The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics

In Bangladesh women are engaged in a variety of economic activities ranging from homestead based expenditure saving activities to outside paid work. However, women's work always remains under reported, especially women’s non‐market homestead based economic activities. Under reporting is particularly critical in the case of official statistics. The types of work women are involved in are often overlooked by women themselves. Non recognition of women's economic activity not only leads to undervaluation of women's economic contribution but also contributes to their lower status in society relative to men. This paper intends to explore why official statistics fail to enumerate the entirety of women's economic activity in Bangladesh. To do this, we used different definitions of economic activity (work) used by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to estimate women’s LFPR for women aged 15 and above in 69 villages of eight districts of Bangladesh. The study finds that the female LFPR ranges between 4% and 16 % in the eight districts when economic activity is defined in the narrowest sense, i.e. outside paid work in last 12 months. These rates become considerably higher (increases by 3‐16 folds) if market work inside the home is taken into account along with the paid work. If we further extend our definition to include women's expenditure saving activities in last 12 months, the rates rise further ranging from 55% to 82% in the eight districts. The paper argues that widely held beliefs regarding women’s work contribute to the under reporting of women’s economic activity by official statistics, in addition to data collection constraints in the field like inadequate time and work burden of investigators.Simeen MahmudSakiba Tasnee

The contested relationship between paid work and women’s empowerment: empirical analysis from Bangladesh

The debate about the empowerment potential of women’s access to labour market opportunities is a long-standing one but it has taken on fresh lease of life with the increased feminization of paid work in the context of economic liberalization. Contradictory viewpoints reflect differences in how empowerment itself is understood as well as variations in the cultural meanings and social acceptability of different kinds of paid work. Research on this issue in the Bangladesh context has not been able to address these questions because it tends to use very restricted definitions of work and narrow conceptualizations of empowerment. This paper uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative data from Bangladesh to explore this debate, distinguishing between different categories of work and using measures of women’s empowerment which have been explicitly designed to capture the specificities of local patriarchal constraints

A Silver Lining: Women in Reserved Seats in Local Government in Bangladesh

The system of reserved seats with direct elections to local government bodies has been in place for women since 1997. This article investigates how perceptions have changed about the role of women representatives in local government. By exploring the accounts of women's views, experiences and how they negotiate various structural and attitudinal obstacles, and the changes in the wider sociopolitical context, the article shows that women representatives have gained greater voice and social legitimacy in representing specific types of‘women's issues.’These gains were partly a result of the supportive policy directives and mechanisms created by the state. Despite these gains, the centralised and andocentric nature of Bangladeshi government and politics may limit the transformatory potential of these changes

Three Essays on Development Economics

This thesis presents three self-contained essays on contemporary issues in development economics. The first essay examines the effects of non-financial incentives on volunteer tutors’ retention rates and performance. The second tries to understand the role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills of farmers in adoption of new agriculture technology. Finally, the third essay examines how competitiveness is related with the labour supply decision and labour market performance of shrimpers. Insights gained from this thesis will help formulating policies and programs for development of human resources, common pool resources and adoption of new technology

Determinants of Income of the Shasthya Shebikas: Evidences from a Pilot MNCH Initiative in the Nilphamari District of Bangladesh

A large number of new Shasthya Shebikas were recruited under the maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) program besides the existing ones. This study attempts to explore whether and how the income earning capability of the Shasthya Shebikas, both old and new, was affected due to this new initiative, with respect to Nilphamari district of Bangladesh. The study also brings out the determinants of income Shasthya Shebikas and also the motivation for their work in general. Findings revealed that the motivation to become a Shasthya Shebika was mainly financial though for some the opportunity to provide socially beneficial services was also important. With respect to a number of factors affecting the Shebika’s income, it can be found that the new Shebikas were in disadvantage as compared to the existing Shebikas who were working already in that area. [RED WP no.06]BRAC; Shasthya Shebika; Bangladesh; Nilphamari; maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) program; income; Shebika’s work; Shebika income.

Retention of female volunteer community health workers in Dhaka urban slums: A case-control study

This article was published in The Journal of Health Policy and Planning [©2012 Published by Oxford Journal] and the definite version is available at: http://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czr059 The Article's website is at: http://heapol.oxfordjournals.org/content/27/6/477Alam, K., Tasneem, S., & Oliveras, E. (2012). Retention of female volunteer community health workers in dhaka urban slums: A case-control study. Health Policy and Planning, 27(6), 477-486. doi:10.1093/heapol/czr059Introduction Volunteer community health workers (CHWs) are one approach to addressing the health workforce shortage in developing countries. BRAC, a large NGO in Bangladesh, is a pioneer in using female volunteer CHWs as core workers in its successful health programmes. After 25 years of implementing the CHW model in rural areas, BRAC is now using CHWs in urban slums of Dhaka through Manoshi, a community-based maternal and child health project. However, high dropout rates among CHWs in the slums suggested a need to better understand factors associated with their retention, and consequently recommend strategies for increasing their retention.Methods This mixed-method study included a case-control design to assess factors relating to the retention of volunteer CHWs, and focus group discussions (FGDs) to explore solutions to problems. In total, 542 current and 146 dropout CHWs participated in the survey. Six FGDs were held with groups of current and groups of dropout CHWs.Results Financial incentives were the main factor linked to CHW retention. CHWs who joined with the expectation of income were almost twice as likely to remain as CHWs. This finding was reinforced by the inverse association between wealth quintile of the CHWs and retention; the poorest CHWs were significantly more likely to stay in the programme than the richest. However, social prestige, community approval and household responsibilities were important non-financial factors associated with CHW retention. Restructuring and expansion of existing financial incentives to better compensate CHWs were recommended by CHWs to improve their retention.Conclusions Factors found to be important in this study are similar to those from earlier studies in rural areas. While the data indicate that financial incentives are the most commonly discussed factor regarding CHW retention in urban slums, the results also suggest other avenues that could be strengthened to improve their retention.Publishe

Does paid work provide a pathway to women's empowerment? Empirical findings from Bangladesh

The debate about the relationship between paid work and women’s position within the family and society is a long standing one. Some argue that women’s integration into the market is the key to their empowerment while others offer more sceptical, often pessimistic, accounts of this relationship. These contradictory viewpoints reflect a variety of factors: variations in how empowerment itself is understood, variations in the cultural meanings and social acceptability of paid work for women across different contexts and the nature of the available work opportunities within particular contexts. This paper uses a combination of survey data and qualitative interviews to explore the impact of paid work on various indicators of women’s empowerment ranging from shifts in intra-household decision-making processes to women’s participation in public life. It finds that forms of work that offer regular and relatively independent incomes hold out the greater transformative potential. In addition, it highlights a range of other factors that also appear to contribute to women’s voice and agency in the context of Bangladesh. Keywords: gender, paid work, empowerment, informalit