In Bangladesh, the story of women’s progress is often told in numbers … more girls in schools, more women in workplaces, more female entrepreneurs, more women in leadership. We celebrate these milestones, and we should. Because they matter. They represent decades of struggle and policy effort.
However, we must look more closely at the story behind these rising numbers. Progress does not emerge from numbers alone; it is built on countless acts of giving, often by women whose contributions remain unseen.
The engine behind much of this visible progress is an invisible, undervalued workforce. Behind countless professional women stands a homemaker, often a mother or mother-in-law, carrying the full weight of unpaid care.
Nearly half of working women in Bangladesh can do so only because another woman is silently holding the household together -- cooking, cleaning, raising children, and caring for elders. The professional success of one woman often rests on the unpaid labour of another.
In many families, women give so that other women can gain. The modern Bangladeshi working woman, whether a banker, a teacher, a doctor, or a factory supervisor, often steps confidently into her professional role because another older woman has stepped back.
This intergenerational support system may be culturally rooted and emotionally powerful. Yet it is also dangerously romanticized and taken for granted.
We may call it family bonding, tradition, or even motherly or grandmotherly love, but rarely do we call it what it truly is: Unpaid labour.
These women, who once may have sacrificed their own dreams, now enable their daughters or daughters-in-law to pursue theirs. Their giving has quietly fuelled the gains we celebrate today.
But this support is not an entitlement but a gift. And like many invisible gifts, it is often overlooked.
If our progress depends entirely on the unpaid giving of women in the household, it is fragile progress. True gains cannot rest on invisible sacrifices.
So when we say “give to gain,” we must ask: Who is giving, and what are we giving back?
If we truly want to gain gender equality in Bangladesh, society must begin to give in return. Be it through recognition, policy, or shared responsibility.
Unpaid care work must first be recognized as economic work. National statistical frameworks should estimate and publicly acknowledge the monetary value of household labour.
Affordable and safe childcare services must be expanded. Publicly supported daycare facilities in industrial zones, commercial districts, universities, and residential areas should be treated as essential economic infrastructure.
Caregiving responsibilities must also be redistributed within households. Expanding paternity leave and normalizing shared caregiving are important steps toward a more balanced system.
Workplaces must adapt to caregiving realities. Flexible hours, hybrid arrangements, and structured return-to-work pathways are not mere concessions but necessary strategies for retaining women in the workforce.
Giving women the structural support they need is not charity. It is an investment. Because when societies give recognition to care work, when governments give supportive policies, and when families give shared responsibility, the gains extend far beyond individual women. They strengthen economies, communities, and future generations.
True progress will come when giving and gaining no longer fall along invisible gendered lines. When no woman’s success depends on another woman’s sacrifice.
Let us honour the silent hands that have sustained our progress, and commit to building a society where what women give is recognized, supported, and valued, so that everyone can truly gain.
Iffat Naomee is an assistant professor at the Institute of Education and Research (IER), University of Dhaka. She specializes in curriculum, pedagogy, and EdTech.
