DHAKA, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's women have made progress in various aspects of health, education, and work, but still face sizable gender gaps, says a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released here Tuesday.
The report, the Bangladesh Gender Equality Diagnostic of Selected Sectors, presents an in-depth analysis of the different areas and disparities in each sector, and recommends sector-specific strategies on gender.
Prepared in collaboration with the local BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, the report aims to guide the design of gender features of ADB-supported projects in four key sectors -- skills, vocational, and tertiary education; energy; transport; and urban development.
It was introduced at a launch event and panel discussion Tuesday featuring gender and sector specialists and economists.
"We hope this publication will be a useful resource not only for ADB, but also for our partner government agencies and other development partners to achieve the gender targets of the Sustainable Development Goals," said ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Manmohan Parkash.
"We also hope in so doing, it will help bring about significant positive changes in the lives of women and men, and in the promotion of inclusive development."
The report finds that the country has generally made rapid progress on several social and economic indicators. For example, while the maternal mortality ratio remains higher than the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of 143, it has fallen from 472 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 181 in 2015.
The report sees rapid urbanization as another key priority for action, since unless this is managed strategically, it can cause reversals in the progress that has been made for women's empowerment.
Besides lack of access to services such as power, sanitation, water, and transport, women are subject to frequent sexual harassment and violence in dense slum areas where they have to put up with flimsy housing, common toilets and water points, and insufficient lighting.
The report points out that a survey carried out by the Bureau of Statistics in 2011 shows that as many as 87 percent of currently married women report experiencing some kind of violence during the previous 12 months.
The report was produced to support the development objectives of the Government of Bangladesh as set out in its Seventh Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), as well as the Country Partnership Strategy (2016-2020) of ADB in promoting inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth in the country.
