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1.0 Introduction
‗Education is the backbone of a country‘- a very ancient and prominent saying to inspire
the entire nation for education. The statement is cent percent true at all time. Education is
of course the vehicle to move the nation through the path of development. The question
comes, who will be the passenger of this vehicle? In other words, who will get this
education, either only male or only female or both? Education equality is one of the
major dimensions of gender discrimination argument. The development concern is
working on this for a long ago throughout the world. Thus, the success is also very
visible especially in case of developing countries like Bangladesh
Since it‘s born in 1971, Bangladesh is still striving to move to the developed level fromthe developing level. Consequently, the country has achieved a remarkable success in
various fields of development, which has uplifted the overall development of the
country. Education equality is one of those successful fields where Bangladesh has
ensured a satisfactory percentage of female students compare to the male students. Even
in the rural aspect, the country has almost equal percentage of both male and female
students. The success is surely marked with the contribution of government and non-
government participation.
The first step of development is done by ensuring education equality. Now, the question
comes how these educated females will contribute to the society as like males? The first
and foremost reply to this question is ‗through her job‘, but for this she needs to get a job
or a space where she can apply her education and skill. She needs a position which
would enhance her knowledge and qualification. Thus, the society will be able to grab
the contribution from her. Here emerges the question of employment equality which is
another dimension of gender discrimination. Unfortunately, Bangladesh is still behind to
ensure this equality in terms of gender discrimination.
In most of the developing countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, females is
fortunately getting proper education. Even if they get an education due to the
development process, their education is not properly valued. The situation in Bangladesh
depicts that, most of the organizations expected and recruited females for only secretariat
or receptionists or public relation posts. No matter, how much qualified or skill that the
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female has or no matter whether that female employee is efficient for some other
complicated job.
Interestingly, females are asked to have a BBA/graduation or even MBA/masters to
apply for secretariat or front desk job or public relation jobs. Accomplishing a
BBA/graduation for 4 years or MBA/Masters for 2 years is not an easy task. A student
gathers knowledge of various aspects and put her honest effort to turn that knowledge
into skill. Thus a graduate or masters passed female becomes eligible for any impactful
job. Unfortunately, their skills are not valued above their gender and thus they are
encouraged to apply for secretariat or front desk job or public relation jobs. Sometimes,
the situation also forces the females to be encouraged and apply to these jobs ignoring
their qualifications.
It is not argued that, the secretariat or front desk jobs are insignificant or indecent. In fact
these jobs very much challenge where employees have to work on nerve in most of the
time. The argument is that, these jobs don‘t need any involvement of conceptual skill or
logical reasoning skill. Thus, the employer can ask for a bit low level of education like
SSC or HSC and should ask applications from male as well. Why only females are
encouraged to apply for these jobs? Why only females are expected to go for public
relation or front desk or secretariat activities? Why the employers‘ websites erase the
statement ―only Females are Encouraged to Apply‖ and take applications in these jobs
irrespective of gender?
The research aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis on the discussed issue. This will
lead it to go through the observation of the employers‘ activities and trends. The research
will also go through some real stories which will open up the real practice of
discrimination. In this way, the research will be able to find out the answers of the above
questions.
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2.0 Background
There are certain hurdles over the idea of equal opportunities for male and female
employment. The thoughts given by a woman while choosing a suitable employment for
herself are mainly the consequence of their socioeconomic status in a country. One of the
formidable challenges for women in this respect is their restricted access to productive
resources. From their childhood, the girls are made to feel inferior to the boys leading
them to believe in inequality and discrimination which last even up to their professional
life. In industrial and other works women are mostly found doing the entry-level jobs. It
happens seldom that they can be marked out in any managerial or even mid-level
positions. Even if a woman is highly educated and efficient enough to run the
organization, she is deprived of an opportunity to prove that.
Employment opportunity bias is a general trend to be noticed in most of the employers‘
attitude. Sex segregation in employment opportunities is much observed in corporations.
Women are perceived as too emotional, gentle, illogical and sensitive to succeed in the
corporate environment. Sometimes in public service this gap is highly observed. Even in
countries like the USA, government has been guilty of unlawful denial of promotion of
women. Raymond F. Gregory writes in Women and Workplace Discrimination:
Overcoming Barriers to Gender Equality that Angie Gobert, a woman employed in a
government department could not prosper in a higher position when her competitor left
the said position. The position was declared closed for any fill in rather than employing a
woman there. Private industries have also acted with equal boldness in denying
promotions to female workers.
Barrister Harun ur Rashid, former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva, is written
in the law page of the Daily Star on 13th March, 2010, that out of 4,419 civil servants
only 673 are women, according to the establishment ministry. There is only one woman
DIG of police and four female additional DIGs in the police force. Faruq Hasan writes in
My Friend the Misogynist published in the Star magazine on March 5, 2010, that one of
his friends who own a garment factory has no women in the management. He professes
that women aren‘t smart enough to lead yet.
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Even with improvements in labor statistics, the latest (1989) Labor Force Survey still
excludes housework from the definition of economic activity. On this definition, women
carry out fewer hours of unpaid family labor on average than men. Although highly
educated women in Bangladesh expect to achieve gender equality, compared to highly
educated men, but women are under-represented in managerial and executive position.
There is a generous quota system for women's representation in official public bodies.
But quotas are not generally met and where they are, the women are regarded as token
appointees and adopt a passive role in the bodies concerned.
From existing data, there are two clearly discernible gender differentials in
unemployment and underemployment. Firstly, the unemployment rates of female
graduates are strikingly high (17 percent) compared to those of male graduates (2.3
percent) (BBS, 1993). The high level of unemployment of female graduates requires
further investigation. The Secondly, the overall level of under utilization of the labor
force is 83 percent for women compared to only 15.4 percent for men, indicating much
higher female than male underemployment.
Even after achieving significant success against gender discrimination, still the job
circulars of different organization force a female to be discriminated. It has become a
common practice in almost every organization have a female in the front desk position.
So that, the customers can get an attraction to communicate with that particular
organization. Surprisingly, these organizations ask graduation/BBA qualification for
these sorts of positions. Where as a female, with a graduation/BBA certificate, is able
doing much more sophisticated and managerial task.
Gender discrimination is blocking female prospects in banking. Bangladesh Bank study
finds women trailing males in this sector. The news published in Financial Express on
Sunday, 23 September 2012 by Rezaul Karim reveals this scenario.
The gender discrimination in the banking sector appears to be standing in the way of
next-generation banking in the country, a latest study conducted by Bangladesh Bank
(BB) said. "The batch of younger, entry level female employees need to be groomed to
become part of the next-generation bank management," it mentioned.
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It also said the female participation in the country's banking sector is still very low due to
the absence of appropriate steps. According to a BB data, around 13.08 per cent of
women work at entry level in the banking industry, but less at mid-level --- 8.58 per cent,
and 4.44 percent work at senior management level. In the banking sector, about 15.57
percent of women employees are there in the below-thirty age group. The percentage of
female Board Members totalled came to only 9.73 per cent in 2011, the data shows. It
also pointed out that the 'female attrition' levels need to fall further despite the 'turnover
ratio' of departing males is higher than that of females, with SCBs showing the higher
ability to retain the female staff.
However, the gender discrimination remains a core problem in many countries and is a
key constraint to economic growth and improvements in social indicators. One key
sphere where gender issues directly impact productivity and growth relates to the low
levels of female participation in the labor force. In the PCB (private commercial banks)
sector, there is a new hope that more employment transparency and purely merit-based
job opportunities are getting boost day by day. This change is already becoming visible
in the some foreign banks.
The foreign banks believe female workers are sincere to put in great efforts in their work,
and many times are better qualified to perform the job than their male counterparts. The
general perception of the banking sector recruiting authorities appears to be that women
are more diligent in their duty, and show a much smaller incidence of being involved in
corrupt and fraudulent activities against the interests of the bank.
Although the situation is quite different in NGOs and other foreign organizations, but
some local organizations and government organizations are still practicing this approach.
It is not like that, women are completely ignored in any respective position. In fact
nowadays many organizations recruit females in many crucial positions. Surprisingly,
there are many cases in Bangladesh, where one organization has recruited a female in a
higher level position with sophisticated responsibility and at the same time same
organization has circulated its preference for a female in a secretariat or front desk job.
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3.0 Research Problem
Various educational and motivational programs have been successfully working in
Bangladesh. Subsequently, women have broken out the common social problems like
illiteracy, early marriage, etc. For example, Bangladesh has already achieved gender
parity in education levels. Many women are getting proper family support, achieve
higher education, and gain more respect in family life. However, in case of working life,
a huge number of highly educated women are not positioned according to their
educational qualification. Despite of the progress in gender discrimination, still now
females are encouraged to apply for any secretariat rather than males.
