Journal of Research in Peace, Gender and Development (ISSN: 2251-0036) Vol. 2(10) pp. 203-213, October, 2012
Available online@ http://www.interesjournals.org/JRPGD
Copyright ©2012 International Research Journals
Review
Dimension and intensity of gender inequality in
Bangladesh: an overview
Sheikh Kabir Uddin Haider
Associate Professor Department of Social Work University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi -6205,
Bangladesh
E-mail: dhkabir69@yahoo.com; hkabir@ru.ac.bd
Abstract
Gender is a fundamental organizing principle in human societies and in cultural production and like
class, race and ethnicity is widely accepted as a source of inequality. Sex stratification exists in
degrees with one variable and one constant. The variable is the extent of female disadvantage and the
constant is that females have never been more disadvantages and the constant is that females have
never been more advantaged than males in any known society. In many poor countries, women
provide most of the childcare and produce half of the food and they make up a quarter of the work
force in industry. Empirical evidence indicates that there are significant gender differences in all
spares and family lives in developing country like Bangladesh. Bangladesh, as a typical developing
country with a high level of gender disparity, especially in the rural areas, is putting on obstacle to that
development process. By custom, the life of a woman in Bangladesh is shaped by the patriarchal,
patrilineal and partilocal nature of the social system. The present study reviews the status and find out
the forms of gender disparity and the extent to which gender- inequality is prevailing in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Gender, Women, Inequality, Discrimination and Bangladesh.
INTRODUCTION
Over the last several decades, gender issues have
attained increased prominence in the debates over from
civil society. Gender inequality is the most important
issue all over the world today. While the fight for gender
inequality continues on every front, women are being
grossly discriminated against men in the male dominated
society. They are discriminated in every sphere of public
and private life by men. Women in Bangladesh have
always been considered subservient to men. Bangladesh
is a highly patriarchal society and gender discrimination is
evident across all levels. Women are vulnerable in every
sector in Bangladesh; traditionally the role of women has
been that of daughter, wife and mother. Their activities in
the socio-cultural milieu of Bangladesh are primarily
domestic in nature confined to the four walls of home.
They have also lack access to justice on human rights,
because of race, ethnicity, culture, religion, social and
economic class distributions.
Gender equality or equality between men and women
entails the concept that all human beings, both men and
women, are free to develop their personal abilities and
make choices without the limitations set by stereotype,
rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means
that the different behavior, aspirations and needs of
women and men are considered, valued and favored
equally. It dose not mean that women and men to
become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities
and opportunities will not depends on whether they are
born male or female (ILO, 2000).
A study by ICDDRB (International Centre for Diarrhea
Disease Research, Bangladesh has found gender
inequality exist every sphere, especially in rural
Bangladesh (The Daily star, 2008). Bangladesh, is a
typical developing country with a high level of illiteracy
and over –population, is not free from the problem of
gender disparity. The various elements of the social
system thus interact to make women dependent on men
or at risk when deserted and to produce a rigid division of
labor and highly segregated labor market by gender
(World Bank, 1992). The household is the primary
production and consumption unit. Men generally own and
mange family land and income and women contribute a
204 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
great deal to the economy and to the family. Not only do
they participate in agriculture and industrial labor but also
they are entirely charged with cooking, cleaning,
collecting firewood and water and washing. In addition,
they assume full responsibility for rearing children and
caring for the old and infirm (Gita, 2000).
OBJECTIVE AND MATERIALS OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are to focus on the forms, i.e.,
types of gender disparity and the extent to which genderinequality is prevailing in Bangladesh. More sepecially to
identify the situation of women in Bangladesh in different
sections such as education, health and nutrition, decision
making, politics and administration, economic activities
etc. An extensive literature survey of secondary sources
has been conducted to gather data the present gender
disparities in Bangladesh. Relevant information is also
collected from internet browsing.
Conceptual framework
Gender inequality, or what is commonly called sexism, is
like racism in that it includes attitudes as well as
behaviors. Gender inequality occurs when we arbitrarily
assign differentially valued traits and abilities to people on
the basis of their sex and without regard for their
attributes as individuals. What is a more important, social
expectation of men and women developed from these
stereotyped images. In other words, a biological given,
sex(maleness or femaleness), is used as the basis for
constructing a social category (masculinity or femininity).
