Department of Women Affairs

The department is focused on maintaining social protection and empowerment programs despite a reduction in the ministry's overall budget allocation for FY2026-27.

established_year set to 1990 (the year the Women Affairs Directorate was upgraded to a full Department), not 1984 (when the Directorate was formed) or 1972 (the Women Rehabilitation Board). Wikipedia article (stub, last revised April 20, 2026) lists DG as Parveen Akhter; Bangladesh Post (December 12, 2023) reports Kaya Khan appointed DG after gazette notification following Farida Parveen's OSD posting; BSS primary reporting (April 6, 2026) identifies Zinat Ara as Director General (Additional Secretary) presiding as chief guest at the GCA validation workshop -- this is the most recent primary-source confirmed name and is used here. DG appointment date unknown; head_since left null. OCC infrastructure count (14 One-Stop Crisis Centres, 67 One-Stop Crisis Cells) sourced from BSS January 2026 QRT announcement citing MoWCA figures; 8 Divisional DNA Screening Labs and National Forensic DNA Profiling Lab are MoWCA assets operated through DWA coordination. Maternity Allowance beneficiary figure of 7.70 lakh and Tk 800/month rate cross-verified across MoWCA March 2023 Presentation PDF and ILO-SPC Maternity Protection Study (September 2025). VWB 15-lakh beneficiary target for FY2025-26 from DATABD/NSSS sources. MoWCA total FY2025-26 budget Tk 5,078 crore confirmed via New Age BD and Daily Star; DWA-specific sub-allocation not found in public documents -- annual_budget_bdt and fy_budget_year left null at DWA level. Staff count not disclosed in any available primary source.