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Bangladesh

United Nations/M. Yousuf Tushar

Updates

Administrative agreements with the Government of Bangladesh were finalized in 2019.
BBS representatives were supported to attend the 7th Workshop on Foreign Partners for Statistical Training in Asia and the Pacific by the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP) in September 2018 to present their efforts in strengthening gender statistics. After the workshop, Bangladesh was invited to become a member of the new Subgroup on Gender Statistics Training established by UN Women and SIAP to facilitate information-sharing, promote coordination, and develop and improve training.
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Progress of the Women Count project in Bangladesh

For detailed results go to the annual report

0-19% 20-39% 40-59% 60-79% 80-100%

Country Fact Sheet

How are we making women count in Bangladesh?

A woman sits for a photo with her children in Balukhali camp March 6, 2018. As of January 2018, UN Women has set up the first Multi-Purpose Women's Centre in the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, in partnership with Action Aid and with support from UN Women National Committee Australia. Photo: UN Women/Allison Joyce

Create an Enabling Environment

The Problem

In Bangladesh, the availability of gender data and statistics are uneven in several aspects – across sectors and topics, as well as in regularity and timeliness. While there are numerous laws, policies and plans to address gender equality and women’s empowerment, the gender data and statistics needed for monitoring and reporting are not available for many areas, and those statistics that are available are not updated.

The Women Count response includes

Working with intergovernmental bodies to establish processes on gender statistics, the programme will help establish and institutionalize a gender statistics coordination mechanism.

Formulating a Bangladesh Minimum Set of Gender Indicators as the basis for producing gender statistics and indicators that meet various reporting and monitoring requirements on gender equality.

Supporting implementation of action and advocacy plans and strengthening the capacity of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to create an appropriate structure for a gender statistics cell.

Increase Data Production

The Problem

In Bangladesh, surveys and censuses are not conducted regularly. Moreover, the Bangladesh statistical system does not have a system of designated statistics – meaning there is no assurance that a particular data collection will be resourced and carried out on a regular basis.

The Women Count response includes

Improving gender data production by closing data gaps and strengthening BBS capacity on gender statistics, including through data collection on priority data needs such as time-use, violence against women, and sex-disaggregated population statistics;

Supporting the BBS and Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs to identify priority gender-specific SDG indicators, develop a methodology for data collection and conduct a pilot project on data collection and indicator production; and

Assisting the BBS to develop and maintain a user-friendly database and publish/disseminate a report.

A girl is seen in Balukhali camp on 5 March 2018. As of January 2018, UN Women has set up the first Multi-Purpose Women's Centre in the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, in partnership with Action Aid and with support from UN Women National Committee Australia. Photo: UN Women/Allison Joyce

Improve Data Accessibility & Use

The Problem

In Bangladesh, systems to facilitate efficient access and dissemination are virtually non-existent. The BBS and the statistical system in general do not have a dissemination policy or advance-release calendar. Access to statistics is complicated for non-government users. Moreover, the Government usually lacks resources and capacity for adequate data analysis, needing better-equipped staff as well as better data-management processes and systems.

The Women Count response includes

Developing digital systems to improve capacity to achieve goals, and improving gender data dissemination through data portals.

Providing customized training for gender data use including through a capacity-development course for data users on gender statistics analysis and use in planning, budgeting, policymaking and decision-making.

Institutionalizing user-producer dialogues.

Providing research grants and support for studies by academics, CSOs and other non-governmental actors for producing and disseminating policy briefs and other knowledge products that utilize gender statistics.

Highlights

Survey report|Economic empowerment

Bangladesh Time-Use Survey 2021

24 Jul 2023

Bangladesh time-use survey women's unpaid care. Halima Khatun helping her son with homework, Netrakona, Bangladesh. Photo: UN Women/Saikat Mojumder

Impact story|Gender data production and collection

Bangladesh blazes trails on measuring women's unpaid work

31 Mar 2022