Women’s entitlement, women’s rights

It’s hardly been a century that the misconception about women being inferior to men began to change. Even before World War l, in many countries around the world it was considered that women were inferior to men physically, mentally and intellectually. Their active participation  in the war changed things to a degree. In the time between the two world wars, women’s right to franchise began to be recognized in countries of Europe and America. But that came long after men.

In France, men attained the universal right to vote in 1792, but women there only gained that in 1944. The last European country to grant women the right to franchise was Liechtenstein in 1984, 12 years after independent Bangladesh.

The right to vote is a civil right. Such equal civil and political rights for men and women were established in 1966 by means of an international covenant. It does not cost the state anything to grant these rights to women, nor does it really cause a hiccup in the prevailing patriarchal system in society. After all, women’s voting rights, even leadership, has hardly made any difference in the elimination of discrimination against women in South Asian countries.

Actually, the state needs funds when it comes to ensuring equal  economic rights for women in the question of employment, fair wages, a healthy work environment and social security. It is then that patriarchy and the society that stands against women’s development, prevaricates. That is because a self-reliant woman has a greater sense of independence and self-respect.

That is why, while women have voting rights in almost all countries of the world as well as other civic and political rights (such as freedom to assemble, practice one’s faith, freedom of speech, rights during arrest and trial), when it comes to economic rights, the actual obstacles loom large.

Finance is the main obstacle in the path to establishing women’s equal opportunities, rights and dignity. According to the United Nations, it will require an investment of 360 billion dollars, but the dividends will be multiple times higher. That is why the theme for the International Women’s Day of 8 March this year is, Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress.

This appeal on Women’s Day highlights the various discriminations against women in economic and social sectors. For example, a) Women spend three times the amount of time on unpaid services (eg housework, childcare, caring for family members, etc), than men. Had they been paid for such services, that would equal about 40 per cent of the global GDP.

b) There is more representation of women among those receiving lower wages, less opportunity for employment with appropriate wages. Over 50 per cent of working women are employed in low wage informal sector jobs. In development countries this is 90 per cent. There is disparity in the case of business too. Women’s participation in established business is 32 per cent less than men. In the case of new entrepreneurs, it is 20 per cent less.

c) Women are more affected by war and climate disaster. By 2030, the number of women in extreme poverty may stand at around 350 million.

The biggest argument in favour of eradicating gender disparity and promoting women’s employment is human rights. It had economic dividends too. Various UN reports say that GDP can climb by 20 per cent if discrimination towards women is eliminated. It is estimated that by means of capital flow and expansion of proper employment, 300 million jobs may be generated by 2035 and this can lead to a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

With more capital flow in the service sector, women will be able to take up more economic activities of their choice and also go for higher education. This makes the creation of an inclusive society easier and everyone benefits from women’s advancement.

Bangladesh does not lag behind when it comes to discrimination against women. Bangladesh’s constitution grants equal rights to men and women with two articles of the constitution even providing special laws that benefit women in particular. There are certain such laws in the country like reserved seats for women in parliament and local government, widows’ allowance and so on. In most cases, all the laws are equal for men and women. But in reality, women cannot actually benefit from those laws.

This was stated in the World Bank report ‘Women, Business and the Law 2024’. It points out that in the case of free movement, workplace, wages, enterprise, resources, in realty women have much less rights that stipulated in the law. In the workplace, women in Bangladesh enjoy only one third of that of men. Among the eight countries in South Asia, Bangladesh ranks at the penultimate position, only above Afghanistan.

We see many such instances when we look at ourselves. We all feel the lack of women being directly nominated in parliament, women’s representation in civil service, women’s accessibility in business. In sports, women are as successful as men, if not more, but the investment in this area is much lower. Women workers in the readymade garment sector are subject to higher exploitation. Women employed as domestic help are meagre wages and so security. Women even receive less legal justice such in the case of violence.

If an end is to be brought to all of this, women must be regarded as human beings. They must be seen as mothers, as teachers of the new generation as the major influences. That is why the urgency to increase women’s employment opportunities, jobs and business facilities multiple times more must be felt not just on Women’s Day, but every day of our lives.

* Asif Nazrul is a professor of the law department at Dhaka University

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir