Women in Bangladesh Public Administration: A Comparative Study of Central & Field Administration

Abstract

Women in Bangladesh public administration have been serving for the last four decades with glass-ceiling phenomenon which directly or indirectly affects on their performance; either positively or negatively. Though there are many promotional and affirmative measures taken by the national and international consortiums to ensure gender equality and women‘s empowerment like outlines in the SDGs, Perspective Plan, Five-year plans and National Women Development Policy, still there are many disparities between male and female in Bangladesh Public Administration both in field and central administration. The thesis is an attempt to explore the problems faced by the women civil servants working in both field and central administration of Bangladesh. The study tried to find out the nature and types of problems and challenges that women civil servant face, their reasons and consequences. Finally, some recommendations are made based on the findings and experts‘ opinions. To achieve the study aims, this cross-sectional study used a mixed method approach of research which includes both qualitative and quantitative approaches for triangulation of data and information. Both primary and secondary data was utilized for the study and primary data was mostly collected through questionnaire survey, In-depth Interview (IDI) and Case Studies. A representative sample of fifty (50) civil servants from field and central administration, five IDI respondents and two case studies were conducted. By analyzing the data, the study found that the respondents have been serving in both central and field administration ranging from one year to twenty years. They opined that though there are no difference (48%) in responsibilities assigned for male and female officials, there exist gender specific differences (26%), number of task assigned (10%) and quality of task done (12%). In many times, the male officials get the preferences over female in assigning the challenging and rewarding tasks. It is an optimistic indication that great majority (96%) of the participants got the courage and motivation from the family to join and continue in the civil service and more interestingly they get the special respect from the family for their job. More than half (52%) of the respondents live in the workplace without their family and among them, about forty percent (38.5%) civil servants opined that living without family hampers their job performance. Though the women civil servants face many challenges in their service, half (50%) of the respondents opined that they have to play the dual roles; family and offices, equally for maintaining the career path. Majority (60%) of the attendants of the study noticed that there are significant differences in the challenges faced by male and female officials. This is also evident in civil servants serving in field and central administration. Many of them opined that they get the limited opportunities in the field administration rather central and they have to perform duties over extra hours. Women have to experience unequal distribution of responsibilities and gender biased posting. The privileges and opportunities are also being enjoyed unequally based on gender and workplace. Thus, the study found that women civil servants who work in field administration are mostly isolated and enjoy the least privileges for the socio-cultural and administrative nature of the country. If, however, many of the challenges and problems hinder women civil servants in both central and field administration in terms of –posting, promotion, service station, gender based bias and attitude. Government along with other concerned authority should take shortterm, long-run master plan and strategic plan to eradicate the unequal treatment

among

the male and female civil servants working both in central and field administration.