The secretariat or front desk jobs are not considered inferior but it should not be confinedto females only to welcome clients with their beauty. If welcome of a client needs a
humble approach then it can be done by a male as well. Unfortunately, the organizations
publish their official circular with a written statement ―females are encouraged to apply‖
for the position of secretary or receptionist or front desk job. Moreover, the employer
also looks for an above average level of education for these sorts of positions not to
utilize her education just to maintain the standard of HR.
The NGOs and other foreign organizations are showing a different approach with the
concept of ―equal opportunity employer‖. However, the local companies are still far
away from this concept. The reason can be many including lacking from both employers
and female employees. Throughout the analysis the research will dig into the particulars
of the issue.
On the basis of the background of the study, the research problem of this study is
“Why the employer prefers females with above average education rather than
males for Front Desk/ Secretariat/ Customer Service jobs in Bangladesh?”
This would entitle the name of the research as- Gender Preference in Jobs-Employers‟
and Employees‟ Perspectives.
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4.0 Purpose
The purpose of this study is to highlight the situation and the reason of preferring highly
educated females for secretariat or front desk position in our country. The research aims
to find out the trend or pattern of the employer in our country who do not prefer a male
for the secretariat or front desk position and demand only females with graduation/BBA.
In addition to this broad purpose, the research aims to find out some specific purposes
too. These are as follows-
Reviewing the existing literature on both gender discrimination in Bangladesh
summarizing the comparative situation of women in Bangladesh, with particular
reference to their social, economic, political and legal status
Depicting the present scenario of gender discrimination in employment
opportunity in Bangladesh
Specifying the loopholes from the aspect of female employees
Identify the particular needs of women in relation to employment, income,
workload, work preference, facilities and benefits
Determining the role of Government Organization (GOs), Non-Government
Organizations (NGOs), and International Non-Government Organizations
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5.0 Scope
This research aims to identify the reason behind the female preference for ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist‘ position even with a higher education degree. To this purpose, the
research has limited its perimeter within a specific and defined scope. Basically, this
research is intended to indicate another dimension of gender discrimination. To be more
specific, the research deals with the gender discrimination in employment opportunity.
However, gender discrimination itself is a wide concept indeed and reflection of
employment concepts in it, enlarges this wideness a bit more. This is why, the research
has decided to confine the discussion within the mentioned perimeter. It will only search
the reason for which employers preferred only female to ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘
positions instead of the male even with a higher education.
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6.0 Literature Review
6.1 Gender Discrimination or Gender Inequality
Gender inequality means disparity among human beings on the basis of gender. Gender
is differentiated basically in two ways generally, firstly social perception about the status
of gender secondly on the basis of biological aspects through body differences as human
chromosomes, brain structure, and hormonal differences of the human body. Gender
inequality means differentiation, whether pragmatic grounded or social. Today gender
roles are knitted by culture and tradition but it seems that Islam influences the status of
women conservatively in society and this influence slows down the progress of women,
and limits the policies designed for women. This influence narrows the economic
opportunities for women claimed by Robert M. Hathaway, Wilson Lee ©2004.
Gender equality or equality between men and women entails the concept that all human
beings, both men and women, are free to develop their personal abilities and make
choices without the limitations set by stereotype, rigid gender roles and prejudices.
Gender equality means that the different behavior, aspirations and needs of women and
men are considered, valued and favored equally. It does not mean that women and men
to become the same, but that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not
depend on whether they are born male or female (ILO, 2000).
At the core of the sociological analysis of gender is the distinction between biological
sex and gender: sex is a property of the biological characteristics of an organism; gender
is socially constructed, socially created. This is a powerful and totally revolutionary idea:
we have the potential capacity to change the social relations in which we live, including
the social relations between biologically defined men and women. Sometimes in the
media one hears a discussion in which someone talks about the gender of a dog. In the
sociological use of the term, dogs don‘t have gender; only people living within socially
constructed relations are gendered. This distinction raises a fundamental question in
sociological theory about what it means to say that something is ―natural‖. Gender
relations are generally experienced as ―natural‖ rather than as something created by
cultural and social processes. Throughout most of history for most people the roles
performed by men and women seem to be derived from inherent biological properties.
After all, it is a biological fact that women get pregnant and give birth to babies and havethe capacities to breastfeed them. Men cannot do this. It is biological fact that all women
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know that they are the mothers of the babies they bear, whereas men know that they are
the fathers of particular children only when they have confidence that they know the
sexual behavior of the mother. It is a small step from these biological facts to the view
that it is also a fact of nature that women are best suited to have primary responsibility
for rearing children as well, and because of this they should be responsible for other
domestic chores. The central thesis of sociological accounts of gender relations is that
these biological facts by themselves do not determine the specific form that social
relations between men and women talk. This does not imply, however, an even stronger
view, that gender relations have nothing to do with biology. Gender relations are the
result of the way social processes act on a specific biological categories and form social
relations between them. One way of thinking about this is with a metaphor of production:
biological differences rooted in sex constitute the raw materials which, through a specific
process of social production, get transformed into the social relations we call ―gender‖.
Now, this way of thinking about sex and gender leaves entirely open the very difficult
question of what range of variation in gender relations is stably possible. This is a critical
question if one holds to a broadly egalitarian conception of social justice and fairness.
From an egalitarian point of view, gender relations are fair if, within those relations,
males and females have equal power and equal autonomy. This is what could be termed
―egalitarian gender relations.‖ This does not imply that all men and all women do exactly
the same things, but it does mean that gender relations do not generate unequal
opportunities and choices for men and women (Gerson, 2009).
6.2 Gender Discrimination in Bangladesh- Social, economic and
religious aspect
A study by ICDDRB (International Centre for Diarrhea Disease Research, Bangladesh
has found gender inequality to exist every sphere, especially in rural Bangladesh (TheDaily Star, 2008). Bangladesh, is a typical developing country with a high level of
illiteracy and over – population, is not free from the problem of gender disparity. The
various elements of the social system thus interact to make women dependent on men or
at risk when deserted and to produce a rigid division of labor and highly segregated labor
market by gender (World Bank, 1992). The household is the primary production and
consumption unit. Men generally own and manage family land and income and women
contribute a great deal to the economy and to the family. Not only do they participate in
agriculture and industrial labor but also they are entirely charged with cooking, cleaning,
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collecting firewood and water and washing. In addition, they assume full responsibility
for rearing children and caring for the old and infirm (Gita, 2001).
Gender inequality prevails in all countries of the world. Although it is a common
phenomenon all over the world, its position is somewhat acute in Bangladesh. Women
are disadvantaged in Bangladesh in terms of all well-being indicators (Khondkar, 1999;
Kabeer, 1989; Mahmud and Mahmud, 1985).
Different forms of inequalities
In the following sections briefly describe various factors that influence women‘s lives
and are interrelated with their status through prevailing culture, traditions and customs
of the country.
Gender inequality in Family
Differential treatment of female begins at birth. While a son is welcomed to the world
with a loud audible prayer of ―God is Great‖ in the presence of members, a daughter
receives only the ―whisper of Quranic prayer‖. Bertocci (1974) notes that, this kind of
response regarding the sex of a newborn baby influences the roles and behavior patterns
that she or he will learn and ―act out later in life‖.
According to the convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) and the constitution of our country, every man and women have
equal rights to get equal opportunities in their family. But a good number of studies have
shown that discrimination against the girl child women starts within the family. Women
get a smaller share of household expenditures on education and health care relative to
men. Women‘s have less opportunity to visit health center, go to a movie, visit outside
the village, and visit friends and relatives. Most of the women are discriminated by their parents at first and then by their husband in the family. Usually parents expose different
attitude between their boys and girls after birth. Women in our family have always been
considered subservient to men. Men mostly own the lands owned by the households and
women are deprived of this right. In the family, as women are responsible for child
bearing and rearing, they have less scope to go out home for employment, hence most of
them are confined to the domestic chores, which are not counted in the accounting
procedure of the country, however, there is a clear discrimination with family affairs
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falling under personal laws governed by religion, where the state is reluctant to become
involved (Mamun AA, 2007).
Women and Marriage
Marriage is a near universal phenomenon in Bangladesh. By the age of 15 to 19 about 70
percent of the females in Bangladesh are married (Population Crisis Committee, 1988).
Muslim marriage laws, however, protect a woman partially through the custom of Mahr
(money, property, jewelry or clothing to be given to the bride) to which the wife is
entitled upon divorce. The significance of Mahrs has been gradually reducing more of a
ritualistic custom than to actual practice (Kabeer, 1985; Smock, 1977). Most women,
especially those from the lower socioeconomic classes, may not have a written kabin
name. Because of the fear of litigation, even women who do know the details of the
contract may forego the right of enforcement (Alamgir, 1977).
Women and Fertility
A woman becomes well integrated into her husband‘s family only with the birth of
children, but barrenness may become grounds for polygamy and divorce (Miah, 1992).