We call this social gender. Thinking about the gender
inequality refers to the fact that gender norms and roles
played by the men and women in the society have a
negative impact on the living condition of women;
consequently talking about the achievement of gender
equality does not point to the direction of the elimination
of the differences between women and men as such, but
on the elimination of mechanisms discriminating against
women on the basis of this difference. On the other hand,
gender equality means equal visibility, empowerment and
participation in all spheres of public and private life.
Gender equality is the opposite of gender inequality, not
of gender difference, and aims to promote the full
participation of women and men in the society (Council of
Europe, 1998). Gender equality in that sense include not
only the acceptance of differences between women and
men but also the notion of a right to be different; women
shall have the right of refusing to adopt male life styles
without suffering disadvantages or in other words, women
and men can be different without being unequal.
Gender inequality is the inequality among men and
women in terms of their economic, social and other
indicators. Gender inequality prevails in all countries of
the world. Although it is a common phenomenon all over
the world, its position is somewhat acute in Bangladesh.
Women are disadvantaged in Bangladesh in terms of all
well-being indicators (Khondkar, 1999; Kabeer, 1989;
Mahmud and Mahmud, 1985). “Gender inequality
survives in most parts of the world–from developed to
developing areas–but inequality between women and
men can take very many different forms. Gender
inequality is not a homogeneous phenomenon but a
collection of disparate but interlinked problems. It is
important to take note of the variety of forms that gender
inequality can take. The reasons why this is important are
several: First, inequality between women and men cannot
be confronted and overcome by any one set of allpurpose remedies. Much will depend on exactly what
form gender inequality takes. Second, sometimes
inequalities of different kinds feed each other and we
have to be aware of their interlinkages. India, Pakistan
and Srilanka have had (Bangladesh still have) female
heads of government, which the United States and Japan
have not. There are larger proportions of tenured women
faculties at Delhi University than either at Harvard or at
Trinity College, Cambridge. However, in the area of
inequality, India as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh, are
near the bottom in the world. We are looking at a
phenomenon that must be analyzed with a much broader
set of facts. Gender inequality is not one phenomenon
but many, which will have many and complex solutions.
Further studies need to be done to see to what extent the
economics, social, cultural and political factors mix
together to contribute to this phenomenon” (Sen. A.
2001)
Situations of the women in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries of the world.
Like all other poor and developing countries, it is not free
from a lot of problems like economic backwardness, high
illiteracy, over population, so on and so forth. Most of the
people of this country are living in the rural areas. Like a
typical developing country, the rural areas in Bangladesh
are far more economically backward than those of the
city areas. Most of the Bangladeshi families are still not
out of the traditional social norms and customs. Basically,
the origins of gender bias are social norms and traditions,
which still are in existence in most of the families of the
country, be they in city areas or in rural areas. The
gender belief on this aspect is that women are born only
to be inside the household, to continue with their
reproductive capacity, to look after their children, to cook
for the family members and to do all other works inside
the homesteads.
Bangladesh is one of the high-density countries of the
world. According to the UN Gender Development Index,
st
Bangladesh is ranked 121 out of total of 146 countries
worldwide. Out of the total population, 48.9 per cent is
Haider 205
women nearly 86 per cent live in rural areas. And only
about 16 per cent women are literate compared to a 30
per cent rate of literate men (Salma, 1998). Demographic
changes related to fertility and migration influences the
Bangladesh economy and society to a great extent. For
years, Bangladesh was characterized by a youthful
population structure with a heavy concentration of
children (below 15 years) and an imbalance in the sex
ratio. Over time, however, the fertility rate has declined
remarkably and this significantly affected the population
composition. In 1995-1996, about 53 per cent of the
population belonged to the active age group and 14 per
cent were children (BBS, 2009).
The majority of the population in Bangladesh,
depending on the relationship with the other individual, is
usually addressed as bou (wife), ma (mother), bhabi
(brother’s wife), chachee or mamee (father’s brother’s or
mother’s brother’s wife), shashooree (mother’-in-law) and
a host of their kin terms, but rarely by her given name.
Even a women’s own children rarely mention her name in
public whereas the father’s name is always required for
self-identity and other form’s of recognition including
schooling and legal inheritance. How a woman is
addressed and recognized in the family reflects the
various roles a woman occupies throughout her life cycle
and her dependency on her male counterpart. During
childhood and youth a girl is dependent on her male
parents or is under the guardianship of her brothers.
