A day in a woman’s life starts with a series of decisions, chores, planning and managing everything altogether by them. This means creating a monthly budget, ensuring the right nutrition for the family members, taking kids to school, nursing the whole family and countless jobs at the same time.
They are the silent heroes, running the wheels of economy from their homes. Women are inherently adaptive, manageable and pretty innovative. Now, the transition to career ladies from home managers is quite smooth. They are upholding them amid classic patrchirearchy in modern business world, especially in MSMEs segment.
The Historical Rise of Women’s Empowerment
Rani Bhabani, the formidable queen of Natore, led with immense grace and power from 1748 – 1803. The foundation of women’s empowerment started back then. Then our first Muslim feminist, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, was an autodidact who ensured women’s rights and education for Muslim women in South Asia. After that, the societal fabric started to change.
Contemporary Changes in BD
Women in Bangladesh are making significant strides in leadership across a wide range of sectors, including government, non-governmental organisations, and industries. Their influence is expanding beyond traditional roles, with an increasing presence in the economic, scientific and business spheres.
Nowadays, there is the privilege of running a business from home as well for women. Many remarkable women are boldly venturing into diverse SMEs, including handicrafts, e-commerce, food processing, beauty, and tech startups. Amazingly, they are arranging numerous training initiatives with the help of business support groups, national and international NGOs. These programmes have provided invaluable opportunities, ranging from export readiness training and sponsoring international trade participation to practical workshops on how to successfully manage small businesses.
Initiatives of Government
– Jatiyo Mohila Songstha & Joyeeta Foundation provides different skill development programmes
– ‘Info Lady’, ‘Tottho Apa’, ‘64 district-based women computer training project’ for digital literacy
– Allowance under Mother and Child Benefit
– Refinancing scheme from the Bangladesh Bank to empower women entrepreneurs
– Loan sanction for 5% interest
– Vulnerable women’s benefit programme
These initiatives provide crucial support for women launching businesses in important areas. They mark a step forward, not just offering money help but also covering skills training and wider chances for starting a business.
PriyoShops’ Initiatives for women
PriyoShop mainly works for retailers. Empowering the corner stores with an easy distribution solution, connecting with the brands, providing digital solutions and embedded finance are the prime goals for PriyoShop. Among the vast MSMEs, 7.8% of retailers are women, contributing to nearly 25 per cent of the nation’s GDP. PriyoShop provides support to the women retailers defying gender bias. A big chunk of women also work in PriyoShop’s office with an inclusive work culture. Moreover, there are excellent teams that are led by women managers and the Chief Marketing Officer is also a woman. This clearly shows that women are taking a strong lead in the progress of PriyoShop.
As Bangladesh moves toward becoming a middle-income nation, empowering women entrepreneurs and employees is not just an economic imperative. It is a societal one. Together, we can create a future where every woman has the resources, skills, and support needed to succeed.