Innovision Consulting’s in-depth Gender Analysis of COVID-19 and recent disasters in Bangladesh shows that hard-won progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment is now under serious threat. UNDP data highlights the scale of reversal: the female poverty headcount rate jumped from a projected 7.239 million to 8.896 million in 2020, with even grimmer projections for 2030 if urgent action is not taken.
Bangladesh slipped 15 places in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, mainly due to declining economic participation and opportunity for women. The pandemic triggered what experts call a “Shecession”, pushing women out of jobs, while three lockdowns and major disasters such as Cyclone Amphan and devastating floods compounded the crisis and affected over 5.4 million people.
Innovision Consulting’s vulnerability mapping identifies sex workers and transgender individuals as the most at-risk groups, followed by marginalized women facing economic shocks and married women exposed to social vulnerabilities such as limited agency and increased gender-based violence.
To reverse these setbacks, Innovision Consulting recommends integrating economic strengthening with girls’ education and child-marriage prevention, promoting formal-sector jobs for women, strengthening targeted health and cash-transfer safety nets, upgrading women-friendly disaster shelters, and revitalizing local NGOs. These evidence-based strategies will help Bangladesh protect SDG gains and build long-term resilience for women and girls.
Read the full report here: Link
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