It is encouraging to note that the government has undertaken a new project for economic empowerment of the women labour force by increasing their skills so that they can contribute to the country’s national economic growth. The Ministry of Education and the International Labour Organization (ILO), Bangladesh jointly launched the project titled ‘Promoting Gender Responsive Enterprise Development and TVET Systems (ProGRESS)’ aimed at building a foundation for inclusive skill system for women. It is envisaged that the project will make remarkable impact on the government’s plan towards achieving gender equality in Bangladesh.
Over the last decade under the able leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh has become a role model for women empowerment in the world. Half of the population of Bangladesh is women and their economic participation has increased remarkably over the past decade. The incumbent government has been working relentlessly to ensure and enhance women’s participation in all the sectors.
Women’s contribution to
Bangladesh’s progress
in different areas is
indispensable
Whether it is, business, engineering, media, aviation, sports or handicraft women have set their foothold in every field of work or profession. Women in Bangladesh are leading from the front in the country’s sustainable development. Representation of girls in high school level is similar to that of boys. But at the higher education level, this scenario is quite discouraging. Hence, a lot more needs to be done if we want to see our women climbing the socio-economic ladders side by side with their male counterparts.
It is disconcerting to note that still a section of people in our society has a perception that women are less empowered than men. Hitherto rape, sexual harassment, wage discrimination, domestic violence and social discrimination against women are common phenomena in Bangladesh. Still in many spheres of life we encounter gender discrimination.
Therefore, being vocal about gender discrimination and violence against women has become a part of our social responsibility. Women’s contribution to Bangladesh’s progress in different areas is indispensable. In order to sustain the tempo of current progress of Bangladesh, women’s participation in all sectors is inevitable.
In order to make this country self-reliant, pragmatic measures are needed to be taken to empower women. In this regard, necessary steps should be taken to remove all kinds of barriers and discrimination that prevent women from realising their full potential. Also, participation of women needs to be enhanced and reinforced in decision making processes.
