Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

On the question of declining female employment

Published : Wednesday, 20 December, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 328
Haradhan Ganguly
Is it backpedalling on progress when we say female employees are on decline? That also contradicts our growth performance. It is ambivalence to see agri-cards are helping farmers to buy inputs in one side and on the other media reports employment of female workers in the agricultural sector also falls from previous records.
We are heading towards a more inclusive growth. But the story of female employment declining brings the question of women empowerment in the forefront. As if growth minus employment expansion makes a question mark on the meaning of the sustainable development.
A recent study of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) shows that the number of female employees fell 13.10 per cent to 5.o7 million in Bangladesh last year compared to 2013 mainly because of closure of subcontracting businesses in the garment sector.
There were 5.51 million female employees in 2013. Survey told, four years ago, 32.8 per cent females were employed, but their number declined to 28.5 per cent in 2016. Employment of female workers in the industrial sector decreased to 16.1 per cent in 2016 from 23.7 per cent in 2013, while it declined to 14.9 per cent from 22.5 per cent in 2013 in the manufacturing sector.
According to the survey of BIDS, in division-wise, the biggest rise in the labour force participation by the female workers was noticed in Khulna division. In 2016, the participation of female in jobs in Khulna was 42.2 per cent from 26.9 per cent previously. While in Barisal the participation rate declined to 29.8 per cent from 30.9 per cent in 2013.
Except Rajshahi, in Chittagong female participation rate declined to 34 per cent from 36.4 per cent during the period. The female's participation in jobs in Sylhet has been decreasing gradually since 2006. The survey said, besides the missing of subcontracting businesses, other main causes of declining female jobs are withdrawal of temporary jobs, especially in urban areas, with the rise of family income.
For example a female worker willing to work at a lower grade in a factory quits when the income of her family increases. Another reason is the withdrawal of female from part-time jobs for different reasons including shifting of factories or starting of their own businesses.
However the survey hoped the number of female workers will rise in the country in the near future, especially in some specialized sectors such as garment, leather and leather goods, ICT, pharmaceuticals and toys as these are growing industries.
The government should introduce training centres following the UCEP model so that an adequate number of skilled workers can be supplied to growing industrial sectors.
But the survey evades one thing in their findings, that is, wage discrimination that is prevailing predominantly in unorganized sectors. Still female workers are getting lower wages than male workers in the same jobs.
That also contributes to the declining of female employees and we know the presence of unorganized sectors in the economy still is playing a near central role. There any kind of regulatory measure is proved to be ineffective.
Yet study lacks its comprehensiveness. Sexual harassment at work places is so common that it has also become a major barrier to female's participation in jobs. In another research said, 30 per cent jobs are leaving by female workers to start for self-employment.
It said, transition from the private employment to the casual work is more common among those with lower level of education whereas transitions to employment are more common among prime aged workers and among those retaining the same employment benefits.
Yet other causes are there which are to some extent yield discomfort and they are structural impediments and are squeezing female's jobs opportunity. For example, garments come first. A daily reports Bangladesh gets defeat to Vietnam and India in terms of diversification of garments.
So she is losing her competitive edge in exports. Already Bangladesh's garments export to the USA declined 4.23 per cent during current ten months due to the lack of diversification. On the other hand exports from India and Vietnam have risen in a big way.
We know our major portion of garment exports are going to the USA. Now it has been threatened by India and Vietnam. Diversification of garments needs a big way of technological upliftment. So it needs a big investment and training of Employees.
Without doing so, traditional investment and production of apparels will create no pay off of this industry. Hence squeezing of female employment opportunity in garment industry is not the result of closing down of subcontract.
It is due to inbuilt structural weaknesses of the industry. Unless entrepreneurs bring about breakthrough in their investment pattern, garments will face the crisis of its existence in the very near future. Not only in Bangladesh, globally garment exports are falling.
According to the WTO, shipment of both textile and garment items by top 10 exporting countries fell in 2016 due to fading demand. The current dollar value of world textiles and apparel exports by top countries totalled USD 246 billion and USD 384 billion respectively in 2016, decreasing by USD 22 billion and USD 3 billion respectively from the previous year. So we must lessen our dependence on garments now.
Our economy needs more investments. For rapid industrialization and development of modern sectors including digitalization we need investment. The implementation of the proposed Southwest Bangladesh Economic Corridor (SWBEC) will enable the region's economic output to hit USD 148 billion by 2050, according to ADB.
So we need huge investment and trained manpower. So trained female working force will not less contribute to the total upliftment of the economy. There is no cause for women to be left behind. So there is no reason to think the present declining scenario of female employment is the real snapshot. We need more comprehensive study where possibility of expanded female employment will be dug out.

The writer is a freelance contributor






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