Women face significant social inequality in Bangladesh according to various indicators. Gender inequality exists in health, education, employment, and political participation. Women have higher child mortality and malnutrition rates. Their literacy and education levels lag behind men's. Female labor force participation is much lower than men's, and women face large wage gaps. Women are vastly underrepresented in politics, holding only a small minority of seats. Violence against women, such as domestic violence, rape, acid attacks, and dowry-related violence is also prevalent in Bangladesh due to cultural and social factors. The causes of this inequality include gender norms, lack of policy implementation, poverty, and unequal distribution of wealth. National laws and policies have been enacted to promote gender equality but

1. SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Where is the female position to the rungs of the
development ladder
MD. Zakiul Alam
Roll: ZH013
6th Semester
BSS (Hons.)
Dept. of Population Sciences
University of Dhaka

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION
The main objective of this presentation is to find out the women’s position to the rung of
development ladder in bangladesh. To find out this position we need to
• conceptualize the inequality
• find out types of Inequality
• find out Gender Inequality with women’s role and position in the development ladder in Bangladesh
• find out causes of gender inequality in Bangladesh
• and find out finally policy issues and policy recommendation

3. INTRODUCTION: INEQUALITY AND
SOCIAL INEQUALITY
Inequality is like an epidemic for a country which destroys a country’s development not
only for a generation but also for a long period of time.
• Inequality may refer to unequal access to anything. Shape and figure of inequality differs
from different perspectives. Inequalities in different perspectives would be broadly…
• Social inequality
• Economic inequality
• Political inequality
• Health Inequality
• Social inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social
positions or statuses within a group or society.
• All are interrelated in nature; not isolated. If we want to ensure e.g. ‘social equality’ we
must have to consider other perspective of inequality.

4. SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW OF SOCIAL
INEQUALITY
Marx and Weber’s view
Max Weber explains social
inequality in terms of the
relationship between class,
status and party.
Karl Marx explains inequality
in terms of the ownership of
wealth and the control of
material possessions.
Functionalist view
Functionalist theorists believe
that inequality is inevitable and
desirable and plays an
important function in society.
Social inequality lead to a
meritocracy based on ability.
Conflict view
Conflict theorists, on the other
hand, view inequality as
resulting from groups with
power dominate less powerful
groups.

5. TYPES OF INEQUALITY
Socio-political inequalities
 Gender inequality
 Inequality in family
 Education inequality
 Class Inequality
 Caste Inequality
 Urban and Rural Inequality
 Women’s inequality in decision
making
 Political participation Inequality
etc.
Economic inequalities
 Employment inequality
 Unemployment inequality
 Poverty Inequality
 wage and age Inequality
 Income Inequality
 Labor force Inequality etc.
Health inequalities
 Health disparities
 Nutritional Inequalities
 Healthcare inequality
 Food intake disparities etc.

6. WOMEN’S POSITION: GENDER
INEQUALITY IN BANGLADESH
• Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based
on their gender.
• In 2011, Bangladesh was ranked 146 out of 187 countries on the Human
Development Index and 112 out 146 countries surveyed on the Gender Inequality
Index.
• Gender Inequalities are in the areas of such as
• Health,
• Education,
• Employment,
• political participation,
• Discrimination and violence against women etc.

7. WOMEN’S POSITION IN HEALTH
Child Mortality Per Thousand
Live Births by Gender
Year Male Female
1993-94 46.7 62.3
1999-00 28.4 37.7
2004 24.0 29.0
2007 16.0 20.0
2010 10.0 14.0
Percentage distribution of underweight children by
sex
year Male children
(%)
Female children
(%)
1996-97 54.6 58.8
1999-2000 45.8 49.6
2004 48.4 48.7
2007 39.9 42.1

8. WOMEN’S POSITION IN EDUCATION
• The percentage of the literate
children also varies according to
the gender.
• The literacy of the male children
was 49.5% and for female it was
40.1% in 2000 which has been
increased to 61.12% for male and
54.8% for female in 2010.
• In 2011, the population with at
least a secondary education was
30.8% for women and 39.3% for
men.
Literacy Rate (%)
Year Male Female
2000 49.5 40.1
2005 55.8 48.1
2010 61.12 54.8

9. WOMEN’S POSITION IN
EMPLOYMENT
Year Labor force participation rate (%) for
15+ population
Male Female
2003 87.4 26.1
2006 86.8 29.2
2010 82.5 26.0
• Women has nearly 10% of direct
contribution to GDP as 90% of RMG workers
are female.
• Though female labor force participation is
much lower than that of male.
• Not only this, there are a large wage
disparities between male and female.
• Female’s household work is still unpaid and
neglected.

