Anika stepped away from her specialist role in technology sector in Dhaka for two years to care for her newborn. It was a deliberate choice, or so she believed. Within months of returning, she discovered that the IT industry had moved on without her. Recruiters questioned her technical currency. Salary offers came in 30 per cent below her previous compensation. Hiring managers seemed to view her as a risk, someone whose commitment might waver if family demands returned. She now works as a junior developer, a step backward from her senior position. Her story captures a brutal paradox in Bangladesh's labour market: women enter the workforce in record numbers, but vanish at precisely the moment their careers should accelerate.
The numbers reveal a troubling pattern. Bangladesh's female labour force participation stands at 44 per cent, significantly lower than the 81 per cent participation rate amongst men. This aggregate figure masks a more damaging reality. Women are present in entry-level positions but disappear from mid-career and above ranks. According to analysis of over 1,100 women by BRAC, the country's largest development organisation, 26 per cent of those taking career breaks cite motherhood as the reason. Another 6.3 per cent leave due to social pressure, whilst 2.5 per cent depart to manage family responsibilities. The cumulative effect is a haemorrhaging of talent precisely when women should be ascending into leadership positions.
The Bangladesh context intensifies these pressures. Childcare infrastructure remains inadequate. Workplace flexibility is rare. Most critically, cultural expectations position motherhood as incompatible with professional ambition. Women report being compelled to leave employment despite their reluctance, not by explicit policy but by the weight of family obligation and societal judgement. The assumption persists that a woman's primary identity is domestic, that her career is secondary to her husband's, and that her return to work signals a temporary reprieve rather than a permanent commitment.
Discrimination upon return compounds the initial injury. Women with career gaps encounter hiring managers who treat them as liabilities rather than assets. They face questions designed to expose their supposed lack of commitment. They are offered positions below their prior seniority. They negotiate from weakness, accepting lower salaries because the gap has eroded their confidence and bargaining power. The technology sector, where Anika works, proves particularly hostile. Women comprise only 20 per cent of Bangladesh's IT workforce, and those returning from breaks find themselves competing against younger, uninterrupted candidates.
The garment industry, which employs millions of Bangladeshi women, tells a similar story. Female participation has collapsed from 80 per cent in the 1980s to 53 per cent today. Women leave not only for motherhood but also because of poor working conditions, health hazards, and the absence of supportive policies. Those who return find themselves trapped in lower-wage positions with minimal advancement prospects.
Solutions exist, though they require systemic change rather than individual accommodation. Organisations should offer programmes that provide skills training, mentorship, and leadership development for women re-entering the workforce. Such initiatives will work because they acknowledge that a career break does not diminish capability. It merely creates a temporary knowledge gap that targeted support can close. As BRAC Senior Director Moutushi Kabir observes, "A career break should not be seen as a weakness but as something that makes individuals stronger and more courageous."
Bangladesh cannot afford to squander half its educated workforce. The economy loses productivity, innovation, and tax revenue when talented women are forced to choose between motherhood and career. Employers lose access to experienced professionals. Women lose income, independence, and self-determination. The solution requires employers to develop daycare facilities, implement flexible working arrangements, and abandon the assumption that motherhood signals diminished commitment. It requires government to enforce policies protecting women's return rights and penalising discriminatory hiring. It requires society to recognise that women's economic participation strengthens families and nations alike.
Anika's trajectory from specialist to junior or back office role is not inevitable. It is a choice, made collectively by employers, policymakers, and society. Bangladesh can choose differently.
iammim0000@gmail.com
