Home ›› 09 Mar 2023 ›› Governance
From the administration to the police to the judiciary, women now play varied roles in government jobs as they hold different positions from the top to the bottom of the hierarchy.
Women empowerment once only meant their participation in the family’s decision-making process. A very small number of female politicians were examples of empowerment in terms of steering a political party and leading the government. There were only a few female business owners who embodied financial independence.
But the meaning of women empowerment has changed over time. Compared to the past, women now have more agency to make decisions in the family as they are becoming more independent financially because of their involvement in income-generating activities, such as jobs and businesses.
Doing a government job was once a tough decision to make for a girl as it involves a lengthy process, but the country had 13,342 female cadres in the civil service till the middle of last year. Of them, 6,255 were working in healthcare, followed by 3,645 in general education, 1,257 in administration, and 277 in police, according to the data compiled by Bangladesh Civil Service Women Network (BCSWN).
Currently, 152 of 440 upazilas have female upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs). At least nine female officers are discharging duties as deputy commissioners (DCs) out of 64 posts. Also, nine female officers are working at the secretary level among 80 officials, which is the highest seniority level in the civil service, shows data of the Ministry of Public Administration.
The government in 2018 abolished the quota system for class-I (pay grade 9) and class-II jobs (pay grade 10 to 13) in the civil service, which earlier included a 10 per cent quota for female candidates. Despite that, more and more female candidates are getting government jobs by competing with their male counterparts.
According to the 2021 Statistic of Civil Officers and Staffs prepared by the public administration ministry, there were 15,54,927 government officials of all grades and 4,04,591 of them were females. In 2020, the number of female employees was 4,10,477, down from 4,14,412 in 2019.
The ministry said the number of qualified female candidates for different cadres is increasing. Of the successful candidates in the 38th general civil service examinations, 27 per cent were women. Also, in the 37th, 36th, and 35th examinations, females accounted for 25 per cent, 25 per cent, and 28 per cent of the posts in different cadres respectively.
Saila Farzana, secretary general of BCSWN and a joint secretary at the Ministry of Public Administration, said the number of highly educated women has gone up and women’s participation in competitive job examinations has increased correspondingly.
“If you compare women’s performance in academic exams starting from the secondary school certificate level, it is better than men. They are also performing well at the graduation and post-graduation levels. That is why more girls now want to take competitive recruitment tests,” she said.
She also said female officers now face less discrimination in their jobs compared to the past, adding they are promoted to higher posts in due time and assigned important tasks as well.
“But still female officials face some problems. For example, they have to balance their careers and their family lives where they have to do household chores.
“If a woman’s family members and colleagues cooperate, it is not a problem to maintain that balance. I will not say offices are 100 per cent women-friendly, but the situation is gradually improving,” she added.
Saila further said there might have been some isolated incidents where women have not received co-operation in their offices but those mainly happened due to behavioural problems of their colleagues.
“If there was a completely hostile situation, many women would leave their jobs. But as you can see, they are not doing that,” she added.
The government official urged more women to have jobs, suggesting they keep the civil service at the top of their priority list.
“Many meritorious female students hesitate to take competitive government job exams, fearing that the types of duties we perform will not suit them. But believe me, this profession is challenging but lucrative. The civil service is a place where you can serve the common people directly. The country needs qualified women in greater numbers here,” Saila explained.
Shamima Begum, deputy inspector general of police and joint secretary general of BCSWN, said female police officials are better managers nowadays.
“They maintain integrity in how they operate and what they demand from their teams. They are well-disciplined and know what they need to do to set themselves up for success,” she said.
She also said female police members are coping with the challenges they face while working in the force.
“Getting comfortable and confident enough to challenge ideas when needed as well as learning with grace but firmly saying ‘no’ will help you set boundaries. Saying ‘no’ does not come easy to many of us, me included,” Shamima said.
“Getting comfortable and confident to push back in the right way has been fundamental to my career success. This is the advice I would give – do not worry too much about setbacks. In hindsight, career failures often turn out to be opportunities in disguise,” she added.
