Amid the chaos wrought by political instability and the rise of homegrown jihadist terrorism, Bangladesh finally has something to celebrate this year. In late October, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released its latest Global Gender Gap Index that saw Bangladesh emerge as South Asia’s top performer. It ranked 72 out of a total of 144 countries, in the process moving up 19 spots from 2006 when the last findings were published. But big data can be deceiving. Though Bangladesh has made serious strides in bridging gender inequality, most noticeably through political empowerment, there remain glaring cracks.
Analysing the WEF report in isolation is also counterintuitive. Especially since the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2014 ranked Bangladesh a lowly 142 out of 187 states in its own Gender Inequality Index. Women comprise 49 percent of Bangladesh’s population, and like 72 percent of the country, are concentrated in rural areas. Still, they disproportionately suffer from low labour participation rates and income disparity versus Bangladeshi men. Social resistance from a patriarchal society also roadblocks their greater role in decision-making, both at home and in the workplace.
But, there are silver linings. Befitting a country that has been ruled by women since 1991, barring two breezy military coups, Bangladesh’s best showing in the WEF index is placing seventh in political empowerment progress. Both “battling begums,” current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, and her nemesis and predecessor, Khaleda Zia, are larger-than-life personalities who serve as role models for young Bangladeshi women. They have also tirelessly battled the tide of male chauvinism to enact legislation that is uplifting the socioeconomic status of women in Bangladesh. Significantly, they have doubled the quota of women-only seats in parliament from 10 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2011.
That said, the political matriarchs have been unable to make real headway in improving occupational safety and health conditions for women, especially in the Ready-made Garments (RMG) sector. Their influence on Bangladeshi society at large, however, cannot be discounted. The anachronistic notion that girls are “economic liabilities” and less desirable than sons is slowly receding, as is the “missing women” phenomenon linked to gender-selective infanticide. Today, Bangladeshi mothers have a greater say in their children’s education as the country slowly wipes out gender inequality in primary and secondary level education. In this regard, it has eclipsed the global average.
Although their college graduation numbers are underwhelming, girls currently outstrip boys in pre-matriculation enrollments. Compared to a decade ago, more women also make up the membership of local government councils and some are key office holders in planning urban and rural development. Additionally, women comprise some 61 percent of union leadership in factories. They are key contributors to Bangladeshi exports, especially the RMG sector which accounts for 80 percent of the country’s total. In this industry that has driven the country’s GDP purple patch of five percent plus growth for the last decade, they constitute over 90 percent of the workforce.
Furthermore, despite not owning any agricultural land or tools, women have been instrumental in raising Bangladesh’s crop yield exponentially, to the point where the country is hailed as a lodestar for South Asia. Micro-finance, too, has been a godsend for Bangladeshi women. It has provided them with a means of empowerment and often, economic independence. By some estimates, around 92 percent of small loan borrowers are women, and the overwhelming majority of them live in rural areas. Rapid growth in the RMG and micro-finance sectors and their corresponding contribution to women welfare have also had a net positive effect on their health. Female life expectancy, for one, has jumped almost 15 years since 1980, which seats Bangladesh at the regional high table for this health metric.
Gender discrimination, however, is a very real problem in Bangladesh and the labour market provides textbook examples. The participation rate for women, for instance, hovered about 58 percent in 2010 when data was last recorded, at the time approximately 30 points lower than men. Female employment also clusters around low-skill, low-wage positions, which makes them more vulnerable to the boom-bust economic cycle. And despite their outsized contribution to Bangladesh’s exports, women still get paid 20 percent less than their male colleagues and are often the target of physical abuse and sexual harassment.
Deep-seated patriarchy is another major hurdle towards gender parity. Despite the gradual acceptance of a greater role for women in society, especially in urban areas, certain cultural practices are stonewalling substantive progress to this end. In rural Bangladesh, for example, girls have still considered a burden and married off early. Since arranging for their dowries encumbers poor households, parents will sometimes sell their girls to the richest prospects regardless of age difference. This pervasive trend, with the average age of marriage only 16 years, has contributed to high maternal mortality rates countrywide.
Physical abuse also remains widespread, and while the government has enacted laws to curb violence against women — most notably the Domestic Violence Prevention & Protection Act of 2010 — their enforcement remains patchy and vigorless. Furthermore, female foeticide and infanticide continue to this day, though stats suggest they are on a downswing.
USAID, the foreign aid arm of the American government, is working closely with Bangladeshi authorities to remedy the situation. To this end, it runs programs focused on three key areas. First, promoting dialogue between men and women on homestead issues like family planning and health, and funding mass media campaigns highlighting the importance of female education. Two, expanding the role of women in agriculture by training them to use the latest technologies, thereby increasing crop yield that directly translates into higher household income. Third, helping the Bangladeshi government rigorously implement the domestic violence bill and training “human rights defenders” to monitor them locally.
As evidenced by the recent WEF report, women welfare reforms in Bangladesh are on an upward trajectory. That said, there are many cultural and economic barriers to break down before the government can truly offer gender parity to its female citizens.
The writer is a freelance columnist and audio engineer based in Islamabad