Women all over the world are still far from being equally represented across workplaces and public life.
This year’s International Women’s Day rightly highlights the global need to accelerate gender parity.
For Bangladesh, it is a reminder that there is still a long way to go to root out discrimination against women and ensure equality of opportunity.
While there is much to celebrate in the growing number of women holding senior positions across business and society, including the highest political positions in the land, collectively women are still held back from fulfilling their true potential.
Although there are positive signs of rising consciousness about the harm done by early marriage and violence against women, this is not enough to bring equal opportunity.
Examples abound across society of barriers to equality, both in the form of overt discrimination and ingrained societal attitudes, preventing women from closing the gender gap that prevails in most workplaces.
Supporting equality needs to be a year round practice, not an annual aspiration if the big picture is to change.
This is especially important because women’s empowerment has been key to underpinning recent successes in improving equal access to education and delivering healthcare improvements.
Attitudes and aspirations must change if we are to make it the norm for women to be equally represented across all aspects of society and ensure equal opportunity for all.
The government must do more to raise expectations by reforming discriminatory laws and encouraging women’s participation and leadership across all spheres of education, employment, and public life.
Everyone will benefit if we can prevent women’s skills and talents from being held back.
