Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday said the participation of women in Bangladesh’s ICT sector, including e-commerce, to be raised to 25 percent by 2026 through bold policy measures.
“Today I would like to make the following pledge to increase women’s participation in the ICT sector, including tech start-ups and e-commerce sector to 25% by 2026 and 50% by 2041,” she said in her recorded statement screened in an event of the Generation Equality Forum: Paris 2021.
The Forum that kicked off in Mexico City from 29 to 31 March last is being culminated in Paris from 30 June to 2 July.
In the event titled ‘Technology and Innovation for Gender Equality Action Coalition’, Sheikh Hasina stressed the need for reversing the present situation of women empowerment in different sectors by taking bold policy measures and concerted actions.
Also read: China is a trusted partner in Bangladesh’s socio-economic development: Hasina
Globally, she said, women’s participation in politics, economy and labour force is not encouraging. Today, only 25 percent of parliamentarians are women, while women participation in the labour force is still 31 percent less than men. “We must reverse this situation through bold policy measures and concerted actions,” she added.
The Prime Minister said the world community made bold commitments for women empowerment in Beijing in 1995 (the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing). “Many of those promises, unfortunately, remain unfulfilled,” she said.
About Bangladesh, Hasina said women's empowerment has been a priority of her government. The Digital Bangladesh Vision has meaningfully integrated women in the IT sector, she said.
“We’ve launched various practical projects aimed at creating women IT professionals and efficient entrepreneurs. We’re also using many digital apps in addressing violence against women. In the last three years, over 71,000 girls received cyber awareness training leading to their enhanced safety on cyber platforms,” she said.
Also read: Govt plans to revitalise ICT sector
French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres opened the 3-day virtual Paris forum on Wednesday, where heads of State and Government, heads of international organisations, activists from civil society and youth-led organizations, philanthropists and CEOs of private sector companies gathered.
The Generation Equality Forum is a global gathering for gender equality, convened by UN Women and co-chaired by France and Mexico, with the close partnership of civil society. It is a landmark event to accelerate progress on gender equality.
The event marks the most significant international convening for gender equality since the 1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing.