Bangladesh sees gradual rise in number of women joining government jobs.

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh sees gradual rise in number of women joining government jobs​

Besides increasing the number of women in the workforce, their participation in decision-making should be enhanced further, believes a women’s rights activist​

Shahidul Islambdnews24.com
Published : 8 July 2023, 03:18 AM
Updated : 8 July 2023, 03:18 AM

Bangladesh has been experiencing a gradual increase in the number of women joining government jobs, with nearly 29.3 percent of the public servants being women now, compared with over 24 percent a decade ago.

BCS Women Network, an organisation of female officers in the public sector, believes that a higher pass rate among female students than their male counterparts for more than a decade left a positive impact in the job sector.

The way women participate in every tier of education, at least one-third of the government jobs should be reserved for them, believes Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director at the Campaign For Popular Education – CAMPE.

Maleka Banu, general secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, on the other hand, thinks that besides ensuring more women in the workforce, women's participation in decision making should be enhanced further.

More than 1.9 million approved posts are available in the government job sectors, according to the statistics of government employees published by the public administration ministry in 2022.

As many as 1.39 million employees are working in those posts, including 987,679 men and 409,139 women.

Data from a decade ago shows that 1.19 million people had government jobs in 2013. Of them, 288,804 were women.

Currently, 11 women hold the post of senior secretary and secretary, while nine women work as deputy commissioners.

A total of 2,741 women are working in different ministries and divisions, 360,977 women in various directorates, 3,863 women in the offices of divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners. At least 41,558 women are working in different autonomous bodies and corporations.

Earlier, a 10 percent quota was available for women in government jobs, but the government scrapped it in October 2018. Accordingly, no women quota is available for the 9th-13th grades of government jobs.

"The number of women is gradually increasing in government jobs. It has continued, and we hope the number will rise further, enabling us to achieve our target," said State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain.

The government has been working to ensure that women can perform their official duties with equal rights at every place, said Farhad, adding that women have reached a much better position in terms of government jobs than they were in 2005-2006.
"Now we have 11 women working as government secretaries. Nobody could think about it a few years ago. The prime minister is working hard to ensure women's empowerment. At least 60 percent of the primary school teachers are now women."


THE PROGRESS
Different initiatives by the government, including the prevention of school dropout of girls, increasing women's education rate and the availability of employment brought a positive change, and more women are joining the government job sector, believes BCS Women Network.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina introduced the scholarship for girls, which has increased the number of women students, said Additional Secretary Saila Farzana, secretary general of the network.

"Local administrations work to prevent child marriage and harassment of girls, and the efforts helped prevent the dropout of girls in rural area schools. More girls are opting for higher education these days."

Saila said that women choose government jobs over private sector employment after completing education as the public sectors are more secure. Some women, however, go for private jobs, she said.

"The government has ensured different advantages for women after they join the workforce. Now we know the obstacles a woman may confront after joining a job. Many women are holding responsible posts in the local administrations. Therefore, we can give directives to DCs, SPs, or field officials."

Women officers have more opportunities to work, said Saila. "Women officers have proved that they can work well. Juniors have more opportunities to work. All these led to the situation where more women are joining government jobs," she said.

State Minister Farhad highlighted that the government provides female students with scholarships up to the undergraduate level. The government is encouraging women, and the results are visible in the education and employment sectors, he said.
"The local administrations are working hard to prevent child marriage. As a social movement, people are also trying to stop child marriages. Harassing girls has stopped already. Therefore, women are progressing and having a good education," he said.

WAY TO GO
More than 70 million people comprise the workforce in Bangladesh, according to the 2022 survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. At least 47.7 million of them are men, and 24.9 million are women.

Accordingly, 35 percent of the total workforce in the country are women. But women comprise less than 30 percent of government employees.

This rate should have been more than 33 percent by now, said Rasheda, executive director of CAMPE.

"Most women opt for government jobs after completing their education as they find the job secure and respectful and the pay package more or less attractive. Since women depend on their families when it comes to decision-making, they prefer the family's choice, mostly government jobs."

She said women's participation in education has not only risen from primary to higher education, but they are also doing very well in the competitive exams.

Mostly, women are working in the lower grades in government jobs, said Mahila Parishad General Secretary Maleka Banu, adding more women should participate in the decision-making level.

"But they are slowly moving to the upper tiers. Now they are appointed as secretaries, deputy commissioners, and UNOs. Some of them are appointed as ambassadors. The government needs a proper plan to engage women in decision-making. Otherwise, we won't be able to see Bangladesh at the position we envisaged."

A path should be created for more women to join government jobs, Maleka Banu said. Many women achieve higher education but fail to survive in the job sector, she said. Women confront different problems at work. They should be provided with support to combine familial and official duties, she said.

"They [women] need support at home, office, public transport, and day-care centres. Otherwise, we can't see them reach the expected position."

[Writing in English by Sabrina Karim Murshed; editing by Osham-ul-Sufian Talukder]

Bangladesh sees gradual rise in number of women joining government jobs

Besides increasing the number of women in the workforce, their participation in decision-making should be enhanced further, believes a women’s rights activist

bdnews24.com

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[Bilal9]

Ladies loving the limelight.

I think we as a nation need to make changes to our values about accepting women in the workplace, especially in higher posts like these BCS women.

However our situation is better than other larger countries in the subcontinent.

This is largely tokenism at present, but we need to focus more and make it easier for women to work in the workplace with solving Childcare costs and other women-focused issues.