Moreover, the overriding cultural emphasis on lineage maintenance, early marriage, and
economic benefits of having children translate primarily into high fertility for women.The total fertility rate in Bangladesh was 4.8 in 2010 (Population Development and
Evaluation unit, 2010). Rearing children and cooking for all members of the family is
one of the major roles of a woman. Thus, the effect on fertility, which ties women mainly
to unpaid household work.
Women and Religion
A local religious practices in Bangladesh have a significant influence on a wo man‘s
status, especially among Muslims (Miah, 1992). It is popularly known that Islam does
not directly advocate the lower status of women, but some of its practices lead to sexual
segregation, as manifested in purdah. Furthermore, religious justifications lead to
behavioral restrictions. As Fedman and McCarhy (1983) point out, the Islamic dictum
for women to the elders by being quiet and keeping one‘s head covered in their presence.
To ―have shame‖ means a wife will not behave in ways which can jeopardize her
husband‘s family prestige. Some local belief that ‗haven lies at the feet of the husband‘
(Hartman and Boyce, 1983) has gained wide acceptance among most Muslim rural
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women. Such belief result in complete allegiance to the husband‘s wishes and decision
without challenge.
Women and Property Rights
The civil and personal laws of Bangladesh guarantee a woman‘s right to income and
property. A very small percentage of women are engaged in paid work and the
possibility of accumulating capital for buying is seriously limited for them. Whatever
income may be earned by rural women by investing in poultry or livestock is usually
spent for subsistence purposes (Alamgir, 1977).
Access to Education
Education is a social phenomenon that strongly influences on women‘s control of their
own future but low level of female education have been frequently cited in Bangladesh.
The common belief among many villagers that educated girls are rude, less affectionate
and disobedient also acts a contributory factor against female education (Salam, 1998).
The discrepancy starts from the family itself where parents are to be seen more
concerned about the safety of their daughters than the sons. Girls are often discriminated
against in getting access to school and support to continue into secondary school.
Daughters are restricted to their houses and given marriage at an early age.
Table 01: Male and Female Literacy Rate in Bangladesh
Source: UNDP: Human Development Report (HDR) 2002
Health and Nutrition
Women‘s low social status and poverty are in turn lead to their poor health, high fertility
and lack of access to essential health care. The ultimate outcome of these latter three
factors is a high maternal mortality rate. The daily per capital calorie intake of women
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91599k.cal) is lower than that of a man (1927k.cal). The life expectancy of females
(60.5) is lower than that of males (60.7 years) (Ara, 2002). The average weight of a
Bangladeshi woman is about 40.9 kg, which is less than the mean weight of women in
most third world countries. The low weight is a reflection of food deprivation. Poor
environmental sanitation and lower food intake of female give them lower resistance
capacity, thereby rendering them more vulnerable to diarrhea and communicable
diseases, which cause the highest mortality and morbidity in this country.
Women in Decision -making, Politics and Administration
Women‘s participation in the political and national movement has been very negligible.
Although in recent years two women have emerged as important political leaders in the
country through their personal connections with deceased male political leaders of their
respective parties. Women usually do not participate in the political process (Table 3).
Political participation of women is low because of illiteracy and little involvement of
women in public life and politics. The female members of the Union Parishad (lowest
part of the local unit), the lowest tier of the Local Government, though elected in a direct
election, literally they have fewer powers, lots of women's votes at villages and women
in the hill tracts are deprived of their voting rights also. Patriarchy still controls all
institutions of the society, the parliament, military establishments, judiciary, education
and benevolent organizations etc. (Ahmed, 2001). In the legislature to have a fair
representation of women, out of 345 seats, 45 seats are reserved for women. This does
not however preclude women from contesting any of the 300 general seats – which is, of
course, more a matter of theory than practice. On the other side, participation of women
in political decision-making and administration remains very slim. Currently very few
Bangladeshi women can be found in positions of political leadership in both central and
local government structures, and even in the administrative hierarchy. As a result of thislack of opportunities to intervene in the policy and decision making level, women have a
minimal impact on the planning, management and implementation of policies.
Economic activities
A woman in Bangladesh enjoys lesser importance. ―She is little more than a free servant
and a child bearing machine.‖ The ―good‖ women stayed at home and looked after her
husband and her children. Whereas, the working woman, portrayed as morally lax and
the cause of disintegration of the family, of social values and of society in general.
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Women‘s participation in economic activities remains unvalued at the national level
because of patriarchal social structure, tradition and norms. In Bangladesh, women‘s
participation in economic activities shows great variation by gender, nature of activity
and place of residence. Women‘s household work remains unrecognized, uncounted and
invisible (Salam, 1998).
We can get a comprehensive idea about the participation of women in government
services from the following table.
Table 02: Selected Candidates for the Civil Services in Different BCS Examinations by
Gender
Source: Annual Report- 2003, 2008, Bangladesh Public Service Commission, Dhaka:
Government of People‘s Republic Bangladesh, 2009. Page-65.
6.3 Gender Differences in Employment
There are several factors creating a discriminatory environment for women around the
office. The interesting fact about this is that the causes of gender discrimination at the
workplace start to operate even from the time a woman makes her choice to work.
Employment capabilities, bargaining power, the nature of work and workload are the
main pondering issues here. These thoughts make a woman‘s choice of occupation
complicated from the very beginning. Most of the working ladies or women willing to
enter the job market make the same complaints about these threats (Cahuc, et al. 2002).
In manufacturing industries, women are under-represented not just in managerial and
executive positions, but also in clerical occupations, comprising less than 10 percent of
the workforce at each of these levels (World Bank, 1990a). Among manual workers,
women tend to be concentrated in labor intensive, light work requiring manual dexterity;
they are rarely employed to operate heavy machinery. More skill-intensive, heavy
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industries, such as plastics and metals, employ a smaller proportion of women than light
industries, but these employees tend to be women with a secondary education.
(Paul-Majumdar and Chaudhuri-Zohir, 1992). A very small but growing number of
female workers are engaged in the construction industry, mainly as unskilled day
laborers. Naripokkho (1991) suggest that women's involvement in the sector is
considerably underestimated because of a narrow interpretation of which jobs constitute
construction work. Women in urban areas also work in domestic service and in a range
of unregulated informal sector enterprises.
Industry segregation patterns are similar when looking at firms rather than workers. In
both developed and developing countries, female-owned firms tend to operate in a
restricted number of sectors, populated by smaller firms and characterized by low value
added and lower growth potential. Women entrepreneurs are heavily concentrated in the
service sector and in businesses that conform more to female roles (such as beauty
parlors food vending, and sewing) (Udry et al. 1995).
6.4 Gender Discrimination in Managerial Position
According to the stereotyping theory, women‘s advancement into managerial positions is
interrupted or limited by the discrepancies perceived between women‘s characteristics
and those characteristics – usually men‘s characteristics – traditionally correlated with
managerial success (Terborg and Ilgen, 1975, pp. 352-376; Baroudi and Truman, 1992,
pp. 4-5). Women are generally perceived as empathic, intuitive, devoid of aggression,
emotional, dependent, oriented towards group, not competitive, less ambitious, devoid of
entrepreneurial spirit and as lacking the desire to be in a leadership position. By
associating feminine characteristics with women and masculine characteristics with men
(and successful leaders), women‘s opportunities to climb the organizational ladder are
limited.
According to the attribution theory, workplace success or failure is due to stable,
objective factors (intelligence, professionalism, skill) or variable, subjective factors
(chance or luck) (Terborg and Ilgen, 1975, pp. 352-376; Baroudi and Truman, 1992, p.
5). In general, when the performance of individuals meets the employer‘s expectations, it
is attributed to stable factors; conversely, when the performances do not meet or exceed
the employer‘s expectations, the unexpected result (positive or negative) i s attributed to
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variable factors. The discriminatory treatment arises when the results obtained by female
managers exceed the expectations and are explained by variable factors (it is assumed
that the favorable external context and not skills or ambition allowed her to do more),
whereas when their performance does not meet the expectations, failure is explained by
stable factors (it is assumed that the female manager lacks professionalism or skills, and
that is why she could not achieve the goal – external factors, outside her area of influence
are disregarded). On the contrary, exceeding the expectations in the case of a male
manager is explained by stable factors (it is assumed that his abilities have been
underestimated and that the better results are due exclusively to his work and actions and
not to chance or favorable developments in the external environment), while his
performances that do not meet the expectations are attributed to either external factors (it
is assumed that although the male manager is very well trained and did his best, the goals
were not reached due to external elements outside his area of influence, thus he is not to
be blamed or sanctioned). Because of this discriminatory interpretation of success and
failure, female managers are denied career promotions or downgraded more often than
their male counterparts that obtain similar results.