Upon marriage, she moves under the protection of her
husband. After the death of her spouse, caretaking
responsibility for the woman shifts to her sons or
husband’s family or her ‘family of orientation’ (Noman,
1983; Khan, 1998; Mabud, 1990; Miah, 1992).
Diffential treatment of female begins at birth. While a
son is welcomed to the world with a loud audible prayer
of “ God is Great” in the presence of members, a
daughter receives only the “ whisper of Quranic prayer”.
Bertocci (1974) notes that this kind of response regarding
the sex of a new born baby influences the roles and
behavior patterns that she or he will learn and “act out
later in life”.
Constitutional Status
Women have some rights recognized by the Bangladesh
constitution. According to Article 15(d), under the heading
of Fundamental Principles of State Policy, the rights and
opportunities for women are the following (Asiatic Society
of Bangladesh, 2004).
Article 27: equality of all citizens before law and equal
protection under law and equal protection under law.
Article 28(1): no discrimination on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
Article 28(2): equal opportunity for men and women in
all spheres of state and public lives.
Article 28(3): no discrimination on grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth in providing
access to any place of public entertainment or resort, or
admission to any educational institution.
Article 29(1): equal opportunity for all citizens in
respect of employment or office in the service of the
republic.
Article 65(3): women are free to contest election from
any constituency. But originally 15 seats had been
reserved for women; the number has been raised to 45
now.
Gender issues in Bangladesh
A recent study by the World Bank on the issue of gender
dimensions (2002) on some selected low and middle
income countries found the following picture in Box 1.
Bangladesh lies in the low per-capita range and its
gender development is also very low. Table 1 below
indicates that there were accompanying safety net or
relevant operations in all those evaluating countries, but
in general those did not attempt to mitigate adverse
impact on women specifically.
Table 1 show that, the severity of gender disparity in
Bangladesh is high while the policy formulation to
integrate gender issue in social protection measure is
moderate. But the most unfortunate thing is that there is
no monitoring at all regarding the policy implementation
to reduce gender disparities. Some of the most important
indicators that show the status of women in Bangladesh
are something like the following:
• women are disproportionately represented amongst
the poor
• have less access to formal employment and earn
less
• they continue to face violence and abuse
• inequality is well reflected in the health indicators
• maternal mortality rates are amongst the highest in
the world
• mortality and malnutrition rates for girls are higher
than for boys (Figure 1).
Bangladesh has had a policy for the advancement of
women since 1976. The Ministry of Women and Children
Affairs serves as the focal point in the national machinery
for the advancement of women’s issues. Its role is to
facilitate government-wide mainstreaming of a gender
equality perspective in all policy areas. It advocates,
coordinates, communicates and monitors implementation
of the National Action Plan (NAP). The principal goals of
the NAP are: to remove legal, economic, political or
cultural barriers, to raise public awareness about
women’s differential needs, to improve women’s
development and to provide full equality of opportunity.
Nevertheless, gender disparity is still one of the main
causes for the economic under development of
Bangladesh. Government effort seems neither adequate
nor appropriate to solve this problem.
206 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Table 1. Integration and Monitoring of Gender Issues in Some Selected Countries
Country
Kyrgyz
Ecuador
Zambia
Bangladesh
Vietnam
Yemen
Philippines
Poland
SriLanka
Cote d'lvoire
Severity of Gender
Disparities (1)
M
M
H
H
M
H
M
N
M
H
Integration of Gender
into Social Protection
Measurer (2)
N
M
M
M
M
M
N
M
M
M
Monitoring of Gender
Issues in Adjustment
Measures (3)
N
N
M
N
M
N
N
M
N
N
Note: All ratings are on a four-point scale, where N = Negligible, M Modest, SU = Substantial, H = High.
1. This is based on a relative ranking of countries based on the UN Gender-related Development Index.
2. This rating is provided by the evaluation based on an integration of gender issues into the design of
social protection measures that are financed by the Bank. These measures are not only the ones classified
by the Bank as 'Social Protection', but also include social protection components in other Bank-supported
projects of the 1990s.
