Ensuring economic empowerment of women is a requisite for any country aspiring to increase economic diversification, income equality and most importantly productivity. As the UN Women strongly states “When more women work, economies grow” and as a matter of fact the statement is true for any economy, including the developed ones too. For instance, Women in work index 2019 by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows that increasing the number of women in work can increase GDP across the OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries by over US$6 trillion.
UN Women also states that over 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. Of 189 economies assessed in 2018, 104 economies still have laws preventing women from doing specific jobs, 59 economies have no law on sexual harassment in the workplace, and in 18 economies, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working. The labour force participation rate for women aged 25-54 is 63% compared to 94% for men. When younger (aged 15 years and up) and older women (aged 55 and up) are included in the dataset, the global labour force participation rate is even lower at 48.5% and 26.5% respectively than that of men. In 2017, global unemployment rates for men and women stood at 5.5% and 6.2% respectively. This is projected to remain relatively unchanged during the period from 2018 to 2021. 

In spite of a lower number of women in overall job force as compared to male counterparts, a slow but steady improvement of the situation is widely visible. For example, according to International Labour Organization’s (ILO) flagship report, “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2019”, the gender pay gap remains negative for Bangladesh in one of their factor-weighted statistical approaches. However, there are still some challenges which are holding our women back and these challenges differ from sector to sector.

Women in RMG and Textile Industry

Economic globalization has created greater employment opportunities for those women who are from the most disadvantaged sector of the society. The RMG sector has opened up the door for women to lead a better life by enhancing their power to earn. The ready-made-garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh has rapidly expanded due to the increased supply of cheap and readily available female labor. Moreover, their hard work has helped the RMG sector in Bangladesh to be the highest export earner of the country.
However, in the recent years participation of female workers in ready-made garments sector of Bangladesh has been decreasing. It has been reported by Prothom Alo in September 2019 that as per two separate surveys conducted by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) , the number of female workers in readymade garments (RMG) sector has declined by 10.68% within the last four years even though the number of factories and workers are on a rise. The latest BBS survey says 53.82% male workers occupy jobs in the sector while the number of female workers is only 46.18%. According to the survey conducted by Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) the decline in the number female workers has been resulted from the automation of manufacturing processes.

Moreover, women are lagging behind in this sector because of the lack of training facilities, required skills and proper knowledge of technology. The use of modern machines has increased in the textile industry and hence the tasks that were being done by the women are now being done by the machines. Due to this technological advancement in the RMG sector, more advanced machineries and equipment are being used. These instruments can be better handled, operated or performed by the male workers than the female workers. Besides, male workers are taking more
interests in the sector due to the constant increase in the wages. The works in the (RMG) sector tend to have a very labor-intensive nature which is why it is getting difficult for the women to get involved in this sector and as a result, many of them are quitting their jobs as they need to spend time taking care of their children and family. Therefore, certain measures, such as improving the skills of women by providing better training and reducing the social inequalities, can help to encourage greater participation of women in the RMG sector.

Women in F-commerce

F-commerce has been successful in changing the lives of many women beyond expectation by giving them the opportunity to create self-employment and boost confidence by conducting their businesses through several social media platforms such as Facebook. F-commerce is now a booming sector for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh because besides running their business, it allows women to work from their homes, saves time as they don’t have the hassle of travelling, enables them to balance their daily chores and look after their families. Moreover, it helps women to overcome some cultural barriers related to the limited mobility, safety and security issues that adversely affect their labor force participation in various working sectors of the country. F-commerce has led to a significant rise in the level of earning and spending by the women. Thus, boosting the economy through such business ventures that are mostly run by the women. Through F-commerce, talented women are able to utilize their creative mind and at the same time, enrich the creative work field. A large number of women are involved in F-commerce and hence numerous Facebook groups are designed to facilitate both women buyers and sellers. Women in this field are taking help from each other, regarding meeting the queries, customer service and delivery service etc. The F-commerce industry is female-dominated making the presence of women in the business sector noteworthy. Since more females are involved here, women find it easier to seek help and advice from various support platforms that are also consisted of women. F-commerce has enabled women not only to earn money but also to create employment for other people. Starting with opening a facebook page, then getting the trade license and opening a physical store have led women to create employment opportunities for a large number of people. This whole process has become an ecosystem which is creating employment opportunities not only for the women but also for the entire industry of delivery or courier services. Delivery service is an essential part of F-commerce. Therefore, the rise of F-commerce has a positive impact on reshaping many businesses. Hence, it is vital to ensure that increasing number of women entrepreneurs are able to reach their full potential and fully contribute to the economy through their online businesses if the country wants to achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8%.

