93% Women Entrepreneurs Didn't Apply for Stimulus Package

Around 93 percent of the female entrepreneurs in the country have not applied for any loan under the stimulus package announced by the government for women CMSMEs (cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises), according to a study of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).

The study aimed to understand whether the government support measures during the Covid-19 pandemic have been gender-sensitive and how they have helped women in facing the impact of the pandemic.

It reveals that some 58.6 percent of women entrepreneurs have reported no knowledge of the stimulus package announced by the government for Women CMSMEs.

The reasons mentioned in the research vary from lack of information to lengthy procedures and non-cooperation of the financial institutions.

The government had issued liquidity support worth Tk20,000 crore, equivalent to 19.43% of total Covid-19 funding and 0.72% of GDP.

Since the health and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic have a differential impact on various sections of the society, the study went on to show the impacts of the pandemic on women in areas such as loss of income, a higher burden of household work, loss of education, an increase in early marriage.

CPD conducted the research on 70 female entrepreneurs of 34 districts across the country from various business involvement and educational level.

Among the participants, 41.4 percent had to shut down the business while 7.1 percent had to reduce in size. Some, 44.4 percent failed to pay rent and 50 percent said they couldn't manage to pay government taxes and utility bills.

In general, the situation has worsened for women due to a lack of social protection services.

CPD recommended massive public awareness regarding financial support, child marriage, female empowerment, and the use of technology while demanding transparency and accountability in terms of Covid-19 support disbursement.