Abstract:
United Nations deelarm\ promotion of gender equity and empowerment as One of the
Millennium Development Goals. With global1z~tion and changing pattern of other economic
necessIties, women in l3anglado,h arc increasingly playing the dual role of home maker and
income eamer. Therefore, convonient access to basic urban amenities is required for
lmproving women's quality of life. Thc objectivc' of the stndy is to investigate the prese~t
satisfaction level of women u,ers of urba~ facilities, their expectation regarding the existing
urban faeilitiu, of Dhaka city, and to suggest some recommendations to make these facilities
more accessible to the women users. To achieve the objectives, the sludy addresses three
urban t1eilities: i. Tran~port and communication; ii, I~frastrueture facilities at the workplace;
and iii, Leisure and recreational place. The study is based on both primary and secondary
daw. Primary dala has b~en collccted from questionn~ire surv~y of 210 working women and
lOa non-working women and physic~l survcy of the existing urban facilities in Dhaka city.
Moreover, secondary data has been collected from books, internet and different conference
and journal papers, as well as Irom unpublished tesearch work>, The study used WAS index
Lameasure satisfacllon orthe working women on the exi,ting mban faciliti~s in Dhaka city. It
show that women in Dhaka are dissati~fied wlth the exi,ting transport and communication
,~rvice and also with the 1ci~ureand recreational facilities having index value 2]41 and 2, 134
respecllvcly. However, thcy arc found satisfied with the infrastru,lure fadlities provided in
thdr workplace having indcx value of2.596 in a four point likcrt scalc. Thc study reveals that
wom~n need ~pecial treatments like safety and '"Curtly ill using the urban facilities.
Therefore, Lhc,tudy recommends th~t more womcn-only buses and reserved scats for women
In public tramport, low cost pubhc transport, appropriate route deslgn, enforcement of law
and order, and provision of suitable pedestrian facilities for ensuring conveOlenl and
comfortable joum~y of womcn pa,scngers in the city, Providing adequate infra~tructure
facililie.' like day eare facilities, ,~parate toilct for women, prayer space, waiting space, and
adcquate s~ating arrangement will create women friendly worhpa~e and attract more women
to join in the labor foree of the country, Morcov~r, availability of community park~ and opcn
'pa~~s will illcrea,e women's accessibility to recreational facllity. Provision of safe, secure
and ckan parks and open sp~ees with adequate lighting, appwpriate play equipments, cafe
and tmlet wlll makc the parks and opcn spa,e mOre attl'active for women and increase their
accessibility to them,
