Over 90 per cent of working women in Bangladesh are employed in the informal sector, which was particularly hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has revealed.
The findings were shared at a seminar titled "Strengthening Systems for Pandemic Preparedness among Working Women Living in Informal Settlements in Urban Bangladesh," jointly organised by icddr,b, the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and SickKids, Canada, with funding support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.
The event, held at the Sasakawa Auditorium of icddr,b in Dhaka, brought together key stakeholders to discuss the Women RISE study findings and their policy implications.
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Led by Dr Sohana Shafique, the study used a mixed-methods approach to assess the experiences of working women in informal settlements and factories in Dhaka and Gazipur before and during the pandemic.
“I believe the results of this study will help all of us to prepare for any impending pandemic. We should be careful now as COVID-19 cases are increasing. Again, providing us with further refining and embellishing what we have been doing,” said Dr Tahmeed Ahmed, executive director of icddr,b.
Dr Sohana highlighted the vulnerabilities of women in urban slum communities and factories, systemic gaps in urban health services, and the positive outcomes of the intervention.
Health ministry additional secretary Mohammad Nora Alam Siddique, said, “I request to send these findings to policymakers so that we can check our initiative. The ministry is committed to collaborating with the cross-sectional groups to improve the systems.”
Dr Tahmina Shirin, director of IEDCR, provided closing remarks, stressing the importance of evidence-based collaboration to enhance pandemic resilience and social protection coverage for urban poor working women.
The research showed notable improvements following targeted interventions.
Knowledge regarding respiratory infection exposure routes increased by 29.59 per cent overall, with a 36.28 per cent rise among informal sector workers.
Preventive practice also improved by 15.95 per cent overall, while knowledge of Social Safety Net Program registration increased by 16.26 per cent among informal workers.
Dietary diversity among working women increased by 11.58 per cent overall, with formal sector workers seeing a 22.30 per cent rise. Additionally, knowledge of gender-based violence (GBV) services rose by 23.43 per cent overall, with a 28.51 per cent increase among informal workers.
The project applied systems thinking and gender-transformative approaches at multiple levels to develop and evaluate a tailored intervention aimed at pandemic preparedness for working women.