The New Nation - Internet Edition

The multidimensional nature of poverty has been increasingly recognized. It is now clear that poverty includes economic, sociological, physical, psychological, and demographic aspects. Poverty may be simply defined as a state of deprivation. It is also possible to define poverty from the perspective of accessibility or entitlement status, i.e., determine accessibility to resources and compare with other categories of people to assess the magnitude of poverty and relative deprivation.

Poverty has both tangible and nontangible dimensions. Insecurity, powerlessness, and a lack of self-esteem are nontangible indicators of poverty. Conceptualizing poverty from multidimensional perspectives demands the integration of different concerns and needs originating from different facets of poverty. Gender is an important dimension for the analysis and eradication of poverty (Kabeer 1994).Poverty is overrepresented among children and women, particularly in femaleheaded households in Bangladesh. Empirical evidence across countries suggests that the number of households below the poverty line is significantly higher for female- than for maleheaded households. Over 95 percent of female-headed households in Bangladesh are considered to fall below the poverty line (UNDP 1996). In Bangladesh, official estimates suggest that less than a tenth of households are headed by women (BBS 1996), but the actual proportion could be around 20-30 percent (Afsar 1997; MOWCA 1997). Crosscountry experience also reveals that the lower the income, the larger the number of younger children and the fewer the number of working male family members. It is important to have male income earners because adult males earn more than women workers. A survey of female-headed households in slum and squatter settlements of Dhaka City by Afsar (1997) found that these households were significantly poorer.

The emergence of female-headed households is linked with the erosion of family support as manifested in a higher incidence of marital instability and lesser number of adult family members, particularly male-earning family members than was the case in maleheaded households. Almost three quarters of female household heads are divorced or widows compared to only a fraction (2 percent) of male heads. The family size of femaleheaded households is much smaller than their male counterparts (3.3 versus 4.4). The Country Briefing Paper-Women in Bangladesh 20 number of male earners is 1.4 in male-headed households, which declines to 0.6 in the case of female-headed households. The income levels in female-headed households are significantly lower than that of male-headed households. Women heads spent three fifths of their income on food as opposed to half by male heads. The higher ratio of food expenditure over nonfood by women confirms their poorer condition. Indebtedness is higher among female heads (60 percent) than male heads (50 percent). The average amount of outstanding loans of female heads (which is Taka 3,026) is higher than that of male heads. Higher incidence of borrowing by women heads to meet a crisis such as death, accident, theft, disability, etc., and payment of dowry for a daughter's marriage than male heads suggests women's greater vulnerability than male heads.

Women's Access to Labor Market and Income Since the 1980s, the aggregate growth of the Bangladeshi economy has been steady but slow. The growth performance of the different sectors revealed that between 1981 and 1994 agriculture grew at an annual rate of 2.15 percent, manufacturing at 3.9 percent, construction at 6.30 percent, and services at 5.13 percent. Shifts in labor force between sectors during this period (1981-1994) indicated that the employed population in agriculture grew by 1.36 percent per annum, compared to 4.6 percent per annum for the employed population in nonagriculture. The share of nonagriculture in the total rural employed population rose from 29 percent to 34 percent. The rise in the share of nonagriculture was even higher for the rural female employed population. Nonagricultural sectors in rural areas include small manufacturing, trading, and transport services (Mahmud 1996).

The overall poverty situation, combined with shifts in the labor force and the sectoral shares of GDP, suggests that a transition from stabilization to growth and a significant reduction of poverty are yet to be achieved. Sectoral growth with adequate labor absorptive capacity is important for reducing poverty. In this context, it is important to understand women's labor mobility and to identify the sectors that generated demand for female labor and the supply side factors that contributed to women's mobility. Women workers in Bangladesh can be characterized as young, and mainly single, although some of them are divorced, abandoned, or married. They provide a flexible supply of labor and work in low-paying jobs for long hours both at the workplace and at home. In rural areas, 83 percent of the employed women aged 15 years and over were engaged as unpaid helpers (BBS 1996). This is mainly due to rising labor costs in nonfarm activities. Women's increased participation, over time, is in manufacturing and agriculture rather than in personal services and household activities. However, female agricultural activities are mostly concentrated in postharvesting and livestock rearing, which have relatively lower returns than other activities.

