Women own 2.8pc business in BD: ILO
1.8pc women have bank credit access
FE Report | Thursday, 16 May 2019
Women's participation is limited to 10 per cent of the total business in the country, whereas only 2.8 per cent of the business is owned by women, a project study of the International Labor Organization (ILO) found.
Some 26.6 per cent women have deposit in the banks, and only 1.8 per cent women have access to bank credit. Besides, women face more barriers than men in becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own business in the country, it revealed.
The ILO, in collaboration with the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of the Ministry of Education, conducted the study under Bangladesh Skills for Employment and Productivity (B-SEP) Project. It is an initiative of the government, funded by Canada and implemented by the ILO.
The findings of the study, titled 'Making skills system gender equal', were disclosed at a programme in the city on Wednesday.
Kishore Kumar Singh, chief technical advisor of the ILO B-SEP project, presented the findings.
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has higher return in job arenas, and women showed more participation in such education, he mentioned in his presentation.
He made some recommendations that included - gender-focused social marketing and recruitment policy, motivational measures, gender planning and budgeting, and capacity building to meet competency standards.
Rawnak Mahmud, Director General of the DTE, chaired the workshop, where Md. Alamgir, Secretary of the Technical and Madrasah Education Division, was the chief guest.
Under the B-SEP project, 950 women have been trained on skills like carpentry, furniture making, automobile mechanics, electronics and electrical trades, tour guiding, baking and food processing.
Its target is to expand the participation of women in work arena, and help them explore various non-traditional job possibilities to realise their dreams.
"The ILO B-SEP project has shown the path to create skills training facility. It has developed a gender guide for TVET institutes titled 'Making TVET Gender Equal: A Guide for TVET Professionals' to make TVET accessible for all," said Md. Alamgir.