1|Page

Course Title : Human Research Management

Course Code : MKT-215
Topic : “Equal employment opportunity in Bangladesh: current
status , problems and prospect.”
Submitted To : Md Imran Hossain
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Marketing
Submitted By : Md Noman Siddik
Roll : 19 MKT 074
Session : 2018-2019
Semester : 3rd
Department : Department of Marketing
Submission Date :30/10/2020
2|Page

Contents
Keyword:......................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction: .................................................................................................................................... 4
Equal employment opportunity in Bangladesh - Current situation: ............................................... 5
Gender Inequality in employment: ............................................................................................. 5
Employment Status by Sex ......................................................................................................... 5
Unemployed Population by Sex.................................................................................................. 7
Problems behind unequal ................................................................................................................ 8
Structural and Social Institutions ................................................................................................ 8
Lack of Explicit Policy Initiatives .............................................................................................. 8
Preoccupied Mind-set ................................................................................................................. 8
Early Marriage ............................................................................................................................ 8
Job segregation............................................................................................................................ 8
Lack of legal protections ............................................................................................................. 9
Lack of bodily autonomy ............................................................................................................ 9
Poor medical care ........................................................................................................................ 9
Lack of religious freedom ........................................................................................................... 9
Lack of political representation ................................................................................................ 10
Racism....................................................................................................................................... 10
Prospect of equal employment opportunity in Bangladesh: ......................................................... 10
Recruitment and Selection ........................................................................................................ 11
Training and Career Development ............................................................................................ 11
Performance Appraisal.............................................................................................................. 11
Promotion.................................................................................................................................. 12
Participation of Girls in Technical and Vocational Training .................................................... 12
Conclusion: ................................................................................................................................... 13
References: .................................................................................................................................... 14

Table 1 Employment status by sex and residence .......................................................................... 6

Table 2 Annual growth rate in the percentage of employed population between 1993-94 and 2007
by sex .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Table 3 Unemployed population by sex ......................................................................................... 7
3|Page

Table 4 Annual growth rate of unemployed population by sex and residence from 1995-96 to 2009
......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Table 5 Female Enrollment in Technical and Vocational Education Institutions, 2012 .............. 12
4|Page

Abstract:

Equality of employment explains identical and fair reception of all equally qualified individuals in
the approach to, and the comfort of, all rights in public and private office. It is essential to ensure
that the female child has as much access to the resources and services provided by the government
or private organization as her male counterpart. It is therefore, desirable that the proportion of male
and female staff be equitably represented at program, and more importantly, at policy making
level. From the early days Bangladesh is suffering hugely due to unequal distribution of
employment. But day by day Bangladesh has adapted the inequality of employment to equality of
employment.

Keyword:
Equality, Employment, Equal opportunity, Job Opportunity.

Introduction:

“Equality” is a recurring and controlling theme in women’s rights discourse, though its universal
or accurate definition is yet to develop. At a similar time or in similar situation equality may require
different reception for different individuals to increase an equal result. Equality, as sharply
opposed to discrimination and unfair adversaries, in its simplest expression, signifies an equal
access to all benefits and opportunities guaranteed by the law. In another sense, equality might
refer to the relationship of men and women and to the ‘ways their roles are socially constructed’.
According to Article 29 of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh’s Constitution: -
 29. (1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in respect of employment or
office in the service of the Republic.
 (2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, be
ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office in the
service of the Republic.
 (3) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from –
(a) making special provision in favor of any backward section of citizens for the purpose of
securing their adequate representation in the service of the Republic;
(b) giving effect to any law which makes provision for reserving appointments relating to any
religious or denominational institution to persons of that religion or denomination;
(c) reserving for members of one sex any class of employment or office on the ground that it is
considered by its nature to be unsuited to members of the opposite sex.
5|Page

Equal employment opportunity in Bangladesh - Current situation:

Occupational inequality is the unequal behavior of people based on gender, sexuality, height,
weight, accent, or race in the workplace. When academician study runs in occupational inequality
they usually focus on distribution or allocation pattern of groups across occupations, for example,
the distribution of men compared to women in a certain occupation. Secondly, they focus on the
link between occupation and income, for example, comparing the income of whites with blacks in
the same occupation.

Gender Inequality in employment:

Empowerment of women and bringing them into the mainstream economic activities and ensuring
equal opportunity are the major targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as pursued by
the government of Bangladesh. However, there exists an immense inequality between the male
and female in Bangladesh as far as employment status is concerned. Participation of female in the
labor force can change the dynamics of the entire labor market which can steer the economy of the
country toward growth and development. Still, women are considered as physically weak and their
work is very much restricted within the house due to socio-cultural and religious conservation.
Furthermore, there is a huge lack of women friendly employment opportunities in the country.
Under these circumstances, there is a huge gender inequality in employment sector which is
growing as a grave concern. Although, there is some progress in the recent years but it is lower
than that of expected.

