Women’s empowerment: Demystifying myths and realities

thinking loud

Women’s empowerment: Demystifying myths and realities

Published : Wednesday, 13 March 2013  FE

Mamun Rashid

I would give credit to the present government, especially to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for the commitment to -1) appointing an increased number of ladies to senior positions and 2) encouraging IT (information technology) driven solutions, though there could be some debates around this.

I listened minutely to her speech delivered on the occasion of the 'International Women's Day'. Sheikh Hasina said if voted to power next time, she would appoint more women to senior positions of the government.

A review of last 40 years of Bangladesh's progress since the liberation war in 1971 does show that more and more women have joined offices and are making significant contribution towards achieving their respective organizational goals. Any nation, I repeat, any nation, can't move forward without recognizing the fifty per cent or more of its population and, more importantly; it can't make best use of the available resources. This is more important for achieving the corporate goals. The crisis-prone or crisis-hit North America has shown us that the female CEO-led organizations are doing better than the others during the crisis period.

However, if we do a 'deep dive' review (Extensive review in detail), we can't be really proud of having too many successful lady CEOs or heads of the departments in Bangladesh public or private enterprises. It is more shocking that there is no strong pipeline of female leaders either. If my lady colleagues don't take otherwise, I would like to say that they are in most cases are being used for filling up the quotas or as a part of a 'form-filling' exercise.

One part of the statement of our prime minister -- "you must deserve first and only then you desire, so that it does not look like that you are trying to earn pity from the system," -- I liked most. She possibly wanted our women folks to try continuously for up-skilling themselves and adjust with the ever-changing demand.

Yes, today we are seeing lady secretaries in the ministries, young ladies joining Bangladesh armed forces and some others joining the state-owned bank or other financial institutions' board or even the senior positions in the central bank. While we should be 'sponsoring' our ladies to reach the higher level, we can't claim that we are getting the right persons for the right jobs. I am sure, while our premier wanted more ladies in the senior positions, she didn't want her friend educated in Bengali literature to drive a 'MIG 29' fighter aircraft, unless she has core competence or required training or background to do so. We obviously become happy when we get to see women are filling up senior government positions at the same time we have reasons to be saddened when we get to see ladies are being appointed only at the cultural or children affairs ministries. More shockingly, ladies are being appointed to senior positions of tremendous strategic importance without knowing whether they are competent enough for the jobs. While we are ready to accept some positive 'discrimination' to help pull 'up the curve', at the same time we don't want appointment of ladies without the required level of competence to the top positions of the regulatory bodies. I was saddened to see a lady chartered accountant having audited balance sheets of many banks and financial institutions not being considered for a senior central bank role. A retired central bank executive without the required background was appointed in her place and now, believe you me- she has become just a showpiece. She is reportedly not being consulted about any serious matter in her own department or issues under her jurisdiction. I become similarly sad to see a lady school teacher being pampered to dictate the terms for a leading private university.

For more than 25 years, I have worked with many lady colleagues or bosses home and abroad. I can tell you, some of them were extremely qualified; few of them were 'world class'. They always went extra miles for client solutions building, more importantly for achieving organizational goals. But 'hand on heart'  , I can't claim the deserving ones got what they deserved at the end of the day. Most of us were carried away (be very moved), without understanding 'the true meaning of the adage, (Proverb) 'all that glitters is not gold'. Yes, our ladies are either deprived of their due or neglected or not recognised at home. We also sadly notice while we get to notice, they are not being given 'due share' in the offices too, which loudly promote 'social justice' or 'performance culture'.

Time has possibly come for our women, especially the educated ones, to claim 'what they deserve', without trying to earn 'pity' from their male or female sponsors. They have come across a long way. We have seen many girl students occupying the 'top' positions in the public exams, but they got lost afterwards. We want our decision makers to go 'deep' to find out the real reasons and make sure we harness and promote talented ladies for their 'core competence' or ability to deliver, rather than considering senior positions for ladies on political closeness or only to 'pamper' them, despite being disconnected with the ultimate vision or goals. We want more qualified ladies engaged in delineating a better future for all of us.

(Mamun Rashid is a banker and economic analyst.

E-mail: mrashid1961@gmail.com)