Bangladesh has increased female employment in the last decade while also cutting the wage gap between men and women significantly and it should keep this momentum going to create more gender equality, said a World Bank report released here Sunday.
While acknowledging Bangladesh’s achievements, the report also noted that women still have limited choices, control and decision-making power over their employment, finances and economic assets even though the female labor force participation rate increased to 36 percent from 26 percent between 2003 and 2016.
The report, “Voices to Choices: Bangladesh’s Journey in Women’s Economic Empowerment,” found that women’s participation in the workforce is less than half of that of men in Bangladesh, and the country can become more prosperous more quickly if more women get work with higher-quality and higher-paid jobs. More than one-third of women in the labor force are unpaid family helpers.
“Bangladesh has made great strides towards making men and women equal in many areas, particularly in health and education. But women need more economic empowerment,” said Robert Saum, acting World Bank country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
“Bangladesh’s female labor force participation is lower than that of Nepal (80 percent) and Vietnam (77 percent) and lifting social and economic barriers will help Bangladesh unlock a significant part of the country’s productivity.”
Although the rate of female entrepreneurship has been growing, women-led businesses continue to be small and concentrated in specific sectors: only 1.7 percent of enterprises in the formal sector are owned by women, which is among the lowest rates of women’s enterprise ownership in the world. A stronger enforcement of existing laws and policies to ensure that women own land and have access to financial products and business opportunities will help reduce social barriers, said the report.
