Breaking New Ground: Livelihood Choices, Opportunities and Tradeoffs
for Women and Girls in Rural Bangladesh
Sam Gibson; Simeen Mahmud; Kazi Ali Toufique; Cate
Turton (2004)
What are life and livelihoods like today for women in rural Bangladesh?
What is the significance for them of recent changes, and what have
changes meant for their livelihoods? This study was commissioned by
DFID to support implementation of its Country Assistance Programme
in Bangladesh, entitled ‘‘Women and Girls First". It draws on qualitative
fieldwork conducted with rural, peri-urban and urban groups, which
set out to understand the nature of new opportunities and threats
which rural women and girls see as important in their lives. It found
that women and girls are driving changes in many respects, and breaking
new ground in re-negotiating gender-based restrictions on their mobility,
visibility and agency.
The study highlights that:
New employment opportunities for women are promoting broad social
change, but individual’s ability to take positive advantage of them
is influenced by life cycle and social position, and limited by
low wages and poor labour rights in some sectors.
Improvements in health, education and infrastructure have had
positive livelihoods effects, creating access to non-agricultural
jobs and establishing new social norms including delayed marriage.
Emerging issues of increasing violence against women and young
girls restrict livelihood choices, including by limiting access
to markets, wage employment and common property resources.
Supporting the positive effects of these changes involves:
Working with government and the private sector to improve women’s
participation in these aspects of the economy.
Working to improve health and safety standards in sectors offering
employment to the poorest women, to ensure equal pay for equal work,
to offer crèche facilities and to enforce quota programmes that
favour women and girls.
 Also see our
Lessons
Page on Bangledesh which features Hands
Not Land: How Livelihoods are Changing in Rural Bangladesh
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