Employment Status by Sex

In 1993-94, employed male population was 57.5 percent and it was 10.6 percent for female at the
national level. The percentage of employed population for both male and female has decreased to
44.2 percent and 9.7 respectively in 1999-2000. This might be due to the beginning of the global
recession at that time period. Again, the percentage of employed male and female has increased to
68.3 percent and 22.9 percent in 2007 from 67.5 percent and 15.2 percent in 2004 respectively at
the national level. Furthermore, it is also observed that the increasing rate in the percentage of
employed population has occurred with a higher rate for female than that of male (Table 1). It
might be due to current price hike of essential commodities in the recent years, which makes it
difficult to handle the situation only with male income. However, female participation in
employment sector still very low as compared to male. Gender inequality also exists in
employment status by residence. It is found that gender inequality is quite severe in the rural area
than that of the urban area while, the growth rate of the rural employed female population is higher
than that of urban area. Both in rural and urban areas, female participation in employment sector
are very low. In 1993-94, the percentage of employed male and female population in rural area
was 57.7 percent and 9.8 percent respectively which has decreased to 41.5 percent and 8.5 percent
respectively in 1999-2000 and then it starts to increase (Table 1). However, the growth rate in the
6|Page

percentage of employed population is increasing for male and female during 1999-2000 to 2007
but, it is increasing with a decrease rate than that of the past, especially for male. There is also a
huge difference in the growth rate of the percentage of employed population between rural and
urban areas both for male and female.

Table 1 Employment status by sex and residence

Source: Calculation based upon BBS and BDHS data of different years
Although, the female participation in employment sector is comparatively lower than that of male
but the annual growth rate between 1993-94 and 2007 of female population is higher than the male.
Similar results are also found in case of rural and urban area. One of the possible reasons is that
the women are more aware and the society is becoming more liberal from the conservative points
of view.
Table 2 Annual growth rate in the percentage of employed population between 1993-94 and 2007 by sex

Source: Calculation based upon BBS and BDHS data

7|Page

Unemployed Population by Sex

Although there is little progress in the percentage of economically active population, the number
of populations who are unemployed are still increasing. Unemployed population has increased
from 1.3 million in 1995-96 to 2.7 million in 2009 with an average of 0.13 million per year. In
case of male, it has increased with an annual average of 0.06 million and for female it was 0.05
million at the same time period (1995-96 to 2009). Under these circumstances, providing employment
status for the country’s population remains a big challenge for the government.

Table 3 Unemployed population by sex

Source: Data compiled from BBS of different years

It is also observed that unemployed population in rural area was higher than their urban counterparts
both for male and female. One possible reason responsible for that is that in the rural areas, there are
no available job opportunities and people are mostly restricted to agriculture sector. In this situation,
balance development is badly needed, which remains quite overlook by most of the governments. In
1995-96, male unemployed population was 0.6 million and has increased to 1.3 million with an
increasing rate of 8.97 percent per year at rural areas whereas, it was 2.56 percent per year at urban
areas. On the other hand, female unemployed population has increased from 0.3 million in 1995-96 to
0.8 million in 2009 with an annual increasing rate of 12.82 percent in rural areas whereas it was 7.69
percent per year at urban areas (Table 3). It is also observed that female unemployed population has
increased at a faster rate than their male counterparts in both rural and urban areas.
Table 4 Annual growth rate of unemployed population by sex and residence from 1995-96 to 2009

Source: Calculation based on BBS data of different years

8|Page

Problems behind unequal

Although there are some initiatives taken by the government to address the problems of gender
inequality, the improvement in reducing gender inequality is not satisfactory due to several
reasons.

Structural and Social Institutions

Traditionally, women were often discouraged from participating in public life and were mainly
recognized only for their reproductive role. The social forces, which are creating gender
differentials, are based on the age-old patriarchal traditions and values that still prevail in most of
the parts of Bangladesh. Traditional perceptions about the role of women as home-makers still
persist.

Lack of Explicit Policy Initiatives

There are no effective policies to ensure women’s security at home, educational institutions, road,
organizations and the like. Increasing violence against women is now a grave concern. Under these
circumstances, parents are more likely to keep their girls inside their home. Hence, they are not
able to participate in education, health, employment or other sectors. Therefore, inequality is still
persisting.

Preoccupied Mind-set

There are perceptions that men are better off than women are as far as the ability to work is
concerned and only men can look after their parents. That is why girls are subject to discrimination
from their births. In addition, son preferences in the traditional Bangladeshi society create gender
discrimination. In the case of employment, the employers in Bangladesh still tend to employ men
first rather than women.

