Women's accessibility to urban facilities in Dhaka

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secondary data has been collected from books, internet and different conference and journal papers, as well as Irom unpublished tesearch work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,