The 13th parliament, in its inaugural session on Thursday, saw the slim presence of seven female members in a cohort of 300. The 50 reserved seats for women, once inducted based on proportional representation, may reduce the gender gap. The presence, or rather absence, of female MPs in a country where more than half of the population are women speaks volumes of the existing structural barriers that hinder women’s political participation. A democratically elected government must own up to this reality and create opportunities for women, especially educated women, so that they remain engaged in the development calculus.
The current government, in particular, must recognise that they owe it to the women voters who changed the course of the election last month with their decisive voting weight. The heavy turnout and unmistakable preferences of women voters were a reaction to a controversial remark by the chief of the now opposition party. Comments on women’s ineligibility for top leadership positions or the need to cut short the working hours to increase home stay triggered a backlash. For many voters, it was more than an insensitive comment in a country where we have had successive female premiers for more than three decades, and where women are the driving force behind the economic growth. The comment made the long-standing struggle over women’s place in the public sphere obvious.
Given the election results, one could assume that the female voters have registered a clear electoral message. They do not want to retreat into the margins of civic life. And why should they? Bangladesh has made extraordinary progress in educating girls and women. However, a recent study shows that the transition from classroom to career remains overwhelmingly frustrating. Women constitute 47 percent of public university graduates in Bangladesh (as of 2023). This is a remarkable feat attained through strategic interventions by different governments over the last three decades, including initiatives to promote female education, scholarship programmes, and awareness campaigns aimed at reducing gender disparities in higher education. Every year, we get to see how girls consistently outperform their male peers in many public examinations. There is no question over their competence and conviction.
However, the employment situation presents a contrasting narrative. Female graduate unemployment (20.39 percent) is almost double that of male graduates (11.31 percent). Women’s unemployment figure is 34 percent in the age group of 15-29 years, compared to men’s 26 percent. The survey also claims that among the employed women, the majority are absorbed into the informal sector, where job security, career progression, and social protection are minimal, leading to questions about the effectiveness of education in providing sustainable employment opportunities for women.
This scenario presents us with a development paradox. What benefit does educating women provide if we fail to employ them and transform them into economic agents? The labour of love, often associated with homemaking, frequently withdraws women from the workforce. But the main problem lies in the mismatch between education and employment. Universities continue to produce graduates in disciplines that do not necessarily align with the demands of the job market. Women remain under-represented in sectors such as technology, finance, engineering, and digital services. Female students are often advised to pursue humanities and social sciences, based on the assumption that they would be engaged in less challenging professions. Policymakers must decide what they expect from this country’s women.
The configuration of academic seats, often decided based on the available seats in the dormitory, must be rethought. Then again, the issue is far from academic allocation. Most tertiary institutions lack clear career placement services. The speed and trajectory of career progression, otherwise known as “career velocity,” must also be considered. It denotes the rate at which individuals move from entry-level to decision-making positions. This velocity remains painfully slow as women are mostly concentrated in mid- or lower-level positions. They do not know what glass ceiling or wall is holding them back from moving upwards.
In Bangladesh, the stereotype against women joining the economic force was shattered by millions of women who joined the RMG sector and became the mainstay of our export success. But with the growth in automation, there have been skill shifts. There is fear of labour being redundant unless there are serious upskilling projects. At the same time, there must be systemic policies to upgrade women from the factory floor to managerial roles. Given the compliance regulations, these female workers receive somewhat due attention. But the situation remains dire in the informal sector. For instance, in domestic work, small-scale services, and home-based production, wages are low with little or no opportunities for advancement. Their contribution to economic statistics remains invisible, even though it sustains families and communities.
There has to be some social awareness campaign as women’s choices are in many cases restricted by societal and cultural expectations. Women are expected to prioritise domestic responsibilities over professional ambitions to demonstrate that they are “good” daughters, wives, and mothers. Even those who escape this identity trap face workplace safety and harassment, as well as housing and transportation issues. The M-shaped curve corresponding to marriage and maternity is another challenge that women face. This curve shows how female labour participation is high in early adulthood but declines during the child-rearing years and is only partially recovered later. Then there are enough moral police out there to stigmatise female participation in the labour market, which further reinforces the societal belief that women’s primary role should be confined to the home rather than in professional settings.
The reality is, Bangladesh’s development story cannot be separated from female participation. The demographic dividend window that has opened up for the country will remain unattainable if women aren’t engaged in a strategic manner. They have already proven their capacity in almost all economic sectors and professional fields. Their academic achievements indicate the intellectual foundations they have attained. The new government must not only expand education but also ensure that educational investment is translated into economic output. This requires a more coordinated policy approach where universities align curricula with emerging sectors of the economy, and where public and private sectors work together to place women in high-growth industries such as technology, renewable energy, and financial services. Additionally, there has to be a support structure in childcare, transportation, and workplace protections to enable women to pursue their careers.
The government and this country owe it to women.
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is vice-chancellor at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB).
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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