How Internet is Empowering Women in Bangladesh

1. 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)

2. 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

3. (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

4. 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.

5. 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%

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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%.

9. 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

10. 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…

11. 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

12. 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

13. • 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

14. • 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

15. • 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

16. • 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

17. • 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. A recent survey contd

23. 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

24. 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

25. • 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

26. • 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

27. 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

28. • 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

29. 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

30. 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