WEF report: Bangladesh topmost in gender parity among South Asian countries
Tribune Desk
- Published at 01:49 pm December 17th, 2019
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Bangladesh is also the only South Asian country in the list of global top 100 countries
Bangladesh has been ranked at the top among all South Asian countries for its achievements towards gender parity, a latest report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) states.
Being the only one in the top 100 among its South Asian neighbours, Bangladesh attained the 50th position out of 153 countries worldwide, according to the WEF report Global Gender Gap Report 2020 published on Tuesday.
The report said: "Reflecting the magnitude of the challenge when it comes to gender parity, Bangladesh (overall score of 72.6%) is the only one of the seven South Asian countries studied to feature in the top 100 of the Global Gender Gap Index.
"India ranks 112th (66.8%) and Pakistan (56.4%) is antepenultimate, only ahead of Iraq and Yemen."
Lauding Bangladesh's accomplishment in closing 72.6% of the overall gender gap, the report said this country is among the 10 countries where female head of states had a longer tenure for the past 50 years, adding that: "Bangladesh is the only country in the world where that number exceeds the number of years with a male head of state (25.6 compared with 24.4)."
However, the report also mentioned that there are only 8% of women in the cabinet and only 20% in the Bangladeshi parliament.
"But its presence in the top 50 and regional leadership should not hide the fact that there is considerable room to bolster basic rights of women and improve their economic and political prospects," the report added.
Two notches behind Bangladesh, on the 53rd position is the United States with a score of 72.4, according to the WEF report. It noted: "There has never been a woman president to date [in the United States]."
Table: The Global Gender Gap Index rankings in South Asian region, 2020
| Country | Rank | Score | | | Regional | Global | | | Bangladesh | 1 | 50 | 0.726 | | Nepal | 2 | 101 | 0.680 | | Sri Lanka | 3 | 102 | 0.680 | | India | 4 | 112 | 0.668 | | Maldives | 5 | 123 | 0.646 | | Bhutan | 6 | 131 | 0.635 | | Pakistan | 7 | 151 | 0.564 |
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Gender workplace equality 257 years away
According to the report, women may have to wait more than two centuries for equality at work, showing gender inequality growing in workplaces worldwide despite increasing demands for equal treatment, reports AFP.
While women appear to be gradually closing the gender gap in areas such as politics, health and education, workplace inequality is not expected to be erased until the year 2276, the report said.
The organization, which gathers the global elite in the plush Swiss ski resort of Davos each year, said that the worldwide gender gap in the workplace had widened further since last year, when parity appeared to be only 202 years off.
WEF forecasted that it will take 99.5 years for women to achieve parity on average, down from the 108 years forecast in last year's report.
But while some sectors have shown improvements, others lag far behind. General parity "will take more than a lifetime to achieve," WEF acknowledged in a statement.
40% wage gap
Politics meanwhile is the domain where the least progress has been made to date, but it showed the biggest improvement in the past year.
Women in 2019 held 25.2% of parliamentary lower-house seats and 22.1% of ministerial positions, compared to 24.1% and 19% in 2018.
But when it comes to the workplace, the picture is less rosy.
The report, which looked at a variety of factors including opportunity and pay, said it would take 257 years before there was equality in the workplace.
It highlighted positive developments, like a general increase in the share of women among skilled workers and senior officials.
On average, only 55% of adult women are in the labor market today, compared to 78% for men, while women globally on average still make 40% less than men for similar work in similar positions.
The wage gap has been steadily shrinking in OECD countries over the past decade, but it has at the same time expanded in emerging and developing economies, the WEF report showed.
Global disparities
Progress across the categories varies greatly in different countries and regions.
The report pointed out that while Western European countries could close their overall gender gap in 54.4 years, countries in the Middle East and North Africa will take nearly 140 years to do so.
Overall, the Nordic countries once again dominated the top of the table: men and women were most equal in Iceland, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden.
Syria, Pakistan, Iraq and finally Yemen showed the biggest overall gender gaps of the countries surveyed.
Among the world's 20 leading economies, Germany fared the best, taking 10th place, followed by France at 15th, South Africa at 17th, Canada at 19th and Britain at 21st.
The United States continued its decline, slipping two places to 53rd, with the report pointing out that "American women still struggle to enter the very top business positions", and are also "under-represented in political leadership roles."
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OP-ED: Empowering women to empower Bangladesh
Anusha Islam Raha
- Published at 03:24 am April 20th, 2021
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Certain systemic limitations continue to hold back Bangladeshi women.
