Bangladesh is currently sitting on a goldmine of opportunities.
One such opportunity -– not being leveraged optimally -– is the employment of its women.
Done right, women could add billions of dollars to its GDP.
In August, 2021 Sanem found that a 1% increase in women's employment can translate into an increase in economic growth by 0.31%.
In another study SANEM found that in 2021, about $11.3 billion could have been generated additionally if women employment increased by 1%.
The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for women is imperative to a country's economic growth and is a critical indicator of women's involvement in formal economic activities.
Bangladesh's LFPR for women is at 34.54%, less than half of men at 78.56% as of 2020 whereas the male-female population percentage points are almost equal.
Bangladesh's gender gap in LFPR is around 44%, which is significantly higher than the 25% current gender gap in LFPR worldwide.
And as per World Economic Forum's global gender gap index, 2022 Bangladesh's score has reduced by .005 points since last year.
Although Bangladesh has seen a higher proportion of women participating in the labor force over the past few years, yet recently, the percentage has somewhat stagnated.
The stagnation may be driven mainly by changes in the growth of the RMG sector (Asia Foundation, 2018) and also by other factors, such as social norms around women's work and travel outside the home (NBER, 2020) and the internalization of negative sociocultural norms (IJSSS, 2014).
While these aspects were already salient, they have deteriorated further due to the pandemic.
The pandemic deepened ‘economic and social stress coupled with restricted movement and social isolation measures'. (UN Policy Note, 2020).
Like everything else, the pandemic has affected the LFPR directly.
The Bangladesh Bank estimates a loss of 13% in working hours in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.33% of young women employed before the pandemic were out of a job as of January 2021.
This was seven months after economic activities resumed in Bangladesh.
There was a 15% drop-in average weekly working hours of young women who managed to regain employment.
Women who regained employment have suffered a 21% income loss compared to the pre-pandemic level - the corresponding loss for men was less than half of this.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted a time use survey in 2021 to measure gender balance in employment.
Women in Bangladesh spend only 1.2 hours daily on employment and related work while they spend 5.9 hours on unpaid domestic and care work.
At the same time, men utilize 6.1 hours every day for employment and relevant work.
Another critical indicator of one's involvement in the formal economy is accessing and using financial services.
There is a big gender gap in financial inclusion as well, with a 14% gender gap in mobile financial service (MFS) account ownership and 29.2% in bank account ownership.
MFS figures show that the number of men registering for MFS grew by 21% in the one year from March 2021 to February 2022.
During this period, the growth in the number of accounts owned by women stagnated at 4.38%.
As a result, the percentage of MFS accounts that belong to women decreased from 48% to 45%.
Why should we be worried?
Estimates suggest that a 1% rise in female employment could add $11.3 billion to GDP.
As noted by the Bangladesh Bank (Policy note 2104), “increasing [the] share of female participation in the labor force implies more inclusive economic development, strengthening women's roles in mainstream economic activities.”
IMF (2019) estimates that the bottom half of countries, in terms of gender inequality, could boost their GDP by 35% on average by closing their gender gap.
The Bangladesh government must take the declining numbers of women's MFS ownership and LFPR with caution.
This could be the early signs of a telltale trend in Bangladesh's ecosystem.
Bangladesh's women need to be brought back to participate in its labour force.
It is imperative right now as the country aims to graduate from the LDC category by 2026.
Some strategies to facilitate women's participation
Gender budgeting to facilitate gender mainstreaming across sectors must be re-included in the strategy.
This will help relevant ministries to monitor and track gender disparity and take further measures.
For example, the Ministry of Finance can re-introduce gender reports that could drive the agenda on mainstreaming.
Industry-led workplace and public transport safety compliance initiatives for women could enhance the female labour force participation rate.
Such initiatives could be led by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs (MOWCA) in collaboration with relevant ministries, such as the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
The government can take help from initiatives such as the one UN WOMEN has been working on called “Creating Safe Public Spaces,” with programs in Lahore, Ho Chi Minh City, Port Moresby, and Quezon City.
The government can strengthen guidelines to prevent child marriages—as they negatively impact FLFPR.
The Ministry of Social Welfare should spearhead initiatives to establish a care economy that focuses on affordable community-based childcare and industry-led childcare facilities.
For example, the Mother@Work childcare facility was launched in 2017 to help RMG workers in five factories.
The program has now expanded to 92 factories.
Brac's Dolna is another example. Such initiatives can help women balance parental and professional commitments with ease.
Such facilities benefit not only children and women but employers as well.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports can scale up professional skills training based on market demand for women through local training providers.
For example, the Ministry of Education-led Step (Skills and Training Enhancement Project) has been implemented in 45 polytechnic institutes across the country.
The initiative aims to improve female inclusion in their institutions, upgrade classroom facilities and build capacity to deliver industry-relevant skills.
Results from this initiative led to an increase in female enrolment in technical diploma programs by 5–14%.
A tracer study found that nearly half of these female graduates worked, mainly in the education and manufacturing sectors.
More service-oriented diploma programs in sync with emerging service sector businesses and job linkage opportunities with employers or industry associations could improve women's participation in the economy.
Akhand Tiwari is an international financial inclusion consultant from MSC, a boutique consulting company that works on financial, social, and economic inclusion. He can be reached at [email protected]
Onindita Islam is a program management and MEL expertwith over 10 years of experience in the development sector focusing on mental health, financial inclusion, and climate change adaptation programmes. She can be reached at [email protected]
Manoshij Banerjee is a financial inclusion consultant from MSC. He can be reached at [email protected]
