Page 67 - IBT Sept 2021 (1)

Gender Parity
By Nahid Tabassum
In the Run
for Equality
Shedding light on Bangladesh’s 50
years of achievement in mitigating
wage gap and gender parity from
different sectors of the society.
Though the gender wage gap probably dates to the
beginnings of civilization, it emerged as a political issue
in the U.S. in the 1860s under the rallying cry of “Equal
Pay for Equal Work.” Yet years later, women and girls live
in a world of widespread gender inequality.
It’s been 40 years since the adoption of the Convention
on all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW,
September 2021
Photographs: Din M Shibly inequality has substantially come down in
1979), discrimination remains commonplace in
law and practice. 131 countries have added 274
gender-related reforms to laws and regulations
over the past decade, however it is estimated that
more than 2.5 billion women and girls live in
countries with at least one discriminatory law on
the books. These statutes restrict women’s ability
to make decisions about marriage, divorce, and
child custody; and to make choices about getting
a job or starting a business, among others.
According to an UN report released in the year
2020, the gender wage gap in Bangladesh was
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the lowest in the world, as it came down to
2.2% against the world average of 21.2%, which
was a refreshing achievement for a developing
nation.
In last year’s UN-ILO, State Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Shahriar Alam has said the gender
Bangladesh.
As per a report from the International Labor
Organization (ILO), “World Employment and
Social Outlook Trends 2020”, women's
unemployment rate came down to 6.2% in 2019
from 6.6% in the previous year. Participation of
women in the labor market was 36.3% in 2019,
whereas, male participation in the job market
was 81.4% with a significant gap in between
the numbers.
This year, in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic
took a toll on the progress curve. In fact, the
country's overall gender gap has widened by
0.7 per cent, said the report published on 31
March 2021. Still, Bangladesh is the only
South Asian nation in the top 100 countries
which closed 71.9 percent of its overall gender
gap so far. Globally, gender parity is shifting
into reverse this year for the first time since the
World Economic Forum started measuring it.
Salma Ahmed and Mark McGillivray wrote a paper on World
Development that mentioned that over the period 1999–2009,
the gap in average wages between men and women decreased
by 31 percent and this was induced by education facilities for
women and enforcement of laws. Increasing women’s access to
participation rates; delay marriage and having children; and
education has been shown to increase women’s labor force
leaves women less vulnerable to violence. Other studies reveal
another parallel trend, across all sectors. Women's wages do
not rise as much and often fail to keep up with inflation
causing a drop in real wages.
As the world moves from capitalism into the era of talentism,
competitiveness on a national and on a business level is
determined by the innovative capacity of a country or a
company. In this new context, the integration of women into
the talent pool is a prerequisite.
In the recent decades, women have increased their footprint in
higher-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men, such as
professional and managerial positions; women are offered
lower remuneration relative to their share of the workforce.
To further ensure the flow of women empowerment, the Equal
Pay Platform launched by ILO and UN Women is promoting
awareness of good practices for eradicating gender inequality
in wages, including legislation and mechanisms for dispute
resolution; measures to advance women's leadership; wage
transparency; and access to data on wages and other benefits
disaggregated by gender, ethnicity, and migrant status.
Much of this gap has been explained by
measurable factors such as educational
attainment, occupational segregation and work
experience. The narrowing of the gap is
attributable in large part to gains women have
made in each of these dimensions.
Often the miracle of motherhood is considered
an exploit in women’s career paths and has an
impact on future payrolls. A survey of workers
who had taken parental, family or medical
leave in the two years prior to the survey found
that mothers typically take more time off than
fathers after birth or adoption. The median
length of leave among mothers after the birth
or adoption of their child was 11 weeks,
compared with one week for fathers.
While decision-making remains
overwhelmingly dominated by men, women’s
representation in parliaments has more than
doubled from 11 percent in 1995, but men still
hold three quarters of seats. Men also hold 73
percent of management positions and are 70
percent of climate negotiators. Dr Shirin
Sharmin Chaudhury was appointed as the first
woman Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad in April
2013.
With the power harnessed, women are claiming
space and taking on leadership roles not only
in feminist organizations. They are involving
themselves in movements concerning social
justice, making the connections between
gender equality, climate justice, workers’
rights, racial equality and gender biasness.
Women as human rights defenders and
activists often face hostility, physical attacks,
harassment and intimidation. With limited
access to education and healthcare, women
under-represented and undervalued in a unit, USAID’s agricultural mechanization activities have also
lack economic autonomy and are
family or society. The progress that has been
trained women as local service providers for such agricultural
made towards gender equality over the past
quarter of a century, though slow and gradual, equipment as reapers and power tillers.
The climate crisis reminds us of the need for alternative
however significant and hopefully positive in
the upcoming years. development pathways and solutions. Scaling up investments
in the care economy and ensuring that women benefit from
Legal reform, strengthening gender-responsive
social protection and public service delivery, new green jobs is crucial for such pathways to succeed.
Additionally, experts suggest that women are more likely to
quotas for women’s representation, and
support for women’s movements are all become technology savvy as the future of businesses is
strategies that have made a difference and technology dependent.
should be scaled up to the specific According to a World Economic Forum report, women across
requirements aiding and abetting women to the economic spectrum are more vulnerable than men to lose
their jobs to technology and their jobs remain at risk of job
accommodate their ventures. automation more than men.
BRAC and other beneficiary organisations such
as USAID are promoting economic growth Given the present scenario, the 2030 Agenda is clear: Gender
while increasing women entrepreneurs. There equality and the empowerment of all women and girls is a
is an increasing number of women goal in itself (Sustainable Development Goal 5) as well as a
entrepreneurs and retailers selling farming catalyst for the achievement of all the other goals. Ultimately,
tools and supported a women entrepreneurs’ development will only be sustainable if its benefits accrue
equally in the society regardless of gender orientation.
boot camp for 80 female agro-entrepreneurs.