Online-based freelancing has become a popular career choice for many young people in Bangladesh. The country now earns around 500 million US dollars through this information technology-based sector. But women are noticeably underrepresented in this sector. According to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division, there are 650,000 freelancers in Bangladesh. Among them, only 9 per cent are female. This is unfortunate because, for many reasons, freelancing can be more feasible for women than any other job. It allows them to perform their household responsibilities alongside their professional work.
A woman in our country, compared to men, reportedly spends around two and a half hours more on unpaid care and household work. This hampers women's role as freelancers because freelancing requires prompt communication with clients and replying to their queries, routinely maintaining online profiles and portfolios, and requiring them to be online for a significant amount of time of the day. Burdened with responsibilities, a freelancer mother finds it difficult to maintain both her professional and personal lives simultaneously.
Freelancing offers excellent potential for women's employment. But it needs a helpful environment within the family for the women who want to freelance. Besides, arranging training programmes for women can encourage them to take freelancing as their career.
Afroza Sheikh,
Dania, Dhaka,
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