The country is moving towards vigorous development with the increasing participation of women in all economic and social sectors, but females are yet to get the privilege and treatment they deserve, in many cases.
According to government statistics, women’s participation in politics, administrative job, judiciary, medical service, engineering, military and sports is increasing with every passing day.
Statistics of the Ministry of Public Administration show female participation in government service has increased by six percentage points to 27 percent from 21 percent over last seven years.
However, security and safety for women is still a crucial issue with the country witnessing nearly 13 rape incidents every day. According to police statistics, 20,835 cases were filed over rape incidents since 2014.
Against such a backdrop, the International Women’s Day is being celebrated in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world today (Sunday).
According to the United Nations Women, the theme of this year’s day is “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”.
The UN Women has been leveraging the generation equality campaign for years. It aims to “bringing together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country”, in a bid to drive actions that will lead to a “gender-equal world we all deserve”.
This year women’s day will be celebrated in the wake of the 25th anniversary of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which is termed by the UN Women the “most visionary agenda for women’s rights and empowerment everywhere”.
According to the Global Gender Gap (GGG) Report 2020 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Bangladesh's ranking in global gender gap index has moved up to 50th in 2020 from 91st position in 2006, the first year of publishing of the report.
Bangladesh has been ranked seventh in the globe in terms of political empowerment of women as the country boasts of a world-record for political rule by female heads of government in any country during the past 50 years.
The most remarkable achievement for Bangladesh in the global gender gap index is that the country has topped the list in four sub-indexes out of a total 14. They include enrolment in primary education, enrolment in secondary education, and sex ratio at birth.
Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Women's Network former organisational secretary Shayla Farzana said, "There are now enough women serving government jobs. Therefore, we expect women to be more involved in policymaking. We hope that the policymakers concerned will take necessary steps.”
Women’s greater participation in decision-making and implementation will bring positive change in the society, said Farzana, now a joint secretary to the Local Government Division.
Currently in parliament, there are 72 female lawmakers while at the local government bodies 33 percent of seats are reserved for women in order to promote women's participation in politics.
The participation of women in agriculture increased by 8 percent in the last seven years, according women rights organizations.
Former caretaker government adviser and academic Rasheda K Chowdhury said, “Political goodwill is being shown to increase women's participation in the job sectors. For this, the government is taking various steps.”
In the field of teaching, especially in the government primary school, the recruitment of female teachers is 60 percent.
“Due to these steps, the total number of women in the job is increasing. It's positive. But in many jobs, there is still a shortage of interest at the family level. There are some practical reasons for that,” she added.
She also mentioned that there are some practical reasons for women sufferings, including housing, child daycare and transport. “The government has to think about these things.”
State Minister of Women and Children Affairs Fazilatun Nessa Indira said, "We’re at the doorstep of celebrating the birth anniversary of the father of the nation. Bangabandhu guaranteed equality for women and men in the constitution for the equal rights and empowerment of women.”
She said the actions taken by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been praised worldwide for creating equality and empowering women.
“Despite huge progress, Bangladesh lags behind many developed countries in the world in the development and empowerment of women. Our new generation will build a country of equality. This is our commitment,” she added.
The junior minister also said the government is committed to strengthening the overall empowerment of women, increasing their access to the labour market and building efficient human resources through education and training.
Women rights platform Naripakkha Member Rehana Samdani said, “Our women are courageous, confident and diligent. About 90 percent of the country's export industry is earned from women labour. For this reason, the society of women can be called one of the driving force of the economy of this country.”
“Not only that, agriculture accounts for 30 percent of GDP in Bangladesh. From sowing to harvesting paddy, all tasks are done women. Still, the contribution of women to agriculture has not been recognized,” she added.
Rehana said Bangladeshi women are working unpaid in the family from morning until evening. “In the country's economy, their unpaid labour is not evaluated. If their labour is added to the economy, the GDP of the country will increase at a much higher rate.”
She said many men cannot accept the empowerment of women in a male-dominated society. To ensure the empowerment of women, our Prime Minister's initiative has taken several breakthroughs,” she said.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) statistics show the incidents of violence against women (VAW) has decreased by 40 percent over the past 10 years, but the incidents of sexual violence against them has doubled.
According to the statistic, 1855 rape incidents were recorded in 2019 against 940 incidents in 2010.
On an average, 10.57 rape cases were filed in a day in five years between 2014 and 2018 as the number of the filing of rape cases was 3,949 in 2018, 3,995 in 2017, 3,728 in 2016, 3,930 in 2015 and 3,695 in 2014.
According to Action Aid new research report of last year, 80 percent of garment workers in Bangladesh have experienced or witnessed sexual violence and harassment at work, with 90 percent saying their job is negatively impacting their health.
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