Status of Women in ICT in Bangladesh

Professor Dr. Suraiya Pervin Department of Computer Science & Engineering

University of Dhaka &

Vice President, Professionals Bangladesh Women in Technology (BWIT)

In Bangladesh, women play a central role in family

But they often remain invisible and unheard.

Women more than men have to balance the complexities of

surviving, yet they are excluded from discussion because :

•  They are often more illiterate.

•  They have relatively lower access to and control over resources

•  They have no economic independence

•  They lack confidence and mobility

General status of women in Bangladesh

(i)  Women’s increased access to job market (ii)  Improve entrepreneurship (iii)  Increase of average household income in villages (iv)  Women empowerment (v)  Shrinking information asymmetry (vi)  Improved governance (vii)  Easy-family communication (viii)  Increase social awareness

ICT offers the opportunities for direct, interactive communication even by those who lack skills, who are illiterate and lack mobility. Here are some aspects of life which have a direct influence of ICT especially on women:

Role of ICT

ISSUES

But still now, the participation of women in ICT is very

low in Bangladesh.

Topics of discussion:

•  Status of women in ICT in Bangladesh.

•  Reasons of their very poor presence.

•  Recommendations.

Women in IC T academic sector

At present, in the faculty of engineering & technology,

DU, the number of female teachers is 15%

In Engg. departments of BUET, less than 5%

In other public universities 10% -20%

In private universities 10% -25%

Number of girl students is 10% – 20%

Girls in Programming & other contests

Very poor presence (almost 5%)

Among top 20 teams, number of girls is only 2%

In other ICT related contests the scenario is almost same

Women in ICT job sectors

Number of female executives: 10% Number of female senior executives:

•  In Bangladesh Bank : 1

•  In Microsoft, Bangladesh : 1

•  In DELL, Bangladesh : 1

•  In Airtel : 1

Women as ICT entrepreneurs

As women entrepreneurs,

26 are involved in Software Companies of BASIS

(Bangladesh Association of Software and Information

Services) members (597)

Only 4.36%.

Women as ICT freelancers

Online work appeals to women for three main reasons:

•  The diversity of projects provides more learning opportunities

•  It enables women to spend more time at home with family

•  It's easier to find jobs online than compete for a full-time job

In Bangladesh:

Total Freelancer : almost 1 Lakh

Active freelancer : 20 Thousands

Female freelancer : 25% where worldwide the figure is 48%.

Area of job specially for women : Web design, search engine

optimization (SEO), call center agent, email management etc.

Average income per month : $200

Highest income per month : $3000 (very few)

Women as ICT freelancers contd…

Women as ICT users

•  Mobile phones are widely used by women for personal

communication and financial transactions.

•  Young women use mainly social networks

•  Few senior women use internet to communicate with

their children stay abroad

Status of women in ICT

•  Most of the female students score high grades.

•  They get jobs through open competition.

•  Most of them prefer teaching. Otherwise, they choose

corporate jobs.

•  There is no salary discrimination

•  Most of the women are very sincere

But unfortunately, their drop out rate is very high

•  Social concept about women :

§  Women are less intelligent.

§  They are not very active.

§  They are weak in mathematics.

§  Engineering profession is not suitable for them (because of

field study, lack of self employment)

§  Teaching and medical professions are the most suitable for

them (As a result, many women suffers technology phobia.).

Reasons of poor presence

•  Social concept about women :

§  Her primary duty is to maintain family. Career is secondary.

§  If conflict arises between career and family then

carrier must be sacrificed

§  A lady should not be careerist / professional

§  Sexual harassment may occur in work place

Reasons of poor presence contd

•  Family responsibility :

Children care

Senior members and patients care

Satisfy demands of relatives

Manage house maids

Cooking, cleaning etc. Only superwomen can maintain all sides equally

Reasons of poor presence contd

•  Job drop out rate is very high because of:

§  Marriage and children

§  Accompanying husbands to other places or abroad

In the present social structure, it is very difficult for a mother to adjust with deadline based working culture

Reasons of poor presence contd

•  Responsibility about children §  In our society, mothers are responsible to meet all the

requirements of a baby (many times they have to bear financial responsibility also).

§  Earning money is the only duty of fathers.

§  For children, many women

Do not avail higher degrees or promotion

Many quit their job.

Reasons of poor presence contd

Tragedy of women

As a result:

Many women become patients of various psychosomatic disorders

Sometimes they are madly running after children’s career which becomes a torture to them

Tragedy of women contd

•  For a highly paid unmarried woman, it is very

difficult for her to select a life partner.

•  Grownup children very often recognize

mother’s sacrifice

National Loss

•  In reputed universities number of seats are very limited. So

every student gets admission through very tough competition.

•  For each public university student, government provides a

significant subsidy ( 1,00,000 BDT per year).

•  If a large number of these students can not provide service it

is a big national loss.

The survey discovered that the following attributes are very important for information security persons: •  Communication skills •  Broad understanding of the security field •  Awareness and understanding of the latest security threats •  Technical knowledge •  Security policy formulation and application •  Leadership skills •  Business management skills 

Gender gap: Why information security needs more women By Michael Kassner in IT Security, November 4, 2013

A recent survey

A recent survey contd

Recommendations

•  To convert the dream of digital Bangladesh into a reality,

huge manpower is needed. Present manpower will not be

sufficient to meet the requirement.

•  It is not possible to proceed without active participation

of women.

To encourage women, we need to take some steps

Recommendations contd

•  Change the mind-set of boys and girls.

Superiority complex grows in boys’ mind-set.

On the other hand girls are suffering in inferiority complex because of:

§  Discrimination in family

§  Discrimination in academic curriculum

§  Discrimination in media

•  Encourage girls to be professional : She has to realize that professionalism is a virtue.

Her career is as important as her husband’s or brother’s

career.

•  Improve working environment : Arrange separate fresh rooms in every office,

Provide transports, specially at night.

Should be careful about sexual harassment.

Recommendations contd

•  Parents must share the responsibility of the kids equally.

Society and State should provide support for that.

•  Six months maternity leave is not a solution.

It has already created other issues. In many sectors,

employment of girls is unofficially discouraged.

•  Setup child care center in every office should be mandatory.

•  Setup schools for whole day with extra-curricular activities.

Recommendations contd

Recommendations contd

•  Dispel stereotypes that boys are better than girls in

technical subjects.

•  Celebrate more women in technology and science

•  Set female role models in technology related careers.

•  Provide mentoring support for women

•  Include gender related issues in national ICT policy

•  Organize special ICT training programs for women

•  Increase the number of seats at undergraduate and

graduate levels in CSE and ICT related departments

•  Create awareness of the opportunities in ICT amongst

school and college girls and their parents

•  Universities and companies should encourage girls to

become interested in science, engineering and technology

Recommendations contd

M. J. Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet, asked in ‘Masnavi’ “What is the wing of a person?” The answer is “only aspiration” But from the very childhood, family and social environment try to destroy aspiration of a woman As a result, she becomes a bird with broken wings

References

•  ww1.ucmss.com/books/LFS/CSREA2006/EEE4168.pdf

•  www.techrepublic.com/...security/gender-gap-why-information-...

•  https://www.elance.com/q/women-in-technology

Thanks to All