CPD-UNFPA
Programme on Population and Sustainable
Development
Paper 19 (Summary)
Gender - Related
Development Index for 64 Districts
of Bangladesh
Tahmina Khatun
INTRODUCTION
Gender inequalities today, although
a worldwide phenomenon, are especially
acute in the third world countries
like Bangladesh, where most of women's
activity takes place in the non-wage
economy for the purpose of household
consumption. In Bangladesh, women
are discriminated against in many
areas including education, health,
nutrition, employment, access to
credit, security as well as control
over assets and technology. Also,
they are not allowed in many constructive
outlets - such as productive jobs,
civil service appointments or parliamentary
representation. The discrimination
against the girl child starts from
the beginning of her life within
the family. The perception of the
woman's role in the rural economy
and even in some urban areas of
the developing
economy does not reflect the reality.
It is also imperative that gender
awareness and related terms become
part of the development programs,
given the importance of sustainable
development. The lack of gender
awareness in policy formulation
has also contributed to the failure
of development programmes. Although
different studies have been done
on gender disparities in the context
of Bangladesh as a whole, very little
is known about the relative status of
women in different districts of
Bangladesh. In this context, CPD
has commenced a study on the theme
entitled "Gender - Related
Development Index for 64 Districts
of Bangladesh" which is expected
to provide a basis for the planners
and policy makers to articulate
appropriate policies with targeted
interventions and to eliminate the
existing gender disparities in the
deprived districts.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study were
to
• Identify the lagging as well
as fast improving districts with
respect to gender disparities in
Bangladesh.
• Identify the causes behind
the success and failure of the districts
with respect to gender differentials
in areas of the economically active
population, education and mean age
at marriage
• Indicate policy implications
based on the gender differentials
in each district.
• Recommend appropriate policies
and programmes, so that planners
and policy makers can create a supportive
environment to uplift the deprived
women in Bangladesh and make improvements
in the quality of life of this segment
of population.
METHODOLOGY
The study was based on the information
collected from secondary sources.
Three variables were used to analyse
the situation and arrive at the
study conclusion, namely, total
population by sex, literacy rate
by sex and proportion of economically
active population by sex. Due to
the unavailability of all the required
data to calculate a
Gender Development
Index (GDI) for all 64 districts
of Bangladesh (based on the concept
of GDI similar to that published
in various Human Development Reports
(HDR)), a simple multivariate technique,
known as Principal Component Analysis
(PCA) was used for this study to
calculate GDI for 64 districts of
Bangladesh.
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
The study explained about 70 per
cent
of the variations in the original data
in explaining disparity in
the case
of males and about 67 per
cent of
the variations in the original data
in explaining disparity in
the case
of females. Of the three variables,
the share of the economically active
population at the district level
by sex appeared to be the most dominant
factor in explaining gender disparity
in Bangladesh. The study found that
Dhaka and Chittagong captured respectively
the first and second position according
to GDI indicating that females were
least deprived in these two districts
compared to males, although scores
for males are higher than those
for females in both these districts.
The main reasons for least gender
disparity in these two districts
were comparatively high age at marriage,
high literacy rate and high proportion
of economically active population,
both male and female. Females were
also less deprived in the districts
of Barisal, Rajshahi, Barguna and
Bagerhat. On the contrary, both males
and females were found to the most
deprived in Khagrachari, which secured
the last position among all the
districts followed by Lalmonirhat.
In Khagrachari the share of economically
active population (both male and
female) is one of the lowest among
the districts, mean age at marriage
was comparatively lower for both
males (25.6 years) and females (17.4
years). The district recorded the
lowest literacy rate for both males
and females. In Lalmonirhat, the
age at marriage for males and females
were 25.6 years and 17.6 years respectively,
but the female literacy rate (15.7 per
cent)
was much lower than that for females
in Khagrachari. Since the proportion
of economically active population
(both male and female) was comparatively
higher in Lalmonirhat than in Khagrachari, Lalmonirhat has
been placed before Khagrachari. The
study revealed that females were
deprived in Satkhira and Gazipur
districts mostly because of a low
age at marriage (18.2 and 17.5 years
respectively), compared to males
(26.7 and 26.2 years respectively).
It also showed that literacy rate
for females in these two districts
were lower (21 per
cent and 29.3
per cent respectively) compared
to males (39.7 and 43.2 respectively).
The study indicated that women's
entry into the labour market and
other spheres of the economy is
directly affected by the extensive
time they devote to household maintenance
and family care. The existing inequalities
resulting from extreme poverty constrain
choices of women and limit the
enrolment
of girls in schools. Early marriage
is one of the factors for low educational
attainment of females leading to
lower participation in economic
activities and it appears to be
the result of the
prevailing gender
bias in Bangladesh. The findings
of the analysis were further justified
when an attempt was made to single
out the factors, with the help of
Factor Analysis (FA), which mostly
explained the gender disparities
in Bangladesh. The results from
the relations of all the three variables
were quite similar. The findings
of this study actually gave a limited
but meaningful picture of existing
gender disparities in Bangladesh
at the district level but it could
be improved to some extent if data
were available for variables such
as GDP per capita at the district
level, IMR and more reliable estimated
life expectancy and nutritional
status etc by sex.
POLICY
RECOMMENDATIONS
• The policy makers should undertake
investment priorities with targeted
intervention in the deprived districts.
Such policies would have a
direct
effect on the improvement of
the socio-economic
status of the districts and
an indirect
effect on reducing environmental
degradation.
• Necessary measures should
be taken to improve the socio-economic
status of deprived women by ensuring
the provision of gas and electricity
in remote areas, by encouraging
households to induce sanitary toilets
and improving their access to safe
drinking water, which could reduce
the burden of workload. It is also
necessary to increase their access
to mass communication such as radio/TV,
which can provide adequate information
on education, nutrition and health.
• More NGOs should come forward
to promote women empowerment with
special emphasis on human resource
development, skill formation and
social mobility rather than on mere
provision of micro finance, which
enable the rural poor women to undertake
income generating activities and
forms only one component of
increased empowerment of women.
• Necessary measures need to
be taken for the promotion of equality
in the private sphere, which can
advance equality in the public sphere.
In this regard, men should share
the parenting and familial
responsibilities
so that women can participate in
economic activities to increase
their economic as well as social
empowerment.
• Efforts should be made to
increase the access of women to
education and training (both technical
and non-technical) and increase
their economic empowerment to gain
control over their resources and
available technologies both at home
and workplace with the required
skills.
To obtain the full text of this report
please contact:
Centre for Policy Dialogue
Dialogue and Communication Division
House No 40/C, Road No 11, Dhanmondi
R/A, Dhaka-1209
GPO Box 2129, Dhaka-1000, Bangladesh
Tel: (+880 2) 8124770,9141734,9141703;
Fax: (+880 2) 8130951
E-mail: cpd@bdonline.com
Price: Tk.40.00 (The price quoted
does not include postal charges)
Pages: 25