In urban areas, women are more visible in the construction and informal sectors, which are characterized by lower returns and unequal wage rates. Increasingly, however, women are becoming involved in the formal manufacturing sector. With the advent of readymade garment industries in Bangladesh, women's independent migration has increased significantly. Migrant women are preferred because they offer cheaper labor than the native female labor force. As they are recruited from an informal network of kinship and district-based acquaintances, they also ensure loyalty and docility, which employers seek. Although they get more wages than hitherto offered to women in other occupations, the gender gap persists in terms of wages and the scope for women's upward mobility. Within wage employment, the proportion of female casual laborers (having no security of tenure and specified job contract) increased significantly in urban areas and in all areas (urban and rural) self-employment increased.

The above discussion on women's labor mobility, and on the nature of female labor force participation, both urban and rural, suggests that sectoral growth and supply push factors have increased women's participation from home-based to market-oriented activities. Nonetheless, women are concentrated largely in low-paid and tedious jobs. Hence, there is a need to absorb women in more productive and remunerative sectors. This will require investment in training and in the education of female laborers. The situation with regard to minimum wage5 and women's wages in the manufacturing sector is presented in Table A.3 (Appendix). It shows that a larger number of women are deprived of minimum wage even in the public sector as compared to men, not to talk of the private sector. Eighteen percent of the readymade garment workers are estimated to earn below the poverty line. For example, 19 percent of women as opposed to 9 percent of men workers are estimated to earn below the poverty level. Among unskilled production helpers who predominantly live in slums, nearly half earn below the poverty line income and about a fifth of them can be described as hardcore poor. Although only a fraction of the machine operators can be described as moderately poor, they have very little scope for upward mobility, especially in the case of women. It suggests that the export-oriented readymade garment factories generate employment opportunities for poorer and unskilled rural women but it does not automatically uplift them from poverty or hardship (Afsar 2000). The rural credit market in Bangladesh is highly segmented. Public formal institutions provide about 20 percent of rural credit, while informal sources provide less than 45 percent. The total share of microcredit programs has been increasing. Bangladesh's NGOs provide microcredit to some 8 million people, mostly women (World Bank 1998) and their number has increased substantially over the years. However, whether women retain control over their loans and if they reach the poorest of the poor have increasingly become matters of concern.

For a poor woman it is not her poverty but the demographic composition of the household that qualifies her to access a loan. In the rural economy of Bangladesh, poor women with restricted mobility depend on male family members for any entrepreneurial venture. Due to their lack of literacy, only immediate family members can be reliable partners. NGOs, instead of confronting this situation of the vulnerability of women, make adjustments to the existing condition. One way of adjustment is the practice of excluding women members who do not have active male members in the household from credit access (Rahman et al. 1996).

Microcredit that targets women has become a common poverty reduction intervention in Bangladesh. Pure credit provision as an intervention has been criticized as a minimalist approach. Such an approach generally ignores women's different social barriers and as a result often fails to ensure women's control over resources. It is generally found that women borrowers are more likely to retain full control over smaller loans than larger ones. It suggests that the larger the size of a loan, the greater is the likelihood that it will be used by other household members. This is mainly because women's economic activities (e.g., livestock, paddy husking) require small capital and larger loans tend to be invested in men's activities with a high turnover. Without parallel interventions such as improving productive skills, or access to technology and the market, cash inputs coming into the household through women are likely to be used by male family members. There is also another side of the argument emphasizing the role of credit in empowering women. This argument is that credit itself challenges patriarchal notions by giving women access to resources and thus improving women's decision-making powers and control over resources. Several research findings present some common genderspecific socioeconomic impacts of microcredit programs like increasing women's labor supply, their per capita expenditure, and nonland assets (livestock, small trading, etc.). In most cases women's access to credit has a larger and more significant impact than that of men's on household welfare. Male and female borrowing patterns differ by types of lending institutions and their programs. The demand for credit and impact of credit vary by the gender of the participant (Khandker 1995). For the urban poor, access to microcredit is even more restricted. A recent study (Afsar 1999) found that only a fraction of total households had borrowed money from an institutional source. Women's low nutritional status is related to their low socioeconomic status. Around 70 percent of women and children in Bangladesh suffer from nutritional deficiency anemia. Women are more malnourished than men at every stage of life but this phenomenon is more visible in the case of adolescent girls and pregnant mothers. A quarter of maternal deaths is associated with anemia and hemorrhage. Social norms and practices acknowledge male's nutritional needs more than that of female supposedly because of men's hard work in the field. Tables A.5 and A.6 (Appendixes) reveal that the calorie deficit of pregnant and lactating women is almost 30 percent. 6 The male nutrient intake is higher than for females at all ages. Malnourished mothers give birth to low-weight babies who can become stunted and underweight.

