The gender wage gap in Bangladesh had been ranked the lowest globally, as it came down to 2.2% in 2017-18 against the world average of 21.2%, as per a report of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
But has the gender pay gap condition really reached a point where we do not need to be concerned about wage discrimination anymore?
Even in 2024, the gender pay gap in Bangladesh remains a significant economic and social issue, with women earning substantially less than men across various sectors.
According to an analysis by ILO, women earn an average of 21% less per hour than men. This disparity has far-reaching implications for both individual women and the overall economy.
To cite a sector-based example, the RMG industry in our country thrives because of the millions of women who work in the industry. But unfortunately, female workers in garment factories often get lower wages compared to their male counterparts.
According to a study conducted by Anker Research Institute, a US-based think tank, a 30% wage gap exists in the garments sector, which is discriminatory towards female workers and favours male workers.
Women are often concentrated in lower-paying roles within the industry, such as cutting, sewing, and finishing, limiting their access to higher-paying positions and promotions.
Moreover, according to the ARI study, men are seen to be more successful in negotiating a higher base salary than women. Additionally, women workers face a high degree of job insecurity due to factors like seasonal fluctuations in demand, factory closures, and unfair labour practices.
In sectors like tea production, the wage gap goes beyond the gender issue. In this scenario, a significant daily wage gap persists between temporary and permanent tea workers, even though the amount of work done in a day is mostly the same.
In a sector where the wage level is already concerningly low, this wage gap further fuels the distress their families have to go through. It is extremely important to scrutinise the work hours and the amount of work done by the workers fairly to tackle this issue.
While employers in certain sectors try to justify the wage gap by delegating the heavy work and weightlifting to men, instances of lower wages for women for equal work are far from being rare.
From corporate workers and service holders to tea workers, wage discrimination due to gender needs to be effectively addressed.
This discrimination further discourages women from participating in the labour force, hindering the economic fortune ‘Female Labour Force Participation’ (FLFP) is capable of bringing in.
The gender pay gap limits women’s purchasing power, savings, and reduces household incomes. In a country where a significant amount of female labour gets invested in unpaid care work, this pay gap further contradicts their rights to financial independence and paid labour.
As per the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006, equal wages must be paid to the workers for equal work. So in order to address the gender pay gap, Bangladesh needs to comprehensively and strictly enforce equal pay laws.
While the interim government keeps making attempts to improve the present situation of our country, it also needs to focus on strengthening anti-discrimination policies, providing women with access to vocational training and skill development programmes, establishing affordable and accessible childcare facilities, allocating resources to programmes that promote gender equality, challenging harmful gender stereotypes, and promoting gender equality in social and cultural norms.
Another reason for the discriminatory wage policies is the persisting stereotypes against women. The physical, cognitive, and analytical abilities of women are often looked down upon, even in this era.
Speaking of a personal experience in 11th grade, the physics laboratory demonstrator at my school didn’t hesitate once before stating that women cannot make good engineers.
This sort of scepticism towards women’s abilities speaks volumes about why women engineers with the same degree and capability are likely to be paid less than their male colleagues.
So while we urge the government to take strict measures to ensure equal pay, it is equally imperative for us to question and change the collective perspective against the capabilities of women.