Gender discrimination in management, is described in the relevant literature with the
help of several concepts: (1) the glass ceiling referring to the underrepresentation ofwomen in management positions, (2) the glass cliff referring to the overrepresentation of
women in precarious management positions, and (3) the glass escalator which refers to
the greater opportunities for promotion enjoyed by men in female dominated professions.
The glass cei li ng (the underrepresentati on of women in management):Historically, the
first identified form of gender discrimination in management has been the glass ceiling.
The concept of glass ceiling can refer to the invisible, but impenetrable barrier
preventing women from reaching managerial positions irrespective of their achievements
or merits (The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, 1995a, p. iii; 1995b, p. 4).
The il lusion of breaking the glass ceil ing- the glass cli ff :The glass cliff is a concept
used to describe the phenomenon whereby most women overcoming the glass ceiling are
appointed in risky positions (Haslam and Ryan, 2008, p. 531). These positions do not
improve the status of women or eliminate the preconceptions about women in
management, but on the contrary, they contribute to the perpetuation of negative
stereotypes and discrimination.
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When men are the minority- the glass elevator: Most studies about gender
discrimination in management have focused on the experiences of women in male
dominated environments. However, there is another side of the coin and researchers
should also pay attention to the case of men trying to integrate and adapt to environments
dominated by women (Williams, 1992, p. 253) and this situation is known as glass
elevator.
6.5 Women‟s Preference Due to Obstacle
Significant and systematic gender differences in time use can be characterized by three
stylized facts. First, women work more than men once all productive (housework, care,
and market) activities are taken into account. Second, women bear the brunt of house-
work and care while men are mostly responsible for market work. In Bangladesh, women
devote more time than men to housework and child care. Third, gender differences in
time use patterns are primarily driven by family formation. Marriage significantly
increases the time devoted to housework for women but not for men (Becker, Gary S.
1957).
The social structure of Bangladesh imposes restrictions on women‘s access to market
work and on the kind of work that women may do. Our country require by law that a
woman acquire her father‘s or husband‘s permission to work outside the home, while in
other places women may not open or operate an individual bank account. In addition,
restrictions on work hours and industry of work are often introduced as protective
measures to take into account the health of pregnant women, nursing mothers, or women
engaged in potentially hazardous jobs. Industry restrictions are more common than work
hour restrictions, but the two often coexist (Bates, Timothy. 1995).
Unlike men, women prefer to work in jobs that offer flexible working arrangements
(such as part-time or informal jobs) so that they can combine work with care
responsibilities. However, part-time and in-formal jobs often pay lower (hourly) wages
than full-time and formal managerial jobs, a high concentration of women in these
lower-paying jobs weakens the incentives to participate in market work and thus
reinforces the specialization in nonmarket (including care) and market work along
gender lines within the household (Correll, et al. 2007).
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Workplace choices made by many of the females often perpetuate the disparity in
income between them and males. These are six choices of women that contribute to their
gender‘s lower incomes:
1. The frequent choice to drop out for a few years to raise children lowers women‘s
income statistics for those dropped-out years. Moreover, mothering experience also
changes many women so that they often do not rejoin the job track;
2. The workaholic behaviour of an executive to rise to the top is less often chosen by a
woman than by a man;
3. In most cases women make the gender workplace choice to avoid physical jobs. For
instance, women might not be attracted to be employed as airline baggage handlers
though it is a good-paying job;
4. Women have more often chosen advanced degrees that result in lower-paid social
welfare jobs
5. Earning power is much more a cultural goal for men than for women;
6. Entrepreneurial women, on the average, choose to charge less than their male
counterparts.
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7.0 Research Methodology
7.1 Research Design
This research project is entirely concerned in the development seeking problem and it
will be conducted keeping that concern in mind. This research will signify the
discriminated situation of the females in recruitment process of many organizations in
Bangladesh. The research will be conducted under the category of descriptive research.
This is because; descriptive research involves gathering data that describe events and
then organizes, tabulates, depicts, and describes the data collection. With the aim to find
out the discriminated situation for the females in the recruitment process, the descriptive
research approach will be an appropriate approach to it.
The entire research has been encompassed by both quantitative and qualitative aspects.
Secondary data from an observation method has been analyzed by quantitative approach
and the primary data from interviews and case study method has been analyzed by
qualitative approach. This has been done to get the most meaningful and accurate finding
of the analysis.
The research plan has started out from the review of the literature to draw the research
questions, figuring out the whole research population and designing the sample, fixing
up the analysis method and applying on the sample and finally analyzing the collected
data.
a) Types of Data:
The research has gathered data from two types of data sources.
1. Primary Data: This data has been collected from the various female employees
working in different organization. This was gathered to understand what the
female employee demands and also to understand problems from their part. The
primary data was also collected from some employers to understand why they
prefer only female and educated female for receptionists or secretariat position.
Besides, the idea has also been gathered from the employers who are equal
opportunity employers.
2.
Secondary Data: Secondary data have been collected from different job sites andalso from the websites of different companies and NGOs and INGOs. This has
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been done to understand the frequency of the preference of female employees in
secretariat position and the categories of those companies.
b) Survey Method:This research will not follow the survey method among a certain sample from a
population. According to CR Kothari (1990) the research has many different standard
methods of analysis among which Non-Participantdirect observation, personal interview
and case study methods are some useful techniques. In order to collect both the primary
data and secondary data the research has applied three forms of research analysis. These
are-
Non Participant Observation Method-This was applied by observing the last 4
month record of different job searches. By this the research got the idea about the
pattern of job in which females are preferred and with what level of qualification.
This has also helped to identify the companies who follow this practice.
Personal Interview Method- This method was applied to get the opinion of
some female employees on the research problem issue. Moreover, the case study
method helped to understand the problems from a female employee‘s part to
deploy her in the more challenging job.
Case Study Method- This method was applied to portray the real life situation
where females have been trapped into this employment preference and where
females have been privileged by equal opportunity employment. The method has
also been applied to get the real case situation where an employer preferred
female form ‘Front Desk/Receptionist‘ position.
c) Sample Design:
Population: Although the research didn‘t follow the usual survey method but
still it has fixed up a population to limit the data collection perimeter. This
research analyzed the situation from both employer and the female
employees‘ perspective. Thus the population of this research is both employer
and female employees.
Sample Size: The research conducted the observation method on the job
sources on different job sites on their last 4 month record. Here, the sample
size was 5 job websites and the 4 months counting starts from 1st April 2013
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to 30th July 2013. Besides, the research has conducted case study method
where the sample size was 20 with 10 female employees and 10 employers.
The number of sample size was supposed to be increased or decreased based
on the availability.
Sampling Method: The research has conducted the research by using a
random sampling method so that the sample has represented the total
population.
Data Analysis: The research has first gathered the trend data of 5 Jobsites
about the female preferred jobs. The research has first considered 9 categories
of jobs under which the number of total jobs and female preference counts for
each category. Then the research has applied the ratio analysis method to
understand the weight of female preference in the total number of jobs in each
category for last 4 months. After that the ratio figure has been expressed
through percentage which helped to show the status by graphical
representation.
7.2 Research Question:
Question 1: What are the motives of the employer for preferring only females and withabove average education instead of males for secretariat or front desk jobs?
Question 2: What are the reasons that the employer utilize the only feminine beauty of
the female employees for secretariat or front desk jobs and ignores their education for
any complicated jobs?
7.3 Research Hypotheses:
Hypothesis 1: Employer prefers females with above average education rather than malesto attract the clients by influencing welcome and to maintain the organization‘s HR
standard as well.
Hypothesis 2: Employer believes females are not dependable for management or
complicated task in fact they are suitable for only client welcome because of their
feminine beauty.
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8.0 Data Analysis
The research aims to identify the reason for which employers prefer female for the
secretariat or front desk position even with a higher degree and capability. In order to
know the reason behind this problem, it is necessary to the present face of the problem or
the present condition of the problem. The data analysis will dig into this chronologically.
It will first present the present condition of the problem and then it will identify the
reason behind it. The data analysis of this research is completely based on the
researcher‘s observation on the job sites and also the data gathered from an interview of
different employers.
8.1 Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The Job Sites Table 03: Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The Bdjobs.com
Bdjobs.co
m
Ad
min
Accou
nts
Custo
mer
Service
Front
Desk/Rece
ptionist
HR
Field
Market
ing
Cleani
ng
Defenc
e
Service
Female
preferred 7 8 28 22 10 5 13 1
Total Job 35 39 50 30 28 37 25 7
Ratio 1:5 8:39 14:25 11:15 5:14 5:37 13:25 1:7
Percentage 20% 21% 56% 73% 36% 14% 52% 14%
Source: Observation of last 4 month record of Bdjobs.com counted from 1st April 2013 to 30
th July 2013
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Bdjobs.com is the largest website in Bangladesh for job search purpose. Almost all the
renowned companies including the smallest one post their job circulars in Bdjobs.com.