It may be right to say that women are not only the backbone of a family but a whole nation because for long, we have witnessed the women of this country selflessly contribute their blood and sweat for the development, freedom, and virtue of Bangladesh.
However, because we fail to empower these very women, today, nearly 85% of Bangladeshi women are involved in unpaid household chores or in the informal sector.
Amidst this ensuing domesticity, some “womenpreneurs” of Bangladesh, however, proved themselves, making their mark with stellar achievements and laudable contributions to the economic sector. The consequent rise in numbers of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh is therefore indicating a much needed and welcome development.
But we cannot afford to forget that there still remain some structural challenges in the field of women entrepreneurship and limitations to the kind of empowerment women receive from our society. These sometimes happen to be the larger barrier that prevents the adequate representation of women in Bangladesh and imposes an invisible ceiling that they must break.
Such limitations exist in the economic, social, psychological and/or educational limbs of women empowerment, hence, adequate implementation of policies that will enhance women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh is vital.
Economic limitations
By far, the most obvious challenge for budding and existing women entrepreneurs is obtaining finance. A vicious cycle exists wherein women are judged by the rate of the performance and are not given sufficient loans or venture capital funds for their start-ups because of the absence of a credit history.
On the contrary, men who are judged by their potential can demand or are voluntarily given a much higher amount for similar start-ups whereas women-owned enterprises are often discouraged and many start-ups remain as ideas in a scrap book.
Thus, policies should be made to encourage banks to lend sufficient funds to women entrepreneurs, preferably at a lesser interest rate. The implementation of this policy could be ensured by higher officials at banks or even by NGOs. Crowdfunding programs and niche loan programs could also be promoted to increase women entrepreneurship.
Social, cultural, and psychological limitations
Stereotypically, society often ends up being the worst enemies of women -- teaching us to be cruel to a young girl with big dreams rather than empowering her to flourish and fulfil her aspirations. This adversely affects the psychology of a female and is likely to crush her self-confidence.
This culture can be changed by enacting policies that will enable males and females to see each other as equals eg through therapy, consultations, group meetings, etc. However, to be brutally honest, women are doing men a favour by asking for mere equality and not more because, as the court correctly pointed out in the case of Shamima Sultana vs Bangladesh: “To eradicate the difficulties and the consequent evils of inequality faced continuously by a woman at home and in her daily life, a further leeway of leverage, in her favour, in order to balance these hindrances, is required” indicating the need for positive actions.
In some societies of Bangladesh, women are also tortured for which they could file cases under the Paribarik Shohingshota (Protirodh O Shurokkha) Ain (Domestic Violence Protection Ordnance) of 2010. However, this does not impose a fine or a term of imprisonment. It merely provides some orders.
Contrarily, the Nari O Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain 2000 (Women and Children Abuse Act 2000) provides stricter punishments for domestic violence such as death sentence or life imprisonment, but these punishments are exclusive to domestic violence resulting from unfulfilled dowry demands.
The pragmatic consequences of such incomplete laws are unsatisfactory remedies for women who faced domestic violence not because of dowry but simply because she came home late from work.
Therefore, this lack of support, both from family and law, will do the opposite of empowering women. To boost women’s confidence and have a positive psychological impact on them, change in these laws and proper implementation of new supportive laws is imperative.
Another social problem negatively affecting the psychology of women is workplace harassment/abuse. Consequences of these inhumane attitudes towards women at workplaces can be envisaged as disempowerment of women. Therefore, office management should impose and implement policies that ensure the safety of women.
Educational limitation
Most girls in rural areas are deprived of proper education due to a lack of proper schools, transport/roads, and finance, in addition to household chores or natural disasters. Currently, a lack of phones or communication services also prevents students from doing online classes.
Therefore, many of these girls lack the minimum education required to attain higher education for high-paid jobs. Therefore, provision and ensuring continuity of education of girls is of utmost importance.
Mobilization of rural women by NGOs has also played a crucial role in spreading awareness about programs that facilitate the participation of women as entrepreneurs at grass-root levels.
What remains a matter of concern though, is the lack of implementation of these awareness campaigns as Covid-19 has halted the lives and the livelihoods of millions.
Conclusively, it is crucial for us to comprehend that while women entrepreneurs of Bangladesh have, in some cases, broken barriers with their innovative spirits and proved themselves as fearless tigresses, we as a country must eradicate all the aforementioned limitations to ensure women empowerment.
Anusha Islam Raha is an LLM Graduate and a writes for the International and Comparative Law Journal.