3. This rating is provided by the evaluation based on monitoring of gender-disaggregated outcomes in
adjustment measures supported by the Bank in the 1990s.
Source: Adapted from: “The Gender Dimension of Bank Assistance: An Evaluation of Results”, Operations
Evaluation Department Report No. 23119, World Bank, January, 2002.
Source: Adapted from “The Gender Dimension of Bank Assistance: An Evaluation of Results”, Operations
Evaluation Department Report No. 23119, Washington DC, World Bank, January, 2002.
Changes in land-population patterns in rural areas are
having an impact on gender relations and on the position
of women throughout Bangladesh. First, the continuing
fragmentation of holdings is leading to fewer households
being constituted in the form of the extended family. This
is associated with a loss of security for women from the
Haider 207
family network and with reduction in the scope for sharing
household tasks. Concurrently, women’s normative
entitlements to social support beyond the family are
weakening. Thus women are becoming more vulnerable
to extreme poverty and destitution. Moreover, women’s
work possibilities outside the homestead have declined:
the increase observed in women’s involvement in field
wage labor is outweighed by technological displacement
of paddy husking, rice milling and other work. Inside the
household, women’s work is of increasingly low
productivity among the poorest deciles as the asset base
of more household’s declines. The recent rise of the unIslamic dowry based marriage system is a manifestation
of these changes. It signifies that women are increasingly
seen as an economic burden by both wife-giving and
wife-receiving families. It also contributes to further rural
differentiation: richer families are able to profit from
loaning dowry money to poorer households and claim
their assets on default. Growing numbers of the rural
poor are therefore migrating to urban slums. Urban
poverty, particularly of female-headed households,
deserves much more analytical and policy attention, even
though it runs counter to the main thrust of Government
policy to reduce rural-urban migration (Mamun, 2000).
Bangladesh is one of the signatories among 189
countries to Millennium Declaration 2000. As a part of
that, Bangladesh is working towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) committing
herself to a set of internationally agreed development
targets. The first progressing report of MDG focuses
mainly on the ordinary and informed people’s
assessment on Bangladesh MDG and beyond and deals
with a set of basic socio-economic and public services
and relevant indicators. Analysis has been carried out in
terms of present status, progression or regression over
time and the degree of changes with focus on gender and
regional variation (Rahman et al., 2005). Gender violence
is a daily and often deadly fact of life for millions of
women and girls around the world. In most of
Bangladesh, the family is mainly patriarchal, patrilocal
and patrilineal and the region is well known for the kinds
of egalitarian gender relations that are related with
gender violence. Women are defined as inferior;
husbands are assumed to ‘own’ women and to have the
right to dominate them, if necessary by using force.
Domestic violence is thus deeply embedded in patriarchal
norms and attitudes about gender relations in
Bangladesh. The growing ubiquity of gender specific
violence in public places like domestic violence,
especially wife battering, is perhaps the most widespread
form of violence against women. In countries where
reliable, large-scale studies on gender violence are
available, more than 20% of women are reported to have
been abused by men with whom they live (World Bank,
1993). The situation in Bangladesh is even worse where
about half of the women are reported to have been
abused by their husbands. In Bangladesh, gender based
violence including wife-beating, rape, sexual abuse and
dowry related torture and murder is widespread (Mannan,
2003).
Different forms of inequalities
In the following sections briefly describe various factors
that influence women’s lives and are interrelated with
their status through prevailing culture, traditions and
customs of the country.
Gender inequality in Family
According to the convention of Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination
Against
Women
(CEDAW)
and
constitution of our country, every men and women has
equal rights to get equal opportunities in their family. But
a good number of studies have shown that discrimination
against the girl child women starts within the family.
Women get a smeller share of household expenditures
on education and health care relative to men. Women’s
have less opportunity to visit health center, go to a movie,
visit outside the village, and visit friends and relatives.
Most of the women are discriminated by their parents at
first and then by their husband in the family. Usually
parents expose different attitude between their boys and
girls after birth. Women in our family have always been
considered subservient to men. Men mostly own the
lands owned by the households and women are deprived
of this rights. In the family, as women are responsible for
child bearing and rearing, they have less scope to go out
home for employment, hence most of them are confined
to the domestic chores, which are not counted in the
accounting procedure of the country, however, there is a
clear discrimination with family affairs falling under
personal laws governed by religion, where the state is
reluctant to become involved.