Thus, Bdjobs.com can be considered as the representative face of the employers‘ demand
as well as the present job market. Therefore, the market representative declares that
females are expressively preferred in ‗Front Desk/ Receptionist‘ position with highest
weighted ratio 11:15. This explains that among 15 circulars of ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘
category 11 circulars preferred female which is 73% of total circulated jobs. Customer
service and Cleaning comes in the second with the ratio of 14:25 which is 56% of total
circular in this category. After that Cleaning comes in third position with the ratio of
13:25 which is 52% of total circular in this category. Interestingly, the lowest female
preference has been counted in defense service, Field marketing and Accounts withlowest percentage and the lowest weighted ratio.
20% 21%
56%
73%
36%
14%
52%
14%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%70%
80%
Figure 01: Status of Female Preferred Jobs
According to The Bdjobs.com
Percentage
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Table 04: Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The Jobsbd.com
Source: Observation of last 4 month record of jobsbd.com counted from 1st April 2013 to 30
th July 2013
Jobsbd.com is another renowned job site in Bangladesh where many reputed
organizations give their job circular for various positions. With different figure numbers,
jobsbd.com has also presented the same scenario of female preferred jobs. This job site
also got the highest female preference in ‗Front Desk/ Receptionist‘ position with the
ratio weight of 4:5. This expresses that among 5 total circulars of ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist‘ jobs, 4 circulars are found with female preference which is 80% of
total jobs. Then in ‗Customer Service‘ position comes with the ratio weight of 23:36
20%
33%
64%
80%
33%26%
57%
20%0%
10%20%30%
40%50%60%70%80%90%
Figure 02: Status of Female Preferred Jobs
According to The Jobs Bd.com
Percentage
Jobsbd.
com
Adm
in
Accoun
ts
Custom
er
Service
Front
Desk/Rec
eptionist
HR
Field
Market
ing
Cleani
ng
Defence
Service
Female
preferred 6 9 23 32 9 6 13 1
Total
Job 30 27 36 40 27 23 23 5
Ratio 1:5 1:3 23:36 4:5 1:3 6:23 13:23 1:5
Percent
age 20% 33% 64% 80% 33% 26% 57% 20%
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which is 64% of total jobs in this category. After that ‗Cleaning‘ with 13:23 which is
57% of total jobs in this category. Like Bdjobs.com, Jobsbd.com has also lowest
percentage and ratio weightage of female preference in ‗Defense Service‘ and ‗HR‘ and
‗Field Marketing‘.
Table 05: Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The Prothom
Alojobs.com
Source: Observation of last 4 month record of ProthomAlojobs.com counted from 1st April 2013 to 30
th
July 2013
32%28%
78%85%
38%29%
81%
0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Figure 03: Status of Female Preferred Jobs
According to The ProthomAlo.com
Percentage
Prothom
Alo
Jobs.com
Admi
n
Accou
nts
Custo
mer
Service
Front
Desk/Rece
ptionist
HR
Field
Mark
eting
Clean
ing
Defenc
e
Service
Female
preferred 12 8 35 28 9 8 22 0Total Job 37 29 45 33 24 28 27 3
Ratio 12:37 8:29 7:9 28:33 3:8 2:7 22:27 0:1
Percentage 32% 28% 78% 85% 38% 29% 81% 0%
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Prothom Alojobs.com is as popular as its mother organization newspaper The Daily
Prothom Alo. Pran, Square, Action Aid, United Group such big names with many others
are regular clients of Prothom Alojobs.com for their job circulars. The site supports the
status of previous two sites. With the highest weighted ratio of 28:33, Prothom
Alojobs.com also gets female preference in ‗Front Desk/ receptionist‘ category. This
explains that among 33 circulars 28 circulars have a female preference which is 85% of
total jobs in this category. Then comes to cleaning with the ratio of 22:27 and 81%. After
that customer service comes to the ratio of 7:9 which is 78% of total circulars in this
category. Whereas, ‗Defense Service‘ has 0 circulars for female preference and ‗Field
Marketing‘has got the consecutive lowest position after defense service category.
Table 06: Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The JobsA1.com
Jobs
A1.com
Ad
min
Acco
unts
Custo
mer
Servic
e
Front
Desk/Rec
eptionist
HR
Field
Mark
eting
Clea
ning
Defence
Service
Female
preferred 9 8 18 20 6 4 8 0Total Job 27 19 30 25 17 22 15 1
Ratio 1:3 8:19 3:5 4:5 6:17 2:11 8:15 0:1
Percentage 33% 42% 60% 80% 35% 18% 53% 0%Source: Observation of last 4 month record of JobsA1.com counted from 1
st April 2013 to 30
th July 2013
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Although JobsA1.com is not that a much popular or familiar job site but still it is
working side by side with the popular job site brands. Moreover, the research also found
the site with the job circular of many popular companies. Despite of this, the core fact is
unchanged even in this less popular job site. It also presented the highest female
preference in ‗Front Desk/ receptionist‘ position with the highest weighted ratio of 4:5.
This explains that among 5 total circulars of ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘ jobs, 4 circulars
are found with female preference which is 80% of total jobs. The second highest
preference is in ‗Customer Service‘ with the ratio of 3:5 which is 60% of total circulars.
The third preference went with ‗Cleaning‘ with 8:15 ratio which is 53% of total circulars.
Whereas, ‗Field Marketing‘ and ‗HR‘ has got least preference as like before.
33%42%
60%
80%
35%
18%
53%
0%0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
90%
Figure 04: Status of Female Preferred Jobs
According to The JobsA1.com
Percentage
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Table 07: Status of Female Preferred Jobs According to The Aiminlife.com
Aim inlife.com
Ad
min
Acco
unts
Custo
merService
Front
Desk/Re
ceptionist
HR
Field
Marketing
Cleani
ng
Defen
ce
Service
Female
preferred 7 6 20 14 6 6 14 0
Total Job 21 19 29 20 17 22 18 1
Ratio 1:3 6:19 20:29 7:10 6:17 3:11 7:9 0:1
Percentag
e 33% 32% 69% 70% 35% 27% 78% 0%Source: Observation of last 4 month record of Aiminlife.com counted from 1
st April 2013 to 30
th July 2013
Similar to JobsA1.com, Aiminlife.com is also not that much familiar to the job seekers.
Except very keen and intense job seekers, the site is not known to Moses. Nonetheless,
the site contains the job circulars of many popular companies. Thus, the research could
not get any exceptional scenario even from this site. Again, female preference is highest
in ‗Front Desk/ Receptionist‘ position with the highest weighted ratio of 7:10. This
explains that among 10 total circulars of ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘ jobs, 7 circulars are
found with female preference which is 70% of total jobs. Then comes the name of‗Customer Service‘ position with the ratio of 20:29 which is 69% of total circulars in this
33% 32%
69% 70%
35%
27%
56%
0%0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Figure 05: Status of Female Preferred Jobs
According to The Aiminlife.com
Percentage
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category. Aiminlife.com also states the lowest female preference in ‗Field Marketing‘
and in ‗HR‘.
8.2 Summarized Picture of The Job Sites For Female Preferance For
Front desk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Table 08: Summarized Picture of The Job Sites For Female Preferance Front
desk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Job Sites Female
Preferred
Job
Total Job Percentage Percentage
Varied in
Range
Admin 41 150 27% 14%-73%Accounts 31 133 23% 28%-42%
Customer Service 124 190 65% 60%-78%
Front
Desk/Receptionist
116 148 78% 70%-85%
HR 40 89 45% 22%-38%
Field Marketing 29 132 22% 18%-29%
Cleaning 66 108 61% 52%-81%
Defense Service 2 17 12% 5%-20%
Source: Observation of last 4 month record of 5 Jobsites counted from 1st April 2013 to 30
th July 2013
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The research individually analyzes each of 5 job sites to understand the female
preference in their job circular list of different categories of jobs. Standing on individual
ground, each analysis has presented the same fact that the employers do have a female
preference for the ‗Front Desk/Receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‘ Position.
However, the research has summarized all these individual analyses to present a clearer
picture. The research took 8 categories of jobs and judged those in 5 prominent job sites.
Similar to individual analysis, the summarized picture shows that, in all 5 job sites, 78%
female preference has been counted for the ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘ Position. The
percentage of female preference in this job category varies within 70%-85% of all 5 job
sites which is indeed very high. The immediate lowest response is 65% female
preference and this is for ‗Customer Service‘ Jobs and the preference varies within 60%-
78% of all 5 job sites. The ‗Cleaning‘ jobs come just after that with 61% preference.
Even, in case of summarized picture, the ‗Admin‘ or ‗Accounts‘ has reported with 27%
and 23% female preference respectively in all 5 job sites. The 5 Jobsites has preference
variation in this category by 14%-73% and 28%-42% respectively which are in low
scales.
