As part of efforts to reduce the still high levels of gender inequality, women need to be made part of the decision-making process in every phase of infrastructure-building projects. They must be given a seat at the table in infrastructure-building, reports UNB.

Marvin-Taylor Dormond, director general of Asian Development Bank's independent evaluation department, made the observation at a dissemination event on Monday organised to convey the findings of an assessment report on ADB's support for gender development in Bangladesh. The event was organized by ADB at a city hotel in the capital.

She said infrastructure projects have significant potential to increase the economic empowerment of women and contribute to gender equality in Bangladesh.

"Women need to be part of the decision-making in all phases of infrastructure projects, and giving them a voice in such crucial driver of economic growth will go a long way toward reducing Bangladesh's still high levels of gender inequality."

ADB's principal evaluation specialist Hyum H Son presented the keynote paper at the event, assessing ADB's support for gender and development in its Bangladesh operations during 2005-2015.

She said the period saw a marked increase in infrastructure projects in ADB's $9 billion portfolio for the country, of which infrastructure accounted for $5 billion.

Observing that ADB-supported infrastructure projects in Bangladesh were particularly effective in promoting gender equality, she said: "These projects enhanced women's access to education and health care, and helped promote their economic empowerment."

"For example, the $206 million Second Rural Infrastructure Improvement Project - taken to improve roads in the Chittagong, Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions - increased livelihood opportunities by training women in shop management and other income-generating skills. The improved roads also contributed to increasing the enrollment of girls in schools, and made it safer and easier for women to go to work," she added.

"The evaluation found that significant strides have been made in reducing gender disparities in education and health in Bangladesh, where the status of women has generally improved over the last decade."

"But women continue to face high levels of inequality in livelihood opportunities and access to economic assets," the ADB analyst said, adding that according to the latest available estimate women own only 8% of productive assets in rural Bangladesh whereas women's participation in the workforce remains at an estimated 34 per cent.

"Because of high levels of inequality in livelihood opportunities and economic assets, women have far less resilience than men to various shocks, such as natural disasters, climate risks, and economic downturns," Hyun Son observed in the evaluation report.

"Two ADB-supported programs-the Public Expenditure Support Facility Program and the Countercyclical Support Facility Program-helped the government to increase spending on social safety nets, especially for women," the ADB official said, claiming that both the programs aided government ministries in putting gender equality into the mainstream.