The participation of female labour force in Bangladesh has been almost stagnant in the recent years, and it is actually on the wane in many major manufacturing and service sectors, researchers revealed.
New technology or innovation is often creating a negative impact on female employment intensity, they opined.
The findings were revealed at a dissemination event, organised by Asia Foundation in the capital on Thursday.
"Despite some progress, female labour force participation has been stagnant at around 33 per cent to 36 per cent during the period from 2010 to 2016-17," said Economist Professor Selim Raihan in his presentation on 'Female Employment Stagnation in Bangladesh'.
Using the firm-level data from the World Bank's (WB) Enterprise Survey of 2007 and 2013, Mr Raihan showed that female employment intensity has actually declined in some major sectors, including garments and textiles, in between the years 2007 and 2013.
"The overall female employment intensity has also declined from an average of 20.35 per cent in 2007 to 17.67 per cent in 2013."
"Findings of the WB survey also suggest a negative impact of innovation on firms' female employment intensity," said Mr Raihan, also the executive director (ED) of SANEM.
"Lack of required skill and education, lack of women-friendly machinery, social and workplace safety, and long working hours are often perceived as major detriments to female employment by firms and experts."
"Social norms, lack of transport facilities, and care burden are also perceived as major constraints for females," he added.
Reflecting on the scenario, speakers at the event called for better matchmaking between academic curriculum and labour market as well as recognition of unpaid household works done by women.
"Female labour force participation should be encouraged through tax rebate and cheaper credit facilities, while gender-friendly environment needs to be ensured at educational institutes and workplaces," the SANEM ED opined.
"Women's contribution in informal sector is productive and reproductive. We need to think of how to provide policy support that motivates and acknowledges such contribution," said Shaheen Anam, Executive Director of Manusher Jonno Foundation.
"We need to upscale the quality of our technical education, while the prevailing gender gap in tertiary education must be reduced," said Member of Planning Commission Dr. Shamsul Alam.
"We also need to find out ways for bringing the unpaid household work done by female workforce into our GDP calculation," he added.
Earlier, during a presentation on 'Strategies for Inclusive Growth in Cox's Bazar', the speakers called for improving the infrastructure of Cox's Bazar to fully tap its economic potentials.
"Cox's Bazar has huge untapped economic potentials in the areas of construction, tourism, fisheries and salt extraction," said Dr. Maria Quattri of Overseas Development Institute of the UK.
"But generating more productive employment and greater return on investment from these sectors requires public private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure development," she added.
"There is a significant lack of public infrastructure in Cox's Bazar, while the private infrastructure has not been developed in a planned manner," said Ms Shahin Anam.
"Wind energy is one particular area where Cox's Bazar has huge potentials," said Dr. Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank.
"Scaling up of tourism sector and salt extraction industry is critical for the development of Cox's Bazar, given their huge importance in the local economy," said Professor Mustafizur Rahman, Distinguished Fellow of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
Speakers at the event also called for leveraging more foreign investment in Cox's Bazar through quick implementation of the planned Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and leveraging the region's potentials in terms of Blue Economy.
Additional Secretary of Economic Relations Division Sultana Afroz and Professor of Department of Development Studies M Abu Eusuf also spoke on the occasion.
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