27% 23%
65%
78%
45%
22%
61%
12%0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
Figure 05: Summarized Picture of The Job
Sites For Female Preferance For Front
desk/Recptionist/Customer
Service/Secretariate’ position
Percentage
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8.3 Reasons Behind Female Preferences „Front
desk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Table 09: Reasons Behind Female Preference in for „Front
desk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Responses Females
are more
polite than
males to
manage
front desk
customer
service
Feminine
beauty is
effective to
attract
customer
Female
s are
less
likely
to take
reliable
strategi
cdecisio
ns
Lack of
qualified
female
candidates
for
managerial
jobs
Females
are
reluctant
to pay
enough
attention
and time
due totheir
family
tension
Particular
Response
6 9 4 7 8
Total Respondent 10 10 10 10 10
Percentage 60% 90% 40% 70% 80%
Source: Data gathered through the interview of the employers
60%
90%
40%
70% 80%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%
80%90%
100%
Females aremore polite
than males tomanage front
desk customer
service
Feminine beauty areeffecetive to
attract
customer
Females areless likely totake reliable
strategic
decisions
Lack ofqualifiedfemale
candidates for
managerial
jobs
Females arereluctant to
pay enoughattention and
time due to
their familytention
Figure 06: Reasons Behind Female
Preferance for ‘Front
desk/Recptionist/Customer
Service/Secretariate’ position
Responses
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The objective of this research was to identify the reason for which employers prefer
females for front desk/receptionist or secretariat jobs. Thus the research has first
confirmed the fact that whether only females are really encouraged for front
desk/receptionist or secretariat jobs or not. On the basis of last 4 month job circular
record of prominent job sites, the first portion of data analysis has confirmed the fact that
only females are encouraged for the ‗Front desk/Receptionist or Secretariate position.
Based on this ground the analysis moved ahead to find out the reason behind it. Where,
the analysis fixed up some ideas and asked 10 employers of different arena for their
opinion on that. The analysis has fixed up the ideas about the reason so that the analysis
can be done without any complicacy. At first glance, the research has got its obvious
result, where the highest votes with 90% admits that feminine beauty are effective to
attract the customer for which employers prefer a female employee in front desk or
receptionist position. However, a deeper look into the result reveals the second highest
reply with 80% which states that females are reluctant to pay enough time attention to
the job. This is undoubtedly a twist situation for the entire analysis and the hypothesis as
well. Another fact has also been supported by the employers that there is a lack of
qualified female candidates for managerial position as the employers have put 70% vote
on this. After that, the immediate lowest reply is with 60% which explains that females
are more polite than males for which employers prefer females for front desk or
receptionist position. The final and least vote has been counted with 40% which explains
that females are less likely to take reliable decisions. This explains that few but still some
employers think that female employees are not reliable for important decision. At the
same time, it's hopeful that most of the employees do not think in this way.
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8.4 preference for higher level education for „Front
desk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Table 10: preference for higher level education for „Frontdesk/receptionist/Customer Service/Secretariate‟ position
Responses To
maintain
HR
Standard
To manage
visitors of
both national
and
international
levels
To keep a
chance of job
rotation or
promotion
To provide
quality
service
To ensure
professio
nal
dedicatio
n and
contributi
on
Particular
Response
9 6 3 8 5
Total
Respondent
10 10 10 10 10
Percentage 90% 60% 30% 80% 50%
Source: Data gathered through the interview of the female employees
The problem of this research has two related dimensions. One is why employers prefer
female for front desk/ receptionist or secretariat position and another dimension is whythe employers demand for higher level education for these positions. Following a
90%
60%
30%
80%
50%
0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
Figure 07 :Preferance for higher leveleducation for front desk or secretariate
position
Responses from Employers
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sequential process towards the objective, the research has first confirmed the problem
fact and then identify the reason behind of it. At the third step, the research has dug into
the reason behind the preference for higher level education for these positions.
In this dimension, the research has got its predicted findings through the reply towards
each option. The findings presents the fact that employers demand higher level of
education for these positions just to maintain their HR standard as this option got the
highest response with 90% vote. The rest two highest votes with 80% and 60%
respectively explain that employers demand higher level education to give them the best
quality service and to manage both national and international customers from the
beginning. These highest three responses indicate a clear interest of benefit from the
employer's part. As an opposite case, the lowest two responses are in the interest of the
female employees‘ part. Here, employers demand higher education to ensure
professional dedication and also to keep a chance of promotion or job rotation
respectively with 50% and 30%.
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9.0 Finding
The research has a very specific aim to identify the reason of female preference in front
desk/ receptionist or secretariat positions. Besides, the research has incorporated another
dimension where the reason for the higher education requirement for these positions has
been revealed. With this aim and objective, the research has studied some prominent job
sites and took an interview of few employers. The gathered detail has been analyzed
through a sequential process which led the research towards its objective. The research
conducted an open interview of the employers to get their detail opinion about the
problem situation. Hence, the finding has focused on the responses which are reflecting
the condition with the highest percentage of votes.
Table 11: Findings
Analysis Finding
Job sites to know the jobs with Female
preference
Females prefer more than males for
„Front Desk/Receptionist/Customer
Service and Secretariate‟ positions
The reason behind employers'
preference for female in „Front
Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‟
positions
Feminine beauty is effective to attract
customer, and Females are reluctant to
pay enough attention and time due to
their family tension
The reason behind for preference of
higher level education for „Front
Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‟
positions
To maintain HR Standard and To
provide quality service
Source: Summerized findings from the analysis
The research observed the very recent 6 months job circulars of 5 prominent job sites.
This has been done because most of the renowned companies of present days publish
their job circulars through these web sites. Thus, the 4 month record of these sites can be
considered as the representative status of the present market. These observations
confirmed a portion of the hypothesis that truly, females are preferred in ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ positions. All 5 job sites have been counted by many
different job categories and it has been seen that, all of the job sites have the highest ratio
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percentage of female preference in the mentioned job category. Interestingly, the finding
showed significantly a lowest ratio percentage in any particular category like Field
marketing, defense service. One logic behind this can be that Defence service by default
has very limited circulars in job sites. Therefore, those few published ones and field
marketing category do not have female preference. The common fact of these two
category is both of these jobs require an intense physical strength with masculine effect
in which males are mostly preferred here. The research didn‘t intend to find out the
reason behind this preference or didn‘t intend to justify the females‘ capability on this.
Rather, the research intended to find out the reason behind the preference of female for
‗Front Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ positions.
On the way through a sequential method of analysis the research has looked for this
reason at the second step. The research has interviewed 10 different employers to find
out the reason behind the female preference for ‗Front Desk/Receptionist and
Secretariate‘ positions. The interview was an open interview thus the research got a
detail overview of the employee's opinion. The analysis depicts the finding that
employers consider feminine beauty are effective to attract customer. The finding is
clearly disgracing to feminism but factually it is the mind set of the employers of our
country. Any kind of beauty is pleasing to the mind and there is no harm to signify
feminine beauty to be pleasant. Therefore, this Pleasance should not contain any hidden
purpose specially any profit oriented business purpose. In this case, the beauty is not at
all appraised for the beauty itself, rather it is used by the employer to be benefited.
The investigation of the reason behind the problem scenario also revealed a surprising
fact. The employers stated that females are also reluctant to pay more attention and time
to their work place. The research cannot deny to this statement completely if it judges the
real practice and behavior of the females. By nature, a female is expected to take care of
the cooking, child, maid and other household responsibilities. This is indeed a big
responsibility which requires sufficient time and presence of a female. Eventually a
female has to divide her 24 hours time proportionately to manage cooking, child, maids,
household responsibilities and office as well. Where as, a male can contribute most of his
working time and concentration in his workplace. Thus, the fact is a strong truth indeed
that a female fails to pay enough attention and time to their work place. As a result both
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employers and female employees prefer these sort of jobs where females can save their
concentration, energy and time for their family works.
While the research was searching the job sites for the jobs where ―Females Are
Encouraged to Apply‖, the research also noticed that, employers demand for a higher
level of education even for ‗Front Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ positions. This has
lead the research to its third portion of the analysis, where it intended to find out the
reason for employers‘ preference for higher levels of education ‗Front Desk/Receptionist
and Secretariate‘. The findings came out with the statement that employers need this
higher level of education mostly to maintain the HR standard of their organization.
Besides, they also need this to ensure that their customers are getting a good quality
service from the welcome desk or customer service desk. Ultimately both of these
reasons are in favor of the employers of the cost of the dignity and quality of a female
employee. Throughout the 4 years of graduation, a student becomes a empowered with
knowledge, wisdom and expertisim in many different fields. Over these 4 years, that
student is like a strong weapon to fight any competitive field. Thus, an employer can
utilize the knowledge and the efficiency of that student in any sophisticated work
irrespective of her gender concern.
There is a familiar saying that no job is odd because every job teaches us something.
