The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics

In Bangladesh women are engaged in a variety of economic activities ranging from homestead based expenditure saving activities to outside paid work. However, women's work always remains under reported, especially women’s non‐market homestead based economic activities. Under reporting is part...

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Autori principali:	Mahmud, Simeen, Tasneem, Sakiba
Altri autori:	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University
Natura:	Working paper
Lingua:	English
Pubblicazione:	BRAC University 2011
Soggetti:	Women's economic
Accesso online:	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1528

id	10361-1528
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spelling	10361-15282019-09-29T05:26:56Z The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics Mahmud, Simeen Tasneem, Sakiba BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University Women's economic In Bangladesh women are engaged in a variety of economic activities ranging from homestead based expenditure saving activities to outside paid work. However, women's work always remains under reported, especially women’s non‐market homestead based economic activities. Under reporting is particularly critical in the case of official statistics. The types of work women are involved in are often overlooked by women themselves. Non recognition of women's economic activity not only leads to undervaluation of women's economic contribution but also contributes to their lower status in society relative to men. This paper intends to explore why official statistics fail to enumerate the entirety of women's economic activity in Bangladesh. To do this, we used different definitions of economic activity (work) used by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to estimate women’s LFPR for women aged 15 and above in 69 villages of eight districts of Bangladesh. The study finds that the female LFPR ranges between 4% and 16 % in the eight districts when economic activity is defined in the narrowest sense, i.e. outside paid work in last 12 months. These rates become considerably higher (increases by 3‐16 folds) if market work inside the home is taken into account along with the paid work. If we further extend our definition to include women's expenditure saving activities in last 12 months, the rates rise further ranging from 55% to 82% in the eight districts. The paper argues that widely held beliefs regarding women’s work contribute to the under reporting of women’s economic activity by official statistics, in addition to data collection constraints in the field like inadequate time and work burden of investigators. Simeen Mahmud Sakiba Tasneem 2011-12-11T06:06:45Z 2011-12-11T06:06:45Z 2011 2011-02 Working paper http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1528 en Working Paper No. 01 33 pages application/pdf BRAC University
institution	Brac University
collection	Institutional Repository
language	English
topic	Women's economic
spellingShingle	Women's economic Mahmud, Simeen Tasneem, Sakiba The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
description	In Bangladesh women are engaged in a variety of economic activities ranging from homestead based expenditure saving activities to outside paid work. However, women's work always remains under reported, especially women’s non‐market homestead based economic activities. Under reporting is particularly critical in the case of official statistics. The types of work women are involved in are often overlooked by women themselves. Non recognition of women's economic activity not only leads to undervaluation of women's economic contribution but also contributes to their lower status in society relative to men. This paper intends to explore why official statistics fail to enumerate the entirety of women's economic activity in Bangladesh. To do this, we used different definitions of economic activity (work) used by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) to estimate women’s LFPR for women aged 15 and above in 69 villages of eight districts of Bangladesh. The study finds that the female LFPR ranges between 4% and 16 % in the eight districts when economic activity is defined in the narrowest sense, i.e. outside paid work in last 12 months. These rates become considerably higher (increases by 3‐16 folds) if market work inside the home is taken into account along with the paid work. If we further extend our definition to include women's expenditure saving activities in last 12 months, the rates rise further ranging from 55% to 82% in the eight districts. The paper argues that widely held beliefs regarding women’s work contribute to the under reporting of women’s economic activity by official statistics, in addition to data collection constraints in the field like inadequate time and work burden of investigators.
author2	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University
author_facet	BRAC Development Institute (BDI), BRAC University Mahmud, Simeen Tasneem, Sakiba
format	Working paper
author	Mahmud, Simeen Tasneem, Sakiba
author_sort	Mahmud, Simeen
title	The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
title_short	The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
title_full	The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
title_fullStr	The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
title_full_unstemmed	The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
title_sort	under reporting of women's economic activity in bangladesh : an examination of official statistics
publisher	BRAC University
publishDate	2011
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10361/1528
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The under reporting of women's economic activity in Bangladesh : an examination of official statistics

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