(a) Women and Marriage
Marriage is a near universal phenomenon in Bangladesh.
By the age of 15 to 19 about 70 percent of the females in
Bangladesh are married (Population Crisis Committee,
1988). Muslim marriage is a contract between two
consenting parties, and usually the parents or relatives
arrange marriage for the females. Muslim marriage laws,
however, protect a woman partially through the custom of
mahr (money, property, jewelry or clothing to be given to
the bride) to which the wife is entitled upon divorce. Mahr
is usually specified in the kabin nama (marriage contract).
The significance of mahr has been gradually reduce more
to a ritualistic custom than to actual practice (Kabeer,
1985; Smock, 1977). Most women, especially those form
the lower socio-economic classes, may not have a written
208 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
kabin nama. Further, women seldom can enforce this
claim as they generally have no knowledge about the
mahr agreed upon between the bride’s and the groom’s
parents or guardians. Because of the fear of litigation,
even women who do know the details of the contract may
forego the right of enforcement (Alamgir, 1977). The
practice of mahr has been replaced by dowry (money,
property and gifts given to the groom by the bride’s
family) in the last two decades. Such reversal of wealth
flow is associated with women’s lower status.
b) Women and Fertility
A woman becomes well integrated into her husband’s
family only with the birth of children, but barrenness may
become grounds for polygyny and divorce (Miah, 1992).
Moreover, the overriding cultural emphasis on lineage
maintenance, early marriage, and economic benefits of
having children translate primarily into high fertility for
women. The total fertility rate in Bangladesh was 4.8 in
2010 (Population Development and Evaluation unit,
2010). Rearing children and cooking for all members of
the family is one of the major roles of a woman. A
woman’s other activities include processing the crops
during harvest and beyond, resigning poultry, taking care
of livestock, kitchen gardening and so forth. The nature of
work a woman performs is basically conducted within the
premises of their household. Yet, this kind of labor
remains socially invisible and has little exchange value or
impact on woman’s decision-making power. Thus, the
effect of fertility which ties women mainly to unpaid
household work.
c) Women and Religion
Local religious practices in Bangladesh have a significant
influence on a woman’s status, especially among
Muslims (Miah, 1992). It is popularly known taht Islam
dose not directly advocate the lower status of women, but
some of its practices lead to sexual segregation, as
manifested in purdah. Furthermore, religious justifications
lead to behavioral restrictions. As Feldman and McCarhy
(1983) point out, the Islamic dictum for women to the
elders by being quiet and keeping one’s head covered in
their presence. To “n have shame” means a wife will not
behave in ways which can jeopardize her husband’s
family prestige. Some local belief that ‘haven lies at the
feet of the husband’ (Hartman and Boyce, 1983) has
gained wide acceptance among most Muslim rural
women. Such belief result in complete allegiance to the
husband’s wishes and decision without challenge.
d) Women and Property Rights
The civil and personal laws of Bangladesh guarantee a
woman’s right to income and property. However, having
the right to ownership and having the source of income
with property is bought are two different things (Alamgir,
1977). A very small percentage of women are engaged in
paid work and the possibility of accumulating capital for
buying is seriously limited for them. Whatever income
may be earned by rural women by investing in poultry or
livestock is usually spent for subsistence purposes.
Formally, the Hanafi Muslim Laws (one pf the four
major groups that interprets Islamic jurisprudence)
determine the policy of property inheritance in
Bangladesh. In her relation to the deceased as a
daughter, wife or mother, a woman is entitled to some
portion of the property. If both parents die, the daughter
receives one-half of total estate if there are no male
siblings; the other half goes to the father’s brother(s) or
his/ their living children. If she inherits as a residuary, she
receives half the brother’s amount. As a widow, a woman
is entitled to one-fourth of the estate in the absence of
any children, otherwise she receives only one-eight. In
contrast, a widower can receive one-half when there are
no children, one –fourth if they are present. As a mother,
a woman cans receive one-sixth of her son’s estate if she
shares it with her grandchildren. In sum, ignorance,
poverty, illiteracy and local practices, all restrict women
from enjoying whatever legal inheritance rights they may
have. These conditions reflect the lower status of women
in the society at large and affect decision-making in
household matters.
