The government should secure equal share of ancestral inheritance for women and increase allocation of development budget for women, General Secretary of Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) Prof Abul Barakat said yesterday

"The government should secure equal rights of women in inheritance of ancestral properties, in accordance with our constitution," he said adding that the government should discuss the matter with women's organisations and their leaders, not with religious leaders.

"A group of representatives of this community can talk about their needs, that is why women should be included in the national committee for formulating the law, not religious experts [alems]," he added.

Barakat was speaking at a roundtable titled "Women Empowerment in Bangladesh" organised by BEA at its auditorium in the capital.

He demanded the government provide sufficient health care for women and special loan facilities for women entrepreneurs at five percent interest to recognise women's contribution to the economy.

President of BEA Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said the state itself has to take the responsibility to establish the rights of women and improve women's rights.

"The government should have a clear stance on implementing women's policies to ensure a sustainable economy," he added.

In her keynote paper, Prof Hannana Begum observed the allocation for women development in the national budget is very poor and rests underutilised every year due to lack of proper planning.

In another paper, Mahmuda Khatun observed that women are widely discriminated against in the country. They receive poor health care and low wages in jobs that men do. She blamed the government for not taking stronger steps against crimes against women.

"Women do not contribute less to the national economy. So, the government should seriously think about proper framing and implementation of the women policy," she added.

Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled, chairman of Rupali Bank, said the government should not surrender to any kind of agitation while framing the policy for developing women and increase the quota for women in government jobs.