Refer to this saying, the research is not against of hiring female form ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ position. The argument comes with two points, first,
why only females then? Why not males are also preferred for these positions? Second,
why the employers need for a high level of education for these positions? If the
employers need to utilize the feminine beauty for their business profit purpose then do
consider a female candidate with average or below average education level. If the
employer can train them with proper training then they can provide the service as
efficient as the female employees with high level of education. Besides, these females
can also get a chance to compensate their low level of education by their feminine beauty
and earn their livelihood. In this way, the preference for females for ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ position makes a logical sense. Otherwise, the
employers should bring male and female candidates into equal ground for recruitment
decisions for ‗Front Desk/Receptionist and Secretariate‘ positions.
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10.0 Case Study
This research has set out its methodology by two established research methods namely,
Observation and Interview. At one point, the observation process has helped to confirm
the problem fact. At another point, the interview process has helped to get the opinion of
different employers about the problem situation and the reason behind it. The interview
process has also enabled the research to judge the individual opinion of each employee
as an individual case study. Few of these case studies are explained below-
10.1 Case#01
Margaret Ahmed is working in a Britisheducationaln organization, Education UK
department as the Project Coordinator. She has been working here for last 5 years since
2008. The British education organization where Margaret is working, is one of the most
renowned foreign organizations across the world. It aims to spread British culture and
heritage throughout the world. With the benefit of equal opportunity employment,
Margaret Ahmed is working here for
last 5 years. Margaret explains that not
only in employment or recruitment, The
British education organization hasequal and fair policy in Human
Resource Management. In fact The British
education organization has a clear guideline
of gender respect in their HR policy. This
influences the organization and its
employees to know and promote the
gender equality. Margaret said that, before
joining The British education
organization, she was working in a
private counseling agency as the front desk
executive. Although it was a front desk position but she used to do many tasks of
administration, student admission management along with her regular counseling job.
However, her effort was never been evaluated properly, and even after passing MBA she
didn‘t get any promotion in her 5 years of employment there. Whereas, Margaret does so
many sophisticated tasks The British education organization under Education UK
Her eff ort was never being
evaluated properly, and even af ter
passing MBA she didn’t get any
promotion in her 5 years of
employment with that private
counseli ng agency. Now in Br iti sh
education organization, Margaret
states that “I am very happy and
proud to be a part of this EQUAL
OPPORTUNITY
EMPLOYMENT”.
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department including, budget, program arrangement, contract management with foreign
delegates, Contract management with UK universities etc. Her effort here is being
evaluated every year and she gets a performance bonus. Moreover, she has also got a
promotion after passing 3 years of employment. All this has motivated Margaret to state
that ―I am very happy and proud to be a part of this EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
EMPLOYMENT‖.
10.2 Case#02
HR policy and practicedrastically changes when it comes from a development agency to
a private profit oriented company. Even irrespective of gender balance, the usual HR practice is also differs in the private profit company. Starting from addressing the
colleague to job description each and every way of HR is different in the private profit
oriented company. There is no particular
reason behind it but it is a regular and
practiced fact. This difference gets more
severe when the gender
discrimination gets attached to it. Ahsan
Mollik has been working on HR for
several years and his experience has been
growing up in private profit oriented
companies. Thus, he understands the usual
practice and the system of private
companies‘ HR. During the personal
interview for this research, Ahsan
Mollik shared his experience openly.
He accepted the fact females are preferred in ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘ position. He also
confessed that the reason is the feminine beauty is favorable to give the first impression
to the customers. When a customer comes to the front desk first, if he gets a warm
welcome from a well-decorated female then he is likely to consider any other simple
negative issues. Otherwise, this simple negative issue might irritate him to get
dissatisfied with the company. Regarding the education level, Ahsan Mollik claimed
that, it's not like higher level but a standard level of education is required to ensure a
Ahsan Mollik added, that the coin
has another side too. He said that,
females are also reluctant to carry
out hardl ine jobs as they want toinvolve more with their famil y.
The companies look for females in
managerial j obs too, but then
females fai l to perf orm wi th
highest level of concerntr ation as
males do.
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smart approach in this welcome. He also added, that the coin has another side too. He
said that, it is not always that females are preferred for this job only. The companies look
for females in managerial jobs too, but then females fail to perform with the highest level
of concentration as males do. He also shared his personal experience that when he
became a father, he asked his wife what she wants to do and his wife left her job in the
bay. Now he is doing the full hour job and his wife is doing some online business at
home. Thus, Ahsan Mollik concluded, that females are also reluctant to carry out
hardline jobs as they want to involve more with their family.
10.3 Case#03
The case study of Ahsan Mollik has mentioned a fact that the HR system of development
agencydifferss a lot with the HR system of private profit oriented company. The
privilege in HR in development
agency has also been mentioned in the
first case study of Margaret Ahmed
from British Education Organization. Now
the research has found out another case
study which reflects the HR practice for
female preference in private companies.
Shaila Rajib is working in a reputed private
university for last 10 years. She joined
that university in 2003 as Front Desk
Executive/ Receptionist. When she joined
the post she was a B.B.A graduate
from a reputed private university. At this
point, it is necessary to mention that, in
2003 B.B.A graduates were very few in
number and the private university of Shaila Rajib‘s is counted a reputed one even on
today‘s date. Her job description was nothing complicated or analytical which would
require the Bachelor level of Business Administrative knowledge. All she used to do is
receiving phone calls, giving course information, counseling, and taking admission. This
would have been done by higher secondary knowledge with some specialized or
Her job description was nothing
complicated or analytical whi ch
would requir e the Bachelor l evel
of Business Admini strative
knowledge. Al l she used to do is
receiving phone calls, giving
course in formation, counseli ng,
and taking admission. This would
have been done by higher
secondary knowledge wi th some
special ized or professional
training.
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professional training. Therefore, the Bachelor level of Business Administrative skill of
Shaila Rajib could be used in some other sophisticated aspect of the organization.
However, Shaila Rajib got her due promotion to assistant registrar level after 5 years and
of course by submitting her M.B.A degree.
10.4 Case#04
The research planned to gather information from both development agency and private
companies. This is why; it worked at banks, financial institutes, development agencies,
cultural center, educational institutes to understand the variation in situations. Through
this process, the research found it‘s another case study. The study talked to Mr. Ziaul
Khan who is working in a French Culturalorganization as Manager HR &
Admin. This organization is the
French cultural center as well as a non-
profitable organization.
Although the organization is
affiliated under French Embassy but
it has a very limited perimeter in terms of
working aspect, human and other
resources. Thus, the organization runs
with a simple HR policy which blends
the practice of both development agency
and private companies. The
organization has both female and male
employee in their reception. Mr. Ziaul
Khan explained that they are not concerned about the gender preference for any position.
They value the skill, efficiency and suitability of an employee for a particular position
instead of feminine beauty, gender, or educational quality. This is why; the organization
has an employee of undergraduate level and also post graduate level, it has both male
and female in the reception office. On this ground, Mr. Ziaul Khan stated that they do not
consider the educational background to be an accounts officer or femine beauty for Front
Desk/Receptionist position. Factually, they have never faced never face any
disappointment from the female accounts officer with undergraduation level or from the
Mr. Zi aul Khan explained that
they are not concerned about the
gender preference for any
positi on. They value the ski l l,
eff iciency and sui tabil ity of an
employee for a particular posit ion
instead of feminine beauty,
gender, or educational qual ity.
They do not consider educational
background to be an accoun ts
off icer or femine beauty for F ront
Desk/Receptioni st position.
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male receptionist with graduation level. He also informed that to maintain this skill and
efficiency level, they arrange several relevant training individually for each department.
Ziaul Khan proclaimed with confidence that they are very much benefited and proud to
have such diversified human resource.
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11.0 Recommendation
Gender discrimination is like a banyan tree which has grabbed the nation with several
infected branches. Eventually, it is restricting the growth of the entire economy. The
problem is more infectious in case of a developing country like Bangladesh. Literacy
lacks, religion obstacle, traditional belief and mentality rigidity pull the gender equality
backward more in developing country like Bangladesh. The problem the research has
discussed is a very specific corner of gender discrimination. People here refer to the
religion first to restrict females from going outside to work. Then comes the barrier of
traditional beliefs that points out a working women as the worst one in the society. All
these mentalities are shaped by the lack of literacy. Even if a female cross over these
barriers and joins a work life outside the home, still she has to face discrimination overthere. Factually, this discrimination starts from the recruitment point. No matter how
much education, skill and efficiency a female employee has, she is preferred mostly for
the ‗Front Desk/Receptionist‘ or ‗Customer Service‘ positions. The research has found
out the persistence of this fact through an observation survey of the job circulars of 5
prominent job sites. The survey findings has been more clear by the opinion gathered
from individual interviews of different employers and employee. This portion of the
analysis revealed another fact that females are also reluctant to involve their complete
concentration in any complicated job. However, the solution should start from the
opposition part first and then should conclude with the suggestion for females as well.