Access to Education
Education is a social phenomenon that strongly
influences on women’s control of their own future but low
level of female education have been frequently citied in
Bangladesh. Lack of education is one of the main factors,
which deters women from equal participation in socioeconomic activities with her male counterparts and helps
to perpetuate the inequality between sexes. The common
belief among many villagers that educated girls are rude,
less affectionate and disobedient also acts a contributory
factor against female education (Salam, 1998).
According to the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights- 1948, CEDAW and Constitution, every body has
equal rights of education. But the rates of literacy among
the females are not increasing in proportion to that of the
men in Bangladesh during different interregnal periods. In
fact female literacy rate is lagging far behind the literacy
rate of men during interregnal periods in our country.
There are several seasons for such discrepancy. The
discrepancy starts from the family itself where parents
are to be seen more concerned about the safety of their
daughters than the sons. Girls are often discriminated
against in getting access to school and support to
continue in to secondary school. Daughters are restricted
to their houses and given marriage at early age. The
Haider 209
Table 2. Male and female literacy rate in Bangladesh
year
1911
1931
1961
1991
1994
2001
2002
Male(%)
13.9
15.4
29.3
30.2
30.3
54.6
52.3
Female(%)
1.0
2.9
10.7
19.2
19.5
42.5
35.0
Source: UNDP: Human Development Report (HDR) 2002
general value of the society is that women should
perform the household works and, therefore, they do not
require education. According to population sensus-2002,
male literacy rate was 37%, while female literacy rate
was33.4%. In age literacy rate, male was 47.5% and
female was 40.8% and participation in primary school,
female rate was 46.2%, admission rate in primary school
was 37% and science technology and vocational
education as limited for women. In higher educational
level has existed discrimination between men and women
also. Poverty, discouraged by family, lake of physical
security and lake of proper opportunities are the main
barrier of women education. The gender discrimination
tends to increase at higher level, for example in the
Universities (including private university) the rate of
female student and female teacher are 22% and 15%
respectively. In Dhaka University and Rajshahi University
the male to female teacher ratio is 17:5 (The Daily Star, 8
March, 2008) (Table 2).
Health and Nutrition
For women, in Bangladesh, generally life consists of high
mortality, malnutrition and ill health. Women’s general
health care is greatly ignored and they face special health
hazards due to serve anemic condition, poor health,
inadequate nutrition, multiple pregnancies, abortion etc.
Although a housewife has to take care of the health of all
members of the family, there is hardly anyone to take
care of hers. The daily per capital calorie intake of
women 91599k.cal) is lower than that of a man
(1927k.cal). The life expectancy of females (60.5) is
lower than that of males (60.7 years) (Ara, 2002).
Women’s low social status and poverty are in turn lead to
their poor health, high fertility and lack of access to
essential health care. The ultimate outcome of these
latter three factors is a high maternal mortality rate.
The average weight of a Bangladeshi woman is about
40.9 kg, which is less than the mean weight of women in
most third world countries. The low weight is a reflection
of food deprivation. Poor environmental sanitation and
lower food intake of female give them lower resistance
capacity, thereby rendering them more vulnerable to
diarrhea and communicable diseases, which cause the
highest mortality and morbidity in this country. Though it
may be said that women are biologically more resistant to
adverse health situation than men. The maternal mortality
rate of 444 per 100,000 live births is one of the highest in
world (BBS, 1997). A pervasive gender differential in
entitlement of food nutrition and care leads to a higher
death rate of girl children than boy children (ADB, 2001).
In effective use of indigenous abortion related methods
yearly cause about 10,000 women’s death in the country.
Women in Decision
Administration
-making,
Politics
and
The status of women in a developing society is the
culminating effect of her place in the family, in the various
social and administrative institutions and at the political
decision-making level. In the case of Bangladeshi women
all these have acted as contributing factors to divest her
from the mainstream of political and administrative
hierarchy. Women’s participation in the political and
national movement has been very negligible. Although in
recent years two women have emerged as important
political leaders in the country through their personal
connections with deceased male political leaders of their
respective parties. Women usually do not participate in
the political process (Table 3).
