their mind to is to add to this coming out phenomenon something that would help them to come up as well — namely literacy and education. Women must also soon be taking up managerial positions as a beginning to balance it all. That will be a good test for the intentions not only of the government but of the male population as a whole. If both mean to be fair and to have the interest of the nation uppermost in their minds — there is no earthly reason why decision-making and managerial positions will not start to be "womanned" soon enough.