Early Marriage

Early marriage of girls is a very common phenomenon in Bangladesh. Early marriage is one of the
vital barriers to women’s and girls’ education, health and employment. Early marriage has
historically limited young women’s access to education and thereby to employment opportunities
as well as creating a vulnerable situation to their health.

Job segregation

One of the causes for gender inequality within employment is the division of jobs. In most
societies, there’s an inherent belief that men are simply better equipped to handle certain jobs.
9|Page

Most of the time, those are the jobs that pay the best. This discrimination results in lower income
for women. Women also take on the primary responsibility for unpaid labor, so even as they
participate in the paid workforce, they have extra work that never gets recognized financially.

Lack of legal protections

According to research from the World Bank, over one billion women don’t have legal protection
against domestic sexual violence or domestic economic violence. Both have a significant impact
on women’s ability to thrive and live in freedom. In many countries, there’s also a lack of legal
protections against harassment in the workplace, at school, and in public. These places become
unsafe and without protection, women frequently have to make decisions that compromise and
limit their goals.

Lack of bodily autonomy

Many women around the world do not have authority over their own bodies or when they become
parents. Accessing birth control is frequently very difficult. According to the World Health
Organization, over 200 million women who don’t want to get pregnant are not using contraception.
There are various reasons for this such as a lack of options, limited access, and cultural/religious
opposition. On a global scale, about 40% of pregnancies are not planned and while 50% of them
do end in abortion, 38% result in births. These mothers often become financially dependent on
another person or the state, losing their freedom.

Poor medical care

In addition to limited access to contraception, women overall receive lower-quality medical care
than men. This is linked to other gender inequality reasons such as a lack of education and job
opportunities, which results in more women being in poverty. They are less likely to be able to
afford good healthcare. There’s also been less research into diseases that affect women more
than men, such as autoimmune disorders and chronic pain conditions. Many women also
experience discrimination and dismissal from their doctors, broadening the gender gap in
healthcare quality.

Lack of religious freedom

When religious freedom is attacked, women suffer the most. According to the World Economic
Forum, when extremist ideologies (such as ISIS) come into a community and restrict religious
freedom, gender inequality gets worse. In a study performed by Georgetown University and
Brigham Young University, researchers were also able to connect religious intolerance with
women’s ability to participate in the economy. When there’s more religious freedom, an economy
becomes more stable thanks to women’s participation.
10 | P a g e

Lack of political representation

Of all national parliaments at the beginning of 2019, only 24.3% of seats were filled by women.
As of June of 2019, 11 Heads of State were women. Despite progress in this area over the years,
women are still grossly underrepresented in government and the political process. This means that
certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up – such as parental leave and childcare,
pensions, gender equality laws and gender-based violence – are often neglected.

Racism

It would be impossible to talk about gender inequality without talking about racism. It affects what
jobs women of color are able to get and how much they’re paid, as well as how they are viewed
by legal and healthcare systems. Gender inequality and racism have been closely-linked for a long
time. According to Sally Kitch, a professor and author, European settlers in Virginia decided what
work could be taxed based on the race of the woman performing the work. African women’s work
was “labor,” so it was taxable, while work performed by English women was “domestic” and not
taxable. The pay gaps between white women and women of color continues that legacy of
discrimination and contributes to gender inequality.

Prospect of equal employment opportunity in Bangladesh:

This section focuses on the application of EEO principle in the Bangladesh civil service. The
analysis must begin with an overview of the civil service system and its key institutions and
regulations that govern its internal management. The structure of government in Bangladesh and
its public service has evolved out of the system inherited from the British and Pakistani rule.
Despite various reforms undertaken since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971 the public service
in Bangladesh has retained many of the colonial and historical features in terms of it structure,
composition and operational management.
Structurally, all positions of the government in Bangladesh are grouped into four classes: Class I,
II, III, and Class IV. They are further sub-divided into cadre and non-cadre and gazette and non-
gazetted categories. All class I and most class II government servants are gazetted officers, while
non-gazetted officials belong to class III and class IV who mostly provide clerical and support
services to senior officials. Class I officers are also divided horizontally into 29 cadres, taking both
specialized and generalized functions, and vertically into six ranks ranging from Assistant
Secretary to Secretary (Zafarullah, 2000). Recruited usually through open competitive
examination class I officials are appointed to the rank of Assistant Secretary or its equivalent in
other cadres. Then officers are provided foundation training as well as some departmental training
along cadre lines.
11 | P a g e

Recruitment and Selection

Bangladesh largely follows a closed entry system in the civil service where class-I level officers
are recruited directly at the entry level through open competitive examinations into 29 cadre
services. Personnel are recruited under the Bangladesh Civil Service Recruitment Rules, 1982. The
Public Service Commission (PSC) is responsible for recruitment on the basis of equality of
opportunity as envisaged in the Constitution. It conducts all tests and examinations for selecting
suitable candidates for public service and is guided by the prevailing recruitment policy. The
interim recruitment policy adopted by the government in 1972 had introduced a quota system
seeking to achieve equitable representation of people of all districts in various services and posts.
It required retaining 40 percent quota for districts on the basis of population, 10 percent for war
affected women, 30 percent for freedom fighters and only 20 percent for merit.