Political participation of women is low because of
illiteracy and little involvement of women in public life and
politics. The female members of the Union Parishad
(lowest part of local unit), the lowest tier of the Local
Government, though elected in direct election, literally
they have fewer powers, lots of women votes at villages
and women in the hill tracts are deprived of their voting
rights also. Patriarchy still controls all institutions of the
society, the parliament, military establishments, judiciary,
education and benevolent organizations etc (status
Ahmed, 2001). In the legislature to have a fair
representation of women, out of 345 seats, 45 seats are
reserved for women. This does not however preclude
women from contesting any of the 300 general seats –
which is, of course, more a matter of theory than practice.
Indirect election of women (rather selection) by the main
210 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
Table 3. Number of Women Ministers in Bangladesh during Different Political Regimes
Government
Regimes
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Ziaur Rahman
Hossain M. Ershad
Begum Khaleda Zia
Sheikh Hasina
Begum Khaleda Zia
Sheikh Hasina
Total N. of
Total N. of
Ministers Men Ministers
1972-1975
1979-1982
1982-1990
1991-1996
1996-2001
2001-2006
2009-
50
101
133
39
46
60
43
Total N. of
Women M.
47
95
127
36
42
58
37
02
06
04
03
04
02
06
% of
Women
Minister
4
6
3
5
8.69
3.5
13.95
Source: Nazmunnessa Mahtab. 2007. Women in Bangladesh from Inequality to Empowerment, Dhaka: A. H.
Development Publishing House, page. 55 & Diary 2009, Bangladesh Parliament.
Table 4. Women and national election
year
Women
candidates
per
hundred
Reserved
seats for
women
Percentage of
women in
national
assembly
successful in
by election as
women
candidates
Total
successful
women
candidates
4.8
9.7
10.6
10.6
11.2
11.21
Successful
women
candidates
by direct
election
x
x
5
4
4
5
1973
1979
1986
1988
1991
1996
.3
.9
.3
.7
1.5
1.3
15
30
30
30
30
30
x
2
2
x
2
2
x
2
7
4
6
7
2001
2008
2.0
3.0
x
45
2
15.00
6
19
x
x
6
19
Source: Unnayan podokkep, 2009
body comprising overwhelmingly of male parliament
members renders elected women members virtually
subservient to men and ineffective for the cause.
Table 4 shows the situation of women in politics from
the beginning of Bangladesh.
On the other side, participation of women in political
decision-making and administration remains very slim.
Currently very few Bangladeshi women can be found in
positions of political leadership in both central and local
government structures, and even in the administrative
hierarchy. As a result of this lack of opportunities to
intervene at the policy and decision making level, women
have a minimal impact in the planning, management and
implementation of policies. One needs only to look at the
few number of women holding senior positions in the top
echelons of bureaucracy to have an example of their
serious lack of representation. Like political and civil
administration women are also non-existent at the top
management level in the private sectors.
Economic activities
A woman in Bangladesh enjoys lesser importance.
“She is little more than a free servant and a child
bearing machine.” The “good” women stayed at home
and looked after her husband and her children. Whereas
the working woman portrayed as morally lax and the
cause of disintegration of the family, of social values and
of society in general. Women’s participation in economic
activities remains unvalued at the national level because
of patriarchal social structure, tradition and norms. In
Bangladesh, women’s participation in economic activities
shows great variation by gender, nature of activity and
place of residence. Women’s household work remains
unrecognized, uncounted and invisible (salma, 1998).
We can get a comprehensive idea about the
participation of women in government services from the
table 5. The table reveals that 18.5 percent female were
selected in 22th BCS examination followed by 35.21
percent, 27.10 percent, 24.46 percent, 33.87 percent and
25.38 percent female were selected in 23th, 24th , 25th ,
26th and 27th BCS examination respectively. Along with
this scenario, numbers of female worker are increasing in
private sector in Bangladesh. Even most of the labour
forces in garment sector are female (Majumdar and
Zohir, 1995:83-112). Economically, women have always
been involved in production although their share in
Haider 211
Table 5. Selected Candidates for the Civil Services in Different BCS Examinations by Gender
Name of the
BCS
22th BCS
23th BCS
th
24 BCS
th
25 BCS
th
26 BCS
th
27 BCS
Year
(held in)
2000
2000
2002
2004
2005
2006
Selected Candidates for the Services
Total
Male
Female
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
1903
81.50
432
18.50
2335
100.0
46
64.79
25
35.21
71
100.0
3809
72.90
1416
27.10
5225
100.0
2029
74.54
693
25.46
2722
100.0
703
66.13
360
33.87
1063
100.0
2417
74.62
822
25.38
3239
100.0
Source: Annual Report- 2003, 2008, Bangladesh Public Service Commission, Dhaka: Government of People’s
Republic Bangladesh, 2009. Page-65.