Women in Financial Sector of Bangladesh

The number of women working in the financial sector of Bangladesh has accelerated throughout the past few decades. Lately, Bangladesh has achieved tremendous success by narrowing down the gender inequality in workplaces and has earned a good reputation in every sector for creating scopes for its women to participate in the workforce. Primarily, the country’s banking sector is providing women with a large number of job opportunities and these women are playing a big role in contributing to the growth of this sector.

Women’s participation in commercial banks has increased to a great extent. According to the Bangladesh Bank (BB) July-December, 2018 report, female employees are now 63% in private banks, 27% in stateowned banks, 6.0% in state-owned specialized banks and 6.0% in foreign banks. Of the women, around 15,767 are in private banks, 6,843 are in state-owned banks, 907 in foreign banks and the remaining 1,474 are in specialized state-owned banks.

The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is working hard worldwide to establish women’s rights, eliminate discrimination and ensure women empowerment which will eventually help the developing countries to achieve the status of developed country. Bangladesh is encouraging more women participation in its corporate and banking industry and having women employees will certainly help the country to be more competitive and improve its image globally. Apart from the banking industry, many other companies of Bangladesh are interested in bringing gender diversity into the workplace and as a consequence. Many women are getting the opportunity to reach the top leadership positions of reputed organizations. However, the number of females in top leadership position is still not substantial but is expected to increase in the near future.

In Bangladesh the financial sector has always been considered as the best place for women to work in, especially in entry positions. However, the women employment rate in Bangladesh banking sector went down to 12.23% in 2018 from 13.73% in 2016. The ratio of female executives occupying higher ranks in the sector is also negligible, according to a study by Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM).

This could be due to their reproductive role, many women are forced to choose between motherhood and career. A large number of promising young university graduates enter the job market but gradually their enthusiasm towards the work starts to decline due to family responsibilities. This mid-way drop-out of female employees reduces the number of potential women in senior positions.

Women in global financial sector

Although globalization has created employment for millions of women all over the world, the number of women in the workforce is far less than that of men. The existence of gender inequalities in many countries results in little or no access to decent work and lack of social protection. Women represent half the world’s potential; working-age population in the global workforce comprise of 49.6% women. The economics make sense too: if women played an identical role in labour markets to that of men, as much as USD 28 trillion, or 26% could be added to the global annual Gross Domestic Product by 2025.

Financial Institutions (FI) all around the world have been employing women for decades. However, company leadership around the world remains unbalanced, with women accounting for less than a quarter of management positions globally. The disparity is even greater when it comes to higher-level management positions. Women are far more likely than men to leave the industry or to reduce their level of ambition just at the point in their careers when they need to make the effort to push on to the top.

Women as Micro- entrepreneur

One of the most effective ways to increase the participation of women in economic activity is through entrepreneurship. In fact, it can be a key contributor to both household income and economic growth. According to the recent World Bank report, close to 99% of non-farm enterprises in the country are MSMEs. In 2013, they created over 20 million jobs for Bangladeshi workers. On the other hand, a 2016 study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found out that of the almost 8 million businesses in Bangladesh, 99.93% are cottage or micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and a mere 7.2 % of businesses are owned by women. The study also includes the presence of women is significantly low in wholesale and retail trade (excluding textiles). However, generally Women are more likely to take a longterm view of their businesses, reinvest their business profits into their firms and carefully manage risks to scale sustainably. Thus, women-owned businesses are an underutilized resource for sustainable economic growth and job creation. On her way to become an entrepreneur and as an entrepreneur a woman faces various socio-cultural and legal barriers which justifies the insignificant participation of women in the small or micro sector.

However, although almost every sector is taking initiatives and working on ensuring a bold presence of women in this sector but there are still some escapes or negligence which need to be mitigated.

Mitigating gaps between policy and practice

New policies are established every now and then for the women entrepreneurs but their proper implementation is still not ensured. Some commercial banks ask for collateral from women entrepreneurs even for a lower loan amount which is contradictory to the regulation of the Bangladesh Bank. Many banks also ask for guarantee from a male member of the family and sometimes a woman entrepreneur fails to get loans if her husband is a loan defaulter.