10. WOMEN’S POSITION IN POLITICAL
PARTICIPATION
• In Bangladeshi context women
occupy only 2% of the
parliamentary seats.
• Less than 1% of the cabinet
members are women.
• Only 7.88% of civil servants are
women, but only 7.88% at decision
making levels
• Only 20% members of local govt.
are women.
• There is only one women in
Supreme Court and the number of
district judge, additional district
judge, sub-judge and senior
assistant judge constitute only 1%
as compare to their male
counterparts.
City
corporation
Number of ward
commissioners who are
elected ( MEN)
Number of ward
commissioners who
are elected (WOMEN)
DHAKA 90 30
CHITTAGONG 41 13
RAJSHAHI 30 10
KHULNA 31 10

11. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
• Cultural and traditional factors heavily influence
how women are treated and regarded in
Bangladesh.
• Once married, girls become property of the
husbands family.
• Violence in Bangladesh ranges from
 acid throwing,
 physical and psychological torture,
 sexual harassment,
 sexual assault,
 rape,
 dowry related violence,
 trafficking,
 forced prostitution,
 coerced suicide
 and murder.
• Rape: Rape cases doubled from 564 in 2001 to 1043
in 2004. Gang rape has become increasingly
prevalent as well.
• Domestic violence: underreported due to social
stigma and fear, data suggests In 2001,
530 domestic abuse cases were reported in
Bangladeshi newspapers. In 2004, the amount of
cases reported more than doubled that number at
1164 cases.
• Acid violence: Bangladesh has the highest worldwide
incidents of acid crimes , accounting for 9% of burn
injuries in the country.
• A recent study reveals that land disputes account for
27% of acid attacks, followed by 18% for family
disputes, 10% for refusal of sex, 8% for refusal of
romantic relationship, 5% for dowry conflicts, 4% for
marital disputes, 3% for refusal of marriage
proposal, 2% for political enmity, and the remaining
23% for unknown reasons.

12. CAUSES AND DETERMINATES OF INEQUALITY
Determinants
Two broad determinants of
inequality
1. Biological: Natural inequality on
the basis of sex and age
2. Non-biological: It is basically social
and economic determinant e.g. gender
norms, economic solvency etc.
Causes
 Preoccupied mindset e.g. gender norms
 Lack of explicit policy initiatives
 Economic hardship e.g. Poverty makes inequality
 Geographic isolation: ethnic inequality of rural
 Low parental education
 High population growth rate
 Environmental degradation and climate change
 High rate of unemployment
 Political instability
 Unequal distribution of wealth

13. LAWS AND POLICIES
CEDAW
• The Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN
General Assembly, is often described as an
international bill of rights for women.
• End discrimination against women in all
forms.
• Article 11 on equality in employment
• and 19 on violence against women was
given.
National Acts
• The Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929,
amended in 1984, rising the age of marriage of
a girl to 18 years from 15 years and that of a
boy to 21 years and makes offences under this
act punishable.
• The Dowry Prohibition Act 1980, amended in
1982, forbidding anyone from demanding
dowry, and punishing by fine and
imprisonment.
• Women and Children Repression Prevention Act
1995, amended in 2000, to protect women and
children against any type of violence.
• Acid Crime repression Act (2012), and the Acid
Control Act (2002) for death penalty of acid
attack perpetrators.

14. RECOMMENDATION AND
CONCLUSION
• Although the Constitution of Bangladesh states that women have equal footing with
men in all spheres of public life, it also recognizes religious personal laws, which are
unequal to women.
• Policy should have to be implemented.