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The government should give special attention when framing policies to enhance the economic contributions made by women in order to help the country achieve its goal of becoming a developed nation, according to analysts.
“Bangladesh has done impressively well in terms of socio-economic development but many challenges remain when it comes to women empowerment,” said Sayema Haque Bidisha, research director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (Sanem).
For example, one area that requires attention is female participation in the labour market, she added.
These comments came at a webinar jointly organised by Sanem and Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) yesterday.
Women who spend most of their time doing unpaid care work deserve recognition but increasing their participation in formal work and implementing the country’s sustainable development goals is required.
This is because Bangladesh is currently passing through a window of demographic dividend, where half of the population is engaged in unpaid care work for as long as six hours a day.
“This acts as a barrier to their economic opportunities,” Bidisha said while emphasising the need to recognise the values of female participation in the workforce.
“Recognising and reducing the burden of a woman’s unpaid care work is more important than assigning a monetary value to it,” she added.
Women would earn about 2.5 to three times more than their current income if a value was placed on unpaid care work, said Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Besides, even though most university toppers are female, they usually drop out of their careers due to increasing household responsibilities.
So, few women are seen in managerial positions, she added.
However, the government is taking strategic steps to address these issues, said Planning Minister MA Mannan.
Many initiatives, such as making it mandatory to have at least three female members at the union level or one vice-chairman at the upazila level and reserving 60 per cent of the employment opportunities in primary schools for women, have already been taken.
“I’m personally and officially always with you to ensure women’s participation in the economy,” he added.
Shaheen Anam, executive director of the MJF, said focusing on the care economy would lessen the burden on women and ultimately ensure their participation in paid labour.
Proper policy interventions to this end would also have a positive impact on Bangladesh’s gross domestic product.
“So, recognising unpaid care work will ensure equality for women and reduce violence against them,” she added.
Sheikh Muslima Moon, additional director of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, emphasised on the need to change people’s outlook in this regard.
This means that men should participate more in household chores to reduce the burden on women so that they have the time to engage in formal work as well.
Md Saiful Islam, additional secretary to the Ministry of Social Welfare, spoke about various ongoing government projects to facilitate female participation in the labour force.
Islam also assured that the participation of young women in unpaid care work would be addressed in future policy documents.
During her presentation, Sanem’s Bidisha showed that having children who are less than five years old at home reduces the probability of a woman’s participation in the labour force by 2.4 per cent.
Bidisha, also a professor of economics at the University of Dhaka, recommended that the government provide training programmes for women and incentivise the private sector to employ more of them through fiscal policies like tax rebates and cash transfer subsidies.
Similarly, providing day-care facilities under social protection programmes could go a long way in this regard, she said.
Banasree Mitra, gender adviser of the MJF, and Selim Raihan, executive director of Sanem, also spoke at the event.
(TDS)