Training and Career Development

Because of the deteriorating educational quality in general and growing concerns with the present
level of bureaucratic efficiency in particular, public service training has received a high priority in
Bangladesh. This has paved the way for the establishment of various training institutions and other
initiatives aimed at enhancing their capacity and effectiveness in public service training. A major
attempt to revamp the training delivery system and to synchronize the training programs run by
various institutions has led to the establishment of the Bangladesh Public Administration Training
Centre (BPATC) in 1984.
This represents a significant move in that three existing institutions namely the National Institute
of Public Administration (NIPA), Civil Officers Training Academy (COTA), and Bangladesh
Administrative Staff College (BASC) were amalgamated along with a major expansion terms of
physical facilities, logistics, staff, and programs.

Performance Appraisal

The performance in Bangladesh civil service is based on the routine system of Annual Confidential
Report (ACR) on the ability, productivity, and outlook of the officer. The ACR of an officer is
written by his superior and countersigned by another officer and serves as an important document
in one’s career (Miyan, 1992). But this appraisal system based on ACR has attracted strong
criticisms for its failure to uphold EEO in the public service. It is argued that the ACR inherently
favors the less qualified and it falls short of realistically measuring the levels of individual’s
performance.
12 | P a g e

Promotion

Different systems of promotions prevail in Bangladesh Civil Service for different ranks and
positions. While the promotion of junior staff is time based, under the BCS (Examination for
Promotion) Rules promotion at the Senior Assistant Secretary level is based on an examination
conducted by the PSC and on assessment of service records. For Deputy Secretary and above,
instead of examinations, an officer is promoted if he or she has satisfactory records of service and
recommendations from the Superior Selection Board.

Participation of Girls in Technical and Vocational Training

Girls are underrepresented in technical and vocational training. In 2012, there were 3,327 technical
and vocational education institutes in the country, and 27% of enrolled students were females
(Table 5). About one-fifth of teachers in these institutes were operation, and more recently
electronics. Boys are encouraged into mechanics, welding, electrical repair and maintenance, and
machine operation, which have high demand. A few trades are emerging as gender-neutral, e.g.,
mobile repairs, geoprocessing such as mushroom cultivation and processing, and computer repairs.
However, the streaming of girls into certain skills results in their being directed to certain
occupations, leading to sex-specific occupational segregation, along with its gender discrimination
in terms and conditions as well as pay.

Table 5 Female Enrollment in Technical and Vocational Education Institutions, 2012

13 | P a g e

Conclusion:
Although some sporadic steps have been taken at the policy level to reduce gender inequality in
different sectors but fruits of these steps have not been translated into reality because of the lack
of proper monitoring and implementation. Women consistently find themselves in low-status, low-
paying jobs with few opportunities for advancement. The results of this study indicate not only the
degree of gender inequality in different sectors (education, health and employment) but also its
pattern, which should be considered in formulating effective policies.
The study reveals that the progress in reducing gender inequality is occurring at a slower rate than
the previous years. The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women are crucial
to the development of sound population and development strategies and essential for sustainable
development. It will also be difficult to reach the MDGs targets unless serious efforts are
undertaken on the part of the government. It is quite evident that without addressing gender
inequality, the desired development may be unachievable.
Traditional attitudes and gender-stereotyped roles of women often prevent society as a whole to
recognize women’s equal rights in both private and public spheres. The underline structural factors
include not just poverty, but also a culture of acceptance, lack of effective community structures,
harmful practices, inappropriate and ineffective allocation and utilization of resources in the
context of a strong patriarchal society. Women are subjected to inequalities in the family, in the
community and in the work place. Discrimination against girls starts at birth and continue through
the lifecycle.
14 | P a g e

References:
Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics (BANBEIS). 2011, Enrollment by
Gender in Public Universities, 2009. Available at:
http://www.banbeis.gov.bd/webnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=465:enro
lment-by-gender-in-public-universities-2009&catid=78:university-education-2010&Itemid=186
[Access on: 11-12-2011]
Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), 1996-1997. National Institute of Population
Research and Training, Mitra and Associate, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Ministry of Planning. 2001, Preliminary Report on the Household Income and Expenditure Survey
(HIES) 2000, Dhaka: Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Planning Division, Government of
the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.
Ahmed, S. I. M. (2005). Separation of power in Bangladesh: The role of public administration.
Public Administration and Management, 10(4), 325–348.
Alam, S. M. S. (1995). The state, class formation and development in Bangladesh. Lanham, MD:
University Press of America.