Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Women empowerment in Bangladesh

Published : Saturday, 13 March, 2021 at 12:00 AM  Count : 1525
Md Zillur Rahaman
Md Zillur Rahaman

Md Zillur Rahaman

In the past, women were neglected in most of the cased in domestic and societal affairs. They were engaged in only for child care and household related works in the society. Now, time has been changed and women are considered part of the mainstream workforce in the society. They are playing leading role in politics, business, sport, social function, employment generation etc.

Women's empowerment is basically the process of empowering women and it can be defined in many ways. However, when talking about women's empowerment, it means accepting and allowing women who are on the outside of the decision-making process into it. This puts a strong emphasis on participation in political structures and formal decision making and in the economic sphere, on the ability to obtain an income that enables participation in economic decision-making. It also includes the action of raising the status of women through education, raising awareness, literacy, and training. Women's empowerment is all about equipping and allowing them to make decisions on different issues in society.

Napoleon Bonaparte said, "gives me a good mother, I will give you a good nation". Basically, learned mothers are the pillar of a nation. Female scholarship in the school and college level is the pioneer steps for upliftment of woman empowerment in Bangladesh. Their participation in local government in various levels has increased substantially, and they are playing significant role in every sector successfully.

Women's empowerment and achieving gender equality is essential for our society to ensure the sustainable development of the country. Many world leaders and scholars have argued that sustainable development is impossible without gender equality and women's empowerment. Education increases women's self-confidence and also enables them to find better jobs and they can work shoulder to shoulder with men. In particular, education empowers women to make choices that improve their children's health, their well-being.

Despite significant improvements in recent decades, gender inequalities persist. A major concern in many countries is the limited numbers of girls going to school. More specifically, there should be more efforts to address the lower participation and learning achievement of girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

Women's participation in the labour force has increased manifolds over time in Bangladesh. Compared to 4 per cent in 1974, female participation in the labour force has increased to 35.6 per cent in 2016. Not only in the export oriented readymade garments sector but in many non-traditional and emerging formal sectors, such as hotels and restaurants, transportation, real estate services, telecommunications, banking and insurance sectors, women's participation is increasing.

This happened due to the increased access to higher education, the prospect for getting into high valued job market has expanded for women in Bangladesh. But several factors act as barriers for higher participation of women in the labour force. Lack of infrastructure i.e., lack of transport, toilet, child care facility and overall security hinder them to take part in the job market. Early marriage is another factor that does not allow girls to continue with their studies and enter the work force.

The literacy rate in Bangladesh is lower for females (71.18%) compared to males (76.67%)--2018 estimates for population aged 15 and over. During the past decades, Bangladesh has improved its education policies; and the access of girls to education has increased. In the 1990s, girls' enrolment in primary school has increased rapidly. Although there is now gender parity in enrolments at the primary and lower secondary school level, the percentage of girls drops in the later secondary school years.

Women in Bangladesh are engaged in many work activities, from domestic work inside the home, to outside paid work. Women's work is often undervalued and under-reported. However, Bangladesh has been ranked the top country among its South Asian neighbours by performing the best in bringing down gender gap, said World Economic Forum in its latest report titled 'Global Gender Gap Report 2020'. The report mentioned that Bangladesh closed 72.6% of its overall gender gap and obtained 50th position out of 153 countries globally. The achievement in the top 50 and regional leadership should not hide the fact that there is laudable progress to bolster basic rights of women and improve their economic and political prospects
Bangladesh has been a role model in women's empowerment in the past decade and the country is experiencing an appreciable change in society because of its efforts in this regard. Bangladesh's achievements in the past decade have been exemplary in many sectors such as in reducing infant and child mortality, poverty alleviation, increase in women entrepreneurship, education, and health.

Both the government and non-government sectors have played significant roles and they have often worked in a collaborative fashion. Early interventions were made in the field of family planning to reduce fertility and micro-credit was introduced to provide opportunities for income earning. Mobilization of rural women by NGOs in villages to get services and employing women community level workers to provide door step services in health and family planning played an important role in improving infant, child and maternal health. This effort also increased income earning opportunities.

In the business, women are doing better than the man in some cases, as they are more accountable, sincere, creative and devoted to any business. The ever-increasing contribution of women in the society is clearly the indication of enlightened society. Their active participation is really impressive for women empowerment and it helps to expand the economic growth, progress and sustainable development of a society. Government should continue its strong support for the way forward of upliftment and women empowerment. Learned mother is needed for a family, a society and finally a nation.

The writer is a banker and freelance contributor


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