Women’s inclusion in labour market essential for sustainable growth

Business Report :

Experts said that it was not possible to ensure sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Bangladesh unless women’s financial empowerment in the labour market is strengthened.

They said that in recent years, due to structural fragmentation of the labour market, the spread of informality and the increase in the burden of unpaid household and service work of women, women’s participation in the labour force has been decreasing at an alarming rate, which is a policy warning signal for the national economy, according to press release.

The speakers made these remarks at a seminar titled “Women’s Financial Empowerment in Bangladesh: A Labour Market Perspective” organized by the Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) and Eden Women’s College at the Eden Women’s College Auditorium in the capital on Wednesday.

During the keynote address at the seminar, Dhaka University’s pro-vice-chancellor (administration) and professor of economics Saima Haque Bidisha said that although there has been progress in women’s labour market participation in the past decade, that trend has stalled in recent times.

She mentioned the declining labour market participation of women, especially in urban areas, as very worrying. She said that although women in Bangladesh are mainly engaged in agriculture and the informal sector, their participation in management and decision-making positions is very limited.

In addition, a high rate of women is in the ‘neither education, nor employment, nor training’ (Neet) status. Although women spend a large amount of time on unpaid household and care work, it is not reflected in the national income.

Highlighting the data from the BBS’s quarterly labour force survey, Prof Bidisha said that the labour force participation rate of women was 46.59 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2023, which decreased to 42.40per cent in the same period of 2024.

At the same time, the total labour force of women has decreased from 25.3 million to 23.7 million.
According to her, the patriarchal structure of the labour market, social control, lack of childcare facilities, insecurity in the workplace, and the additional pressure of unpaid household and service work are the main obstacles to women’s labour market participation.

One of the biggest obstacles to women’s empowerment is the failure to properly include women in the mainstream economy, said Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at the event.

Prof Mahbub Ullah, convener of the Bangladesh Economic Association, said that increasing women’s labour market participation is not only a matter of social justice, but it is also a fundamental condition for the productivity and sustainable development of the national economy.

He called for labour law reform, women-friendly working hours, safe transportation, and strict regulations to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace, and easy-to-use loans and digital training for women entrepreneurs.
Fahmida Khatun, executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said that one of the biggest obstacles to women’s financial empowerment is not properly including women’s contribution in the mainstream economy.

The decline in women’s participation in the labour market is a reflection of a structural crisis, which demands integrated policy interventions. Prof Mohammad Helal Uddin, member secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association and executive vice chairman of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA), said that although microcredit increases women are financial inclusion, only access to credit is not enough.