Policy enhancement

The policies should be such that it enhances the abilities of women and encourage them to become successful entrepreneurs. Such policies may include, adequate amount of credit facilities, skill training with women instructors like for driving or computer training etc. Credit facilities should be more gender friendly, SMEF can organize more training sessions on basic and advance entrepreneurship development, business and account management, etc. to increase their knowledge. In the long run, we have to put emphasis on technical education same as general education for creating sustainable job opportunities as well as entrepreneurship among women.

Support from government and NGOs

Women’s access and utilization of skill- training provisions offered by various ministries and NGOs are low since most of them are based in urban areas. Regulatory bodies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have enacted strategies to enable more women to enter into the marketplace. The Government of Bangladesh has undertaken several initiatives targeted at women entrepreneurs, including the “Gender Action Plan (GAP)” by the Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation, which seeks to advance the economic empowerment of women in SMEs by strengthening their managerial and technical capacity and ability to access credit.

Making the best use of digital tech

Technology is providing tools to tackle gender inequality and empower women. Bangladesh, as it embraces digitization, can use digital technology as a pathway to promote women entrepreneurs.

• Loans through mobile apps: Offering loans by using mobile phones is an intervention that can reduce excessive bureaucracy in accessing loans and increase access to finance.
• Digitized product ordering service: Movement and safety are among the biggest challenges for a woman entrepreneur. A digital ordering service can reduce travel time for women to pick up goods for their business.
• Capacity building in digital technology: Technical training empowers women to use digital services targeted to their needs, including digital financial services.

Women in ICT

In the era of digital transformation, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has a tremendous contribution to the socio-economic development. ICT has been successful in creating opportunities for direct, interactive communication by women. ICT has direct influence especially on women as it has increased women’s access to the job Market and improved their scope of entrepreneurship. Involvement of women in ICT significantly strengthens their social and economic empowerment. In the past women were only considered for household work but in today’s Bangladesh with the advent of ICT, this conservative outlook about women is diminishing gradually. Gone are those days when it had been speculated that how women can participate in ICT. As fourth industrial revolutions transforms the world and Bangladesh progresses very fast in almost all dimensions, the question now is how much more rapid this transformation can be with equal participation of women in ICT.

IT and IETS Industry overview 2019 reveal the total local market revenue of IT-ITES industry that covered three areas-software, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and e-Commerce-has increased to Taka 1,927 crore in 2018 against Taka 1,397 crore in 2013 showing an increase of Taka 530 crore. With constant motivation from the government, there is no doubt that in future ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Sector of Bangladesh will flourish. In fact, in the battle of unemployment, the growth in the ICT sector can be a strong weapon as this industry does not only require entrepreneurs but also skilled employees. Now, the question may arise, what is holding Bangladeshi women to grab such as opportunity? ‘Survey on ICT job market in Bangladesh 2018’ conducted by Daffodil International University revealed, of the total ICT workforce in Bangladesh, only 16% are women.

The information and communications technology (ICT) industry in Bangladesh is thriving and is offering both well paid and highly skilled jobs. But the future success of the sector depends largely on the ability of attracting both visionary entrepreneurs and qualified employees. Despite these challenges, the industry appears to ignore half of the available brains and the growth potential of a key resource base: women. While the figures of women in the global ICT workforce look apparently quite acceptable, however, 30% of women who do work in the ICT sector, only a small proportion are in the formal ICT sector, indicating that many women are losing out on equal pay, social rights and protection, and promotion possibilities to raise themselves and their children and families out of poverty. In South Africa for example, 51% of those working in the ICT sector are women but only 22% are employed in formal jobs. Freelancing is the simplest and easiest way of earning for women. Utilizing the information and communication technology (ICT), women can work from home and sometimes can earn more than a full time job. Online business is another good scope especially for women. The biggest barrier faced by women in order to flourish using ICT is the lack of knowledge, lack of proper training and insufficient channels by which they can approach to using ICT.
In Bangladesh, women are increasingly encouraged to take initiatives to participate in ICT and improve their proficiency in this field of ICT. Moreover, government has taken certain steps to bring women into the limelight as the inclusion of women is key to advancing society. The government has emphasized ICT training, which offers scholarships and job opportunity for women. Hence, more women are increasingly employed in various knowledge based industries such as computeraided designing, graphic designing etc. ICT is not only creating employment for women but also creating a chance for them to emerge as entrepreneurs especially in SME. Therefore women entrepreneurs in other sectors are also enhancing knowledge on ICT and as a result they are gaining from distinct competency.