Violence against women is rampant. Its manifestations range from teasing, hijacking, severe assault, kidnapping, acid throwing, and murder (dowry deaths). From early childhood till they become old, women's mobility is highly restricted.

Although violence against women cuts across all classes, vulnerability differs by class. For example, sullying a man's wife, mother, sister, or daughter is the ultimate humiliation one can inflict on her. Women from powerful families are generally immune from such abusive practices. Poor women are more vulnerable as they often lack a familial supportive umbrella to protect them. The poorer the woman, the greater is the likelihood of abandonment, divorce, and oppression. A large number of women are divorced and murdered for dowry. Within the family men have the monopoly over means of coercion and direct violence. The failure to fetch a large dowry on the part of the wife according to the demands of her husband can make her vulnerable to divorce, torture, acid throwing, and even murder. As Table 3 shows clearly, the incidence of domestic violence has increased very rapidly. A large majority of victims are from the lower socioeconomic strata who lack protective shelter and the resources for retaliation or redress. Poorer women who often work in the fields, in construction, in factories, as domestic helpers and in the market are also vulnerable to sexual abuse, assault, and rape. There is an alarming rise in the incidence of rape (Table 3). Violence against women remains largely unreported mainly due to prevailing norms and values regarding women's honor, the insecurity of victims, and due to lengthy legal procedures that discourage people from seeking legal support. Moreover, the legal process is complicated and the police are often influenced by political pressure and by bribes offered by mastaans (muscle-men or thugs) and violators, with the result that they either do not take adequate action or remain inactive. During the period of legal litigation women neither get legal protection of their choice,7 nor financial support to save them and her family members from starvation and onslaught of violence from her ex-husband or mastaans.

A Public Food Distribution System exists in Bangladesh but its benefits are generally accrued by civil servants and the armed forces. The most effective channels of delivery of food to the poor have been the Rural Development (previously known as Food-for-Work) and Vulnerable Groups Development (VGD) projects. Both use wheat provided by World Food Program (WFP), bilateral donors, and the Government. The Rural Development project supports rural construction and maintenance activities while generating temporary employment. During 1996-1997, the project distributed over 195,000 tons of wheat and 7 Suppression of violence against Women and Children Act, 2000 has made a provision of safe custody during the trial period but it vested absolute authority on the Tribunal to decide whether the victim needs protection of safe custody or not. Moreover, the Act is silent about the mechanism for safe custody before the case is sent to the Tribunal for trial. generated 30 million workdays for an estimated 450,000 participants. Women constituted a quarter of its participants; it increased to one half in 2000.

The VGD program, however, is solely directed towards the most disadvantaged rural women. It provides them with wheat and trains them on issues such as health nutrition, family planning, market-based income-generating activities, and literacy with the help of NGOs to make them more self-reliant.

These programs not only protect the target groups during lean periods but they also help the poor to generate savings for future investment. It has been found that the incidence and intensity of poverty is considerably lower among the target groups than in the nontarget groups. Sixty-three percent of Food-for-Work beneficiaries are deemed to belong to the category of the extreme poor compared with 72 percent of the control group. Increasing investment in the social sector is a prerequisite for creating an enabling environment for human development. Social sector investment broadly includes housing, compulsory primary and nonformal education, public health, and water and sanitation. Analyses of women's access to social services primarily cover poor women's access to water and sanitation, health, and education. Access to basic amenities such as water and sanitation, housing, and electricity not only varies by class but also has implications for gender.

