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A 10 percentage point increase in the country’s female labour force employment can increase the GDP growth by 3.1 per cent, a survey of South Asian Network on Economic Modeling and World Vision Bangladesh says.
The study said that if they took 2021 GDP figure into account, such an increase in female labour employment would have resulted in an additional $11.3 billion in the economy.
According to Bangladesh Bureau Statistics Labour Force Survey 2016-17, female labour force participation stood at 36.3 per cent, while the male rate was 80.5 per cent.
The SANEM-WVB study did not find any significant relationship between GDP growth and female (or male employment) in the short run. It said female employment has a significant and positive relationship with economic growth in the long run.
The information was revealed at a webinar titled ‘Role of Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bangladesh Economy’ on Sunday.
SANEM Research Director Prof Dr Sayema Haque Bidisha of Dhaka University’s economics department, and SANEM Research Economist Mahtab Uddin, lecturer of economics at DU, presented the findings in the webinar.
The surveyed districts include Barishal, Chattogram, Dhaka, Satkhira, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur and Sunamganj. It used both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection. This survey was conducted on women aged 15 and above across 850 households.
Mahtab said the study's primary objective was to understand the overall scenario of women economic empowerment in Bangladesh based on the evaluation of the programmes of WVB and quantify the relationship between women’s economic empowerment (WEE) and GDP.
Dr Bidisha said,” Sustainable development goals cannot be achieved without improving the socio-economic condition of women, and so investing in WEE can be considered an essential strategy for Bangladesh’s development.
“The government, NGOs and various development partners have been playing an important role in women’s empowerment in our country. Economic empowerment means creating opportunities for women to join the labour force and helping them enter the labour market.”
The study suggests that given the covid context, a strong measure is needed from the government for containing school dropouts. An increase in the primary and secondary school stipend rates could work as an effective tool. Besides, it should take workplace safety and affordable public transport for women into account with priorities.
The study also suggested that effective monitoring and enforcement of daycare services laws is crucial. The government can consider introducing a daycare voucher system in the existing salary structure as an alternative to mandatory daycare policy.
The study compared the beneficiary and the non-beneficiary households and found that while 81.9 per cent of 15-49-year-old men earn, only 34.4 per cent of women do the same. Also, the percentage of earning, beneficiary and non-beneficiary women is 44.01 per cent and 34.84 per cent, respectively. In terms of savings, the study shows that 63.7 per cent of beneficiaries and 42.9 per cent of non-beneficiary earning women save parts of their earnings.
Moreover, the beneficiary women have more literacy on financial issues than the non-beneficiary women aged 15 and above. While 42.5 per cent of the beneficiary women have formal bank and/or mobile bank accounts, only 28.4 per cent of the non-beneficiary women have the same.
The study said that the development partners could work with the government to undertake pilot initiatives addressing mental health and psychological issues. Besides, the private sector should also contribute to ensuring equal employment opportunities for women. They could also encourage more participation of women in taking up their dealership deals, or work as distribution agents, etc. Engaging women in such non-traditional works can increase female employment by several folds.
Suresh Bartlett, National Director, World Vision Bangladesh said, "Despite having female leadership at the country's highest level, we are still lagging behind at the smaller scale.”
He further stated that studies and researches must be conducted regarding this matter and the findings of such studies should be implemented at a macro level.
Mosammat Nasima Begum, Member (Secretary), Socio Economic Infrastructure Division, Ministry of Planning; Gunjan Dallakoti, SME Development Specialist of ILO Office, Dhaka; Dr Sanzida Akhter, Associate Professor, Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Dhaka; Laila Farzana, Senior Category Head (Marketing), Unilever Bangladesh; Mehzabin Ahmed, Programme Coordinator, UN Women Bangladesh were the esteemed panelists of the session. Dr Selim Raihan, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka and Executive Director of SANEM also participated in the webinar.
