We wish and congratulate all the women on earth on this International Women’s Day 2020 #EachforEqual. Women’s day always brings a special message to us that man should always treat a woman as his equal in all aspects. Gender equality is strongly visible in developed countries. But in a developing country like Bangladesh or other least and lower developing countries, inequality between man and woman is strongly felt. Being a third world’s country, women in present Bangladesh are enjoying much more equality than other countries. But the struggle for this equality started in the hand of Begum Rokeya more than a hundred years ago. I have a post on her here. In this post, I will try to figure out the present situation of Bangladeshi women in the context of empowerment. To find it out I will highlight some important sectors of Bangladesh through which you will get an overall idea of the empowerment of women in Bangladesh.
1 Politics:
Photo of some female MPs of present Bangladesh Parliament.
Politics plays a vital role in the third world’s countries, especially in South Asian countries. It plays a vital role in our society and day to day lives. In this context, Bangladeshi women are very lucky and enjoying the full facilities. From 1991 to today Bangladesh got women as the prime minister. Not only the Prime Minister (Sheikh Hasina) is a woman but also the chairman (Begum Khaleda Zia) of the largest opposition party is a woman and the leader (Rowshan Ershad) of the opposition party in the parliament is also a woman. So far you just got an idea at the top-level position in our political field. In our present parliament, 22 women were elected directly which is a record for Bangladesh. With the preserved 30 MP’s we have now 52 female MPs in our parliament. As a third world country having so many female MPs in the national parliament is definitely a positive side in the empowerment of women in Bangladesh. We have many more women members in our various local government sectors. So women in Bangladesh playing the top role in the field of politics.
2 Defense
Top: Four female Lt. Colonel. Bottom: First Female Major general. Air Force peacekeeping member in D.R Congo
After 1991 things started to change in Bangladesh. A lot of sectors were getting active women to increase the efficiency of that sector. The defense sector is one of them. Earlier a few women were recruited in armed forces. But after 1991 a lot of decisions were taken for the empowerment of women and as a result, they started to join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police and other departments of armed forces. As a result in 2018, Susane Giti became the first female Major General in Bangladesh Army. In 2019 four women were made the Commanding Officer in the Army for the first time in the history of Bangladesh. They were promoted to Lieutenant Colonel from Major. Bangladesh Air Force started recruiting female officers in 2000 and now it has female pilots. In 2018 Flight Cadet Riana Azad received the “Sword of Honor” for her all-round performance as a flying cadet. She is the first women in Bangladesh to achieve this honor. And the Navy has female officers. Female members from Bangladesh Armed Forces are now working in various countries under the UN peacekeeping programs. Bangladesh Police recruited the first uniformed female police in 1976. A survey in 2015 revealed that 6.03% of police members in Bangladesh were women. That number has definitely increased now. At present 157 Bangladeshi female officers are working under the UN peacekeeping missions. We have some brave female freedom fighters who fought during our liberation war in 1971.
3 Education
Girls students after the Public Examination Result (HSC-2019)
Girls doing something better in the education sector. During the last Higher Secondary Certificate examination girls’ average pass rate, in all 10 education boards, is 69.72% which is 5.84% higher than the boys pass rate of 63.88%. In 2018 it was 70.43% for girls and 68.61% for boys. A total of 680, 848 boys and 607,909 girls sat for the examination. The literacy rate in youth (15-24) female is 94.91% and youth (15-24) male 91.8% as a survey here. The percentage of female students in institutions is increasing rapidly and in some cases surpassed the male students. In short female students are doing better.
4 Employment and Economic Field
Top: Female workers in a Garment Factory. Bottom: Percentage of female employment.
The female employment rate is increasing by 4.4% every year in Bangladesh which more than double the growth rate of the working-age population. We can see a significant number of female employees in various sectors in Bangladesh. If we say about the apparel sector, 3.2 million female workers work in this sector out of the total 4 million. Not only had this, the present president of the BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association) is a female, Dr. Rubana Huq. The government has female quotas for the job in its various departments. Teaching, Health, Apparel are three major sectors where females are working hugely in Bangladesh. Females in Bangladesh have become empowered through their financial contributions and they can now participate to make a decision with the male members of the family. “Participation of any type of economic activities makes women empowered”. This is true for Bangladesh. Women are actively doing business in Bangladesh. They are running small to big scale manufacturing and service-related companies including Banks and others.
And Connect Forum:
The connect forum has two moderators from Bangladesh. And both of them are women. I congratulate @SoniaK and @SumaiyaZafrin on this special day for representing Bangladesh in this world forum.
I like to invite some of my female friends to read this long post: @Ant_Bad_Yogi @OlgaKlimchik @Nyainurjanah
Photo credit and References:
http://www.councilwomenworldleaders.org/sheikh-hasina.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaleda_Zia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Opposition_(Bangladesh)
https://www.worldpulse.com/community/users/umme-mahbuba/posts/3295
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/
https://www.afd.gov.bd/un-peacekeeping/female-participation
https://rupayon.com/hsc-result-dhaka-board/
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Bangladesh/Female_labor_force_participation/
Love you 
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