Therefore, the one and only way of solution is recommended and that is Gender
Mainstreaming.
Grounded in feminist theoretical frameworks and intended to make mainstream
institutions agents of social change, gender mainstreaming refers to a wide set of
strategies and processes. The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
(ECOSOC) defines gender mainstreaming as ―… the process of accessing the
implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or
programs in some areas and at all levels (Rao 2007). The strategies of making women‘s
as well as men‘s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programs in all political,
economical and societal spheres, so that men and women, in fact, benefit equally; but
that the goal of gender mainstreaming is gender equality.‖
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Examining the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming efforts, Aruna Rao (2007) noted
that gender mainstreaming has been associated with more failures than gains. In order to
move the gender equality agenda forward, she argued, it is necessary to examine the
policy environment (resources, strategies, and institutional features) and problems related
to implementation that contributed to the failure of gender mainstreaming.
At this point of the research. It is necessary to focus on the probable ways of adopting
gender mainstreaming in the socioeconomic context of Bangladesh. The ground of the
socioeconomic context is mentioned earlier which listed the name of literacy lacks,
religion obstacle, traditional belief and mentality rigidity. All these aspects work as the
moderator of gender discrimination approach. Thus the mainstreaming strategies should
also be based on these aspects.
Secure Environments- gender equality cannot be achieved as long as women
live in insecure environments, whether due to an abusive partner, militias, or a
threatening neighbor. The context of poverty, violence, disease, and patriarchy in
which women live are the biggest challenge for gender mainstreaming.
Shifting the focus from poverty reduction to wealth creation- By focusing on
poverty reduction, women are viewed as subjects of poverty rather than as
producers and generators or wealth. Women‘s arts and crafts should be
adequately valued as a reflection of their knowledge and skill, she said. Similarly,
governments should offer support to women for their role as caregivers and
nurturers, rather than treating them as subsidy providers for basic social services
such as health. The voice of leadership- The voice of leadership at the international and national
levels is also needed to call for greater investment in gender equality and
women‘s empowerment. Greater participation of all women, rich poor, working
women and housewives in decision-making spaces, academic and research
institutions, advocacy and public awareness initiatives, political debates, the
private sector, and within households would create one collective voice for
change.
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Equal access to services and infrastructure- Gender equality requires equal
access to services and infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water, and
communication tools. Without access to such resources, women with tremendous
knowledge, expertise, and passion are not given an outlet to use their knowledge
and skills, keeping them at a disadvantage. Technological tools are particularly
important as they enable women to use their time, energy, and expertise more
efficiently.
Women empowerment- Gender equality is not just related to human rights, but
also women‘s empowerment. Specific measures are needed to respond to existing
inequality and to champion the empowerment of women in order to increase
women‘s opportunities and capabilities. Women‘s empowerment also requires
mainstreaming the gender equality agenda in institutions and processes in a way
that transforms social values that have sustained gender inequality.
Accountability for gender equality-Advocates of gender equality must seek
greater accountability through legislative and policy strengthening; reform and
harmonization; resources; an end to impunity; political governance; and greater
private sector investment and responsibility. Donor governments should be held
accountable for the aid they provide such aid should be directed towards people
as generators of wealth, through investments in basic services.
Female entrepreneurship- Guideline of the solution cannot be complete without
a suggestion from female as well. It is true that, females have to carry out the
responsibility of their family, but it does not mean that they will devalue their
qualification by doing a job which is undergraded from their qualification. If their
family responsibilities restrict them to pay undivided concentration on paid job,
then they can think to entrepreneur their own business field. This would give
them enough flexibility of time and scope, thus they will be able to manage both
work and family. In this way, their identity and the qualification will valued with
dignity.
Yet gender mainstreaming is neither a clear agenda for institutional transformation nor a
clear agenda for gender transformation and social change. Thus, in practice, gender
mainstreaming has often involved adopting a gender policy, creating a gender unit to
work on organizational programs, mandatory gender training, and increasing the number
of women staff and managers. In the worst cases, gender mainstreaming has been used to
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stop funding for women‘s empowerment work, and to dismantle many of the institutional
mechanisms such as women‘s units and advisors created to promote women in
development in the name of integration. This show, Rao argued (2007), that the
transformational change expected to result from gender mainstreaming has not occurred.
Theoretical insights on gender and development, and engagement with state institutions
Convinced gender mainstreaming advocates about the role of bureaucratic institutions as
Agents of change, she remarked. In hindsight, it appears that this naive view did not take
into account the limitations of institutional roles and functions — bureaucracies are not
agents of social and political transformation. Rather, bureaucracies have emphasized
mainstreaming and planning at the expense of social transformation, yet both need to be
done, she argued. Despite the overall disappointment with the results of gender
mainstreaming, Rao acknowledged the many gains. A number of strategic partnerships
have been forged between women‘s movements and policy reformers which have placed
equity and women‘s human rights. In some regions, such as South Asia, women have
made striking gains in elections to local and national government bodies, as well as in
entering public institutions. Girls‘ access to primary education has improved and women
are increasingly entering the labor force. Moreover, access to contraception is much
more widespread and violence against women has been recognized as a human rights
issue, and has been made a crime in many countries. These positive examples have been
the exception rather than the norm, Rao (2007) emphasized, due to the insidious ways in
which the mainstream resists women‘s perspectives and rights. She attributed the overall
failure of gender mainstreaming to the challenging policy environment within which
gender mainstreaming processes operate, inadequate resources allocated to this work,
institutional features that have blocked change, and the way in which gender
mainstreaming processes have been implemented.
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12.0 Conclusion
Gender Discrimination has become a cancerous virus for the whole nation which hinders
the nation to avail the success of the development. The developing countries are the most
vulnerable victim of it. Nonetheless Bangladesh is among those developing countries
who tries to break the bar of gender discrimination from one side but a new one appears
from another side. Thus, the country fails to disinfect this cancerous virus completely. As
a result, the true development gets stuck outside the obstacle bar.
This research paper explores a dimension of gender discrimination which actually
practices in our day to day life but never got attention as gender discrimination. Theresearch has defined the problem scenario that, females are mostly preferred in the ‗Front
Desk/Receptionist/ Secretariate or Customer Service‘ position in Bangladesh. Even if an
employee has a higher education still she is placed in these positions. The analysis found
the presence of this fact by surveying the female preferred job circulars of 5 job sites.
After that, the research interviewed the employers to know the reason behind it. The
employers honestly accepted the fact and also said that they require a higher education to
maintain their HR standard and to ensure better quality of the service. Besides, the
employers also revealed the fact that, females are also reluctant to pay enough attention
to their job as they have their family responsibilities too.
The end portion of the analysis was a bit of a surprise for the research but it is a fact too.
Therefore, the research has come with the recommendations which has outlined the
action plan for both society and the females as well. The research has suggested to
promote gender mainstreaming or equality to remove the virus from the root. After that,
the female participation through different kinds of business entrepreurship can help a
woman maintain both family responsibility and her individual identity.
In order to advance the discourse on gender relations and achieve greater gender
equality, a larger conceptual framework is needed, which links empowerment, rights, and
mainstreaming in all social spaces. It is also crucial to consider the realities of women‘s,
men‘s, and children‘s daily lives, she said. In a developing country context, gender
relations are influenced by poverty, insecurity, impunity, and patriarchy. Looking
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towards the future, achieving gender equity requires a stronger and diverse but unified
voice for change; greater accountability; and increased, targeted resources. More public
resources are needed to make strategies to promote gender equality successful.
Mobilizing greater resources for gender equality requires a system of taxation that does
not overburden the poor, and gender-responsive budgeting. It is also important to
consider ways resources can be mobilized under the Paris principles of donor
coordination, donor harmonization, results, and effectiveness. In addition, the issue of
gender equality should be brought into the discourse on resource management and
investment in natural resources, because poverty in many developing countries is not due
to lack of resources. The integration of gender equality issues and women‘s political
participation in post-conflict areas should also be examined more closely.
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28. The Daily Star, 2008 (March, 07), Dhaka.
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Women in Economic Development‘, A world Bank Country Study, Washington
DC, January.
30. Terborg, J.R. and Ilgen, D.R., ‗A Theoretical Approach to Sex Discrimination in
Traditionally Masculine Occupations‘, 1975, Organizational Behavior and
Human Performance, vol. 13, no.3, pp. 352-376.
31. The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, A Solid Investment: Making Full Use of
the Nation‘s Human Capital, Recommendations, Washington, D.C., 1995b.
32. Udry, Christopher, John Hoddinott, Harold Alderman, and Lawrence Haddad.
1995. ―Gender Dif ferentials in Farm Productivity: Implications for Household
Efficiency and Agricultural Policy.‖ Food Policy 20 (5): 407 – 34.
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14.0 Appendix
Respondents List
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