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Gender
Equality in Bangladesh According to MDGs Progress Report |
Gender
Equality
The third
goal is to
Promote Gender Equality
and Empower Women.
(Goal 3 in Bangla)
Target
& Indicators
Target:
Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably
by 2005 and to all levels of education no later than 2015.
Indicators:
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Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
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Ratio of literate females to males of 15-24 year olds
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Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
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Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament
To ensure gender parity
in education levels under MDG 3, Bangladesh will have to increase the
female:male participation ratio at tertiary levels from 36:64 to 50:50.
Situation Analysis
Gender disparity is a reflection of complex social, cultural, and economic
issues. While some improvement in gender equality has been achieved in
sectors such as education, health and family welfare, labour and employment,
and democratic participation, in Bangladesh true empowerment is still a
distant goal.
Education
Female share in primary school
shows an increasing trend since 1992 reaching a ratio of 48:52 in 2002 for
female to male primary school enrolment rate. Under present demographic
trends arising from the existing sex ratio in the population, this is the
optimum possible ratio, and the challenge now is to maintain the momentum
until 2015 and beyond. The largest disparity exists at the tertiary level of
education. Although female:male ratio has improved from 25:75 in the 1990s
to 36:64 in 2002, much remains to be done to achieve 50:50 distribution by
2015.
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Status at a Glance
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Disparity in
Education
Health
In the health sector, women’s status compares
unfavourably with that of men. Although the life expectancy gap between men
and women has narrowed over the last decade, Bangladesh continues to be
amongst the very few countries in the world where women’s life expectancy is
lower1 than that of men: in 1990, life expectancy at birth was 56.4 years
for males; 55.4 years for females. The maternal mortality rate, estimated to
be in the range 320 to 400 per 100,000 live births in 2001, is among the
highest in Asia. Pregnancy-related problems, including early and frequent
pregnancies, are among the major causes of these phenomena.
Violence Against Women
Violence often arises from the
subordinate position of women in relevant socioeconomic, legal and cultural
contexts. Although the Bangladesh Constitution guarantees equality and equal
protection for all citizens, the principle is often severely curtailed with
respect to women’s rights. Thus, women continue to face various forms of
violence, harassment and humiliation, one particularly vicious and damaging
form of violence being acid attacks which have traumatic consequences,
scarring the victims physically, psychologically, and socially for life. The
overwhelming majority of the victims are women, and nearly half are below
eighteen years of age. Like other forms of violence and discrimination, acid
violence arises from the broader problem of the low social and economic
status of women.
Economic Disparity
There is substantial gender
disparity in the economic area. Although employment opportunities for women
have increased in the last decade or so, especially in industries such as
the urban-based, export-oriented, readymade garment factories, construction,
ceramics, and the informal sector, a social perception persists that women
should remain in the household looking after children, cooking food,
cleaning and fetching water and fuel.
Steps taken by the
Government to promote women’s economic equality include the withdrawal of a
ban on women’s employment abroad3, building capacity in the newly
established Ministry of Manpower Development and Export for providing
security to women workers, and introducing a 60 percent quota in the
recruitment of primary school teachers.
Disparity in the
Political Field
There are currently only six women
parliamentarians in the 300-seat National Parliament of Bangladesh. The
provision in the Constitution for 30 reserved seats for women lapsed in
2001. It was replaced by the introduction of the Fourteenth Amendment in the
Constitution which reserves 45 seats for women in proportion to
parliamentary representation. This Amendment, which will increase the total
parliamentary seats to 345. The situation is slightly better in the case of
local government. Twenty five percent of the members in the Union Parishads
(Councils)4, the City Corporation and Pourashava (municipality) are women
who have been directly elected to the local bodies.
Challenges
In spite of the many initiatives undertaken in Bangladesh, progress in the
area of gender equality and women’s advancement remains limited. Expanded
policy interventions with effective implementation; awareness building at
family, institution and community levels; and better follow-up and
intensified efforts for integrating gender dimensions in different programme
areas are needed. Complementary efforts by civil society are crucial to the
improvement of women’s status at the grassroots level.
..... More
Articles /
Reports on Gender
Equality & MDGs
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Bangladesh MDG Progress Report 2005 Goal-3
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Millennium Development Goals
national reports a look through a gender lens
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Gender millennium development
goals the & Millennium Development Goals
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