consumption as well as control over capital and cash has
always been nominal and neglected. The agriculture
sector is overwhelmed by unpaid family workers who are
disproportionately represented by women. Self-employed
or own account workers are predominantly found in the
trade, hotel and restaurant, transport, storage and
communications sectors where men’s involvement is
sizeable (nearly a quarter) and women’s is negligible.
Economic exploitation of girls includes many of the same
issues as it does for women inherited rights, social
security, unequal wages and job opportunities and they
also exploited by unvalued, of ten unpaid and harmful
labour.
Labour in Bangladesh is cheap, female labour is
cheaper. The number of women workers is greater in
garments industries. A unit having capacity to produce
200 pieces of garments require 185 to 225 workers.
labour costs in the garments industry is less compared to
other large and heavy industries. A garments factory can
run with 50 percent unskilled labour. So a large number
of rural and urban destitute women can get jobs in these
factories. Wages for the positions of supervisor, machine
operator, iron man (now women), packing man helper are
very low. Among the helpers women do the unskilled
work. There are males in most of the senior positions
including manager, cutting master, cutting assistant. In
addition to cheaper wages, one of the major causes
behind the acceptance whatever is doled out to them.
They are expected to work from more than eight hours
and often they are not entitled for overtime payments and
bonus (Faria, 2001)
Violence against women
Gender based violence is universal and cuts across all
boundaries of age, class, location, ethnicity and religion.
It takes many forms, occurring mostly at home at the
hands of male relatives or with their approval. Children
who witness violence are seriously affected, often
developing many of the same behavioral and
psychotically problems as children who themselves are
abused. Different kinds of violence done against the
adolescent girls and women in Bangladesh constitute a
serious threat of their physical and mental health,
personal development and sometimes even their survival.
Girls on their way to school and women to office and
factory fall easy victims to teasing and harassment. They
have similar experience in the public transport stands,
railway stations or at other common places. Besides, they
undergo sexual harassment even into their work-stations.
Women feel insecure even at the disposal of the police.
Policy Guidelines
Based on the inequalities in the study, the following
recommendation would be put forward:
•
The country is already under the policy of
compulsory and free primary education. |As such the
primary enrolment rate is getting higher. But the problem
still lies with the drop-outs. Government should take
appropriate steps to reduce drop-out from subsequent
levels of education to ensure full access to education for
the girls especially in the rural areas. Such steps would
have direct effects on the improvement of the socioeconomic status of the females.
•
Political commitments of governments are revealed
through public action on behalf of women and find
expression in allocative decisions as well as in creating
enabling conditions through provision of law, through
policy interventions, though building of institutions,
through executive orders and most importantly, through
institutionalized surveillance of public action. Thus it is
not enough to pass legislations for the protection of
women such as the banning of the system of dowry and
the seeking of permission from his wife before a man
marries a second time. Policing at all levels and
concretization of the judiciary is needed to ensure that
women’s rights are protecting in practice through theses
legislation.
•
Government and private initiatives should be
increased tp promote women empowerment with
emphasis on human recourse development, skilled man-
212 J. Res. Peace Gend. Dev.
power and social mobility; these things will be added with
the provision of micro finance that would enable the poor
women not only poor women not only undertake income
generating activities but also forms other components of
increased empowerment.
•
Efforts should be made to increase mass-awareness
about the demerits of illiterate and inactive women in the
family. Electronic and print media should increase their
programs on theses issues so that rural families can
understand the important of full participation of women in
all spheres of life.
related activities, water supply and sanitation, human
rights and advocacy, legal aid and other areas. In effect,
they are making an active contribution in every sector. In
respect of poverty alleviation, the principal instrument of
NGOs is micro credit, skill development and employment
generation. It is estimated that nearly 80% of
Bangladeshi villages are now contributors in NGO
activities. Since government is trying to remove the
gender inequality in Bangladesh, it is important for them
to understand and find out the extent to which this
problem is prevailing.
CONCLUSION
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