Whereas more than four fifths of the richer households have their water piped to and from a tubewell inside their homes, in both rural and urban areas poorer households collect water from a neighbor's house or from a communal standpipe or tap or tubewell. This affects women's time use pattern and energy levels since they are mostly responsible for water collection and management. The median time needed to collect drinking water is around 30 minutes per trip in urban slums and, generally, at least two trips a day are necessary to meet a family's drinking water needs. The situation is comparable for rural women from poorer households and even worse in coastal and hilly regions, where obtaining safe drinking water is a big problem (Afsar 1999).

Moreover, the growing threat of arsenic poisoning has made the lives of thousands of women, men, and children miserable. Existing evidence suggests that the incidence of sickness is almost 20 percent higher for households that lack piped water and sanitary toilet facilities. Poorer women get up earlier than men to queue up for water and take advantage of the dark while using communal or hanging and other types of toilets that hardly have any arrangement for privacy. As a result they become more vulnerable to health hazards than men do. Existing estimates on morbidity (Rahman 1999, Afsar 1999a) suggest that urban poor women in their youth (15-24) and at the middle of their reproductive age cycle (30-44) suffer from greater morbidity than their male counterparts in the same age group. Rural women aged between 30 and 44 years were also found to be more vulnerable in terms of morbidity than their male counterparts.

Existing taboos and prejudices regarding disease and food, which in turn affect health, are prevalent. In general, rural people of all ages and sex suffer from harmful taboos and prejudices but women suffer more, because these taboos are mostly related with reproductive diseases and women have lesser information exposure and education than men.

Physical infrastructure for public and reproductive health exists only in rural areas but services are extremely inadequate. Occupancy rates at 31-bed thana health centers are below 50 percent and only 15 percent of the sick seek treatment from government hospitals for current sickness. Government-run hospitals and health centers often lack drugs, nursing care, and equipment. Pharmacies are the major place where female readymade garment workers seek treatment. In villages and towns people also seek treatment from private doctors (Afsar and Baker 1999). Family planning programs mainly target women. Though family planning programs have enjoyed remarkable success in increasing the contraception prevalence rate, concerns exist in relation to the quality of services, the scope of exercising women's reproductive rights and choices, and male participation in family planning programs. Reproductive health services are mainly concentrated towards fertility control programs, ignoring women's overall reproductive health concerns. Facilities related to education such as the "Food for Education" stipend scheme for girls up to Class 8, which exist in rural areas, do not exist in urban areas. The girl child's access to primary education and nonformal education are generally constrained by a number of factors that include:

(i) The domestic demand for girls' labor is more regular and generally higher than that for boys of the same age group. While boys become economically active at the age of seven and eight, it has also been observed that parents make special efforts to keep sons in school.

(ii) Despite the Government's efforts to encourage girls in education by providing free schooling at the primary level, and scholarships and food at the secondary level, it is found that some private costs associated with travel, stationery, examination fees, and clothing (particularly for girls) are beyond the means of poor households. At the secondary level, the direct cost of education increases. For these reasons, family opposition to secondary education for girls is much greater than it is for primary education and also because girls are already of a marriageable age. Moreover, the law and order situation jeopardizes women's security and free movement. Corruption and an inefficient system of distribution have reduced the effectiveness of incentives provided for girls' education.

(iii) The predominance of male teachers, particularly at the postprimary level, discourages female attendance. A government policy to reserve 60 percent of primary school teachers' posts for women could not be successfully implemented due to the small number of potential teachers, restrictions against women traveling or living away from the family home, accommodation problems in distant locations, physical security, and women's reproductive responsibilities.

(iv) The teaching methodology in Bangladesh is still traditional and teacher-centered.

This prevents the building of self-confidence and self-expression among students. This requirement is most demanding for girls, who are allowed less self-expression than boys. Moreover, teachers could potentially have a catalytic role in changing negative perceptions about female education. The lack of appropriate teacher training and motivation could be identified as one of the major obstacles in changing the teaching methodology in Bangladesh.

(v) Inadequate physical facilities such as the lack of water and sanitation facilities, overcrowded classrooms, etc. are a constraint to expanding female school enrollment. A survey found that 71 percent of rural and 53 percent of urban schools had no sanitation facilities and the distance from home to school also discourages female attendance (Khan 1993).

(vi) The class schedule is fixed throughout the year, and does not accommodate the domestic work demands of children, especially girls from poor households.

(Source: Asian Development Bank, Country Briefing Paper-Women in Bangladesh)