Road to Parity: What You Don’t Know
After hours of grueling tabulation and calculation of what is turning out to be a disappointing truth, today I will be writing about gender parity and lack thereof in Bangladesh Civil Service. Bangladesh is at the forefront of news about women empowerment, with a female prime minister, female speaker of the house, female leader of opposition, first Bangladeshi female to climb mount Everest, there’s a lot of glamorous news about Bangladeshi women out there. Breaking the glass ceiling one political propaganda at a time. But does this image of Bangladeshi women reflect on the general working class women of Bangladesh civil service? Has the Bangladeshi Civil Service created space accommodate the women’s movement which is said to be so momentous in this decade? The numbers are oddly both optimistic and demotivating at the same time. It is very difficult to find staff statistics before 2013 but I have tracked down some numbers back to 1999.
One of my key findings is that women in civil service really got their momentum since 1985 when the 10% female quota was set up. I will be discussing gender inequity in civil service over the course of almost two decades in the decision making levels (Secretary and lower) and if the number of women are increasing and at what rate. At an already bottom heavy bureaucracy is the female counterpart bottom heavy as well?
First let’s look at the numbers at the decision making levels. There has been steady progress in women participation at the decision making levels, from 1999–2017. I have solid data from 1999–2011, as shown in the table below: (citations are provided at the end)
As we can see here, in almost 2 decades (1999–2011) the progress in women’s participation is incredibly slow, the rate of increase is not very optimistic. In 2011 the numbers spike and the rate of increase becomes 5.2 percent- for something that’s being called a spike that’s really not very high. However, I can confirm that in 2017 the percentage of female secretaries was 13%. Even though I don’t have progressive data from 2012–2017, I can assume that from 2011 the rate of women in senior and middle management level has seen gradual increase.
This is seems optimistic as a relative score in reference to previous years, but still in the grand scheme of things 13% secretaries may not seem that high a number for a country whose women empowerment policies are said to be off the charts.Gross female enrollment rate for tertiary education increased from 6.08% in 2008 to 14.48% in 2017. Our female education rates have seen tremendous boost in the last decade, however do these numbers reflect in the upper management units of civil service? Before drawing that conclusion, how do we even make that correlation between tertiary education rates and rate of women in upper management of civil service?
Regardless of encouraging increase in tertiary education rates and women participation rates in BCS(steady increase since 1985), the male female ratio in middle and senior levels is not representative of male female population demographic of Bangladesh, therein lies a clear disparity. In 2013, only 6 of the 72 secretaries were women. In 2017 there were a total of 10 female secretaries out of 76. That is to say the percentage of female secretaries increased from 8.3% to 13%, which is a 4.7% increase in 4 years. This is not even representative of the female demographic working in civil service. Female recruitment has increased significantly, which I will discuss further in the next portion of the blog but the top management seems to be stubbornly male heavy. Which is not in line with the rate of women enrolling in tertiary education, who are well educated and competent.
Now, even if we look at posts lower than the top management, the male female ratio in ministries and divisions have not seen significant increase since 2013. In some ministries the ratio has been exactly the same for 4 years (2013–2017). It seems like there is no guarantee of promotion to the top posts for women. I draw these conclusions seeing the numbers of the following table:
As you can see, in ministry of agriculture, there has been no change in male female Class 1 officer ratio in 4 years, and I have only tabulated 10 ministries out of 37, it is not the only ministry of agriculture that has not changed, there are many others. However, on the other side of the coin ministries of public administration, defence, education seem to be moving towards gender parity very gradually.This score is not consistent throughout all classes of officers. And I’d like to point out here that these numbers reflect quota recruitment. We must acknowledge quota was a significant incentive for women to partake in BCS despite the near impossible prospect of reaching top post and other social constraints, including social stereotypes regarding women’s inefficiency in field or transferable jobs, lack of childcare facilities, uncooperative co- workers etc. In 2017 the ratio of male female applicants for BCS preliminaries were almost the same. In spite of this in the 36th BCS, 26.22 successful candidates were women, and 73.78% of successful candidates were male. Which includes quota recruitment. With quota being suspended in 2018, what kind of changes is expected in the strives made by these ministries towards gender parity? With 10% quota and no guarantee of eventual success in workplace, women were unlikely to reach top management posts, however some women did, their statistics is why the tabulations here show gradual progress and a hint of optimism within an insufficient amount of parity. These women are a motivation to new female applicants, however with suspension of quota how can we assure equal employment rights to women as their male counterparts? How can we assure equality in opportunity that Article 29 of our constitution provided us with?
There is a lot of space for contention in matter of gender parity, there’s a lot to criticize but at the same time there’s a lot to be hopeful for. The number, be it insufficient to bring parity in the big picture are gradually increasing towards equity and that is something to be proud of. I have a lot of hope for women of my generation. And where I’m still dubious about how withdrawing affirmative action will help women coming from rural communities, the marginalized communities. I know my generation has women who don’t need affirmative action. Well educated, competent women who can still reach those top management posts and make a difference, it maybe slow going, but it’s something that should be publicized and this progress in parity should be celebrated. Only when any people are given something to hold up to standard and to challenge themselves can they reach beyond those standards and best themselves. When I was preparing for the Dhaka University admission test the one thing that motivated me the most was knowing that in 2021 University of Dhaka turns a hundred years old and I need to be there celebrating as a student. I will be doing that in 2 years and I am proud of it.
Bangladeshi women need to know the stories of those women in the top posts of civil service and how they got there. Those stories will resonate through women and act as an incentive to join BCS. Bangladesh Civil Service can and will reach gender parity in the future, and that is something to be hopeful for.
Sources:
- Ministry of Public Administration
http://www.mopa.gov.bd/en - Statistics of Civil Officers and Staff 2017
http://www.mopa.gov.bd/uploads/2018/archive/manual/6582_(1-96)_part-2.pdf - Statistics of Civil Officers and Staff 2015
http://www.mopa.gov.bd/uploads/2016/archive/manual/Part-02.pdf - Statistics of Civil Officers and Staff 2014
http://www.mopa.gov.bd/uploads/2016/archive/manual/statrescell-2016-04.pdf - Statistics of Civil Officers and Staff 2013
http://www.mopa.gov.bd/uploads/2015/archive/manual/StatMainBook2013.pdf - UNDP: Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Public Administration, Bangladesh Case Study
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/Democratic%20Governance/Women-s%20Empowerment/BangladeshFinal%20-%20HiRes.pdf - UNESCO Education Statistics
http://uis.unesco.org/country/BD - BPATC Study on Gender and Representation of Women in Bangladesh Civil Service
http://www.bpatc.org.bd/images/document/159_Glass_Ceiling_Research_Report_Draft.pdf - Bangladesh Civil Service Academy Journal of Administration and Management 2017
http://bcsadminacademy.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/bcsadminacademy.portal.gov.bd/page/d4906f23_541e_4a48_b8ca_7bcf78c7527e/Journal_Final_PDF.pdf - https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/165367/Women-s-participation-in-admin-on-the-rise
