Women deprived despite rising participation in business

Sharmin Rahman, a home decor and baking sector entrepreneur, started her business using personal savings as capital. Her supportive husband wanted to help but she did not take money from him.

“I did not take his money because what would I say if my business suffered losses? And I did face losses at one point but I managed to recover,” she told The Business Post.

She said the path of female entrepreneurs is not so easy compared to males. Many times obstacles come from the family.

She thinks that the number of women who get family support like her is negligible in the country. There are also many obstacles to raising capital from banks.

“Women have less property ownership. In many cases, they do not own any property at all. As a result, getting a bank loan is not as easy for a woman as it is for a man,” she added.

There are many women who are still deprived of equal opportunities as men, despite increased participation in many sectors now compared to three decades ago. The participation of women in education, employment, and business has increased along with men in Bangladesh. It is also reflected in the global index.

In South Asia, Bangladesh ranks the top in the gender gap index. However, among 146 countries in the world, Bangladesh’s position is 71st with a score of 0.714, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 by World Economic Forum (WEF).

Among the South Asian countries, Nepal’s position is 96th with a 0.692 score, Sri Lanka 110th with a 0.670 score, Maldives 117th with a 0.648 score, Bhutan 131st with a 0.632 score, India 135th with a 0.629 score, Pakistan 145th with score 0.564 and Afghanistan is at 146th position with a 0.435 score.

In terms of enrolment in secondary education and sex ratio at birth, Bangladesh’s position is first among 146 countries in the world. Besides in terms of political empowerment, our country’s position is 9 while Sweden’s position is 10, according to the report.

But in terms of economic participation and opportunity, Bangladesh’s position, better than India and Pakistan, is among the 10 worst countries.

Bangladesh’s position is 141st out of 146 countries, while Afghanistan ranks last. India and Pakistan’s positions respectively are 143rd and 145th.

The WEF report mentioned that women’s participation as high officials, labourers, and professional and technical workers is comparatively lower in the world.

The report said firms with female majority ownership are only 1.7 per cent and firms with female top managers are only 4.8 per cent.

Besides, according to “The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs- MIWE 2022”, in the eight lowest-ranked economies, women’s ability to thrive as business owners, leaders, and professionals remains constrained by the lack of funding and opportunities for higher-level education, as well as structural barriers.

This is observed in the economies of Jordan, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Iran, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s position was 65th among the 65 countries selected in the report. The top country was the USA.

The MIWE’s results showed women in the Middle Eastern and African economies (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar) and some Asian economies (Bangladesh, India, and Japan) continue to lag their global peers in their ability to advance professionally as business leaders, professionals or technicians.

The above data published by WEF and MIWE makes it clear that although the participation of women in various sectors in Bangladesh has increased, there is a lack of equity and equal opportunities in strengthening their position economically.

In this context, women business leaders and economists pointed out several issues, including women’s lack of skills, banks’ reluctance to provide capital, and lack of monitoring over the implementation of policy benefits.

Sangita Ahmed, Senior Vice President of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said in order to do business in the formal market, women need to know the accounting system, open a bank account, and have a trade license and TIN number even if she has no taxable income.

“But in these areas, they have a lack of skill. We, the women chamber, try to facilitate women to increase their skill,” she added.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, research director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling, said, “Obtaining trade license and access to bank loans are the biggest challenges for women entrepreneurs.”

She suggested introducing temporary trade licenses and new loan products for small women entrepreneurs.

“Bangladesh Bank should provide incentives introducing new loan products, as the banks will be encouraged,” she added.