As many as 25 per cent female students have been studying in Computer Science (CS) or Information Communication Technology (ICT) related subjects in over 90 universities and institutions of the country since 2005-2006, said a study report of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN), reports BSS.
According to the report, after completion of study, only 13 per cent female joined in ICT industry and less than one per cent female who studied in ICT/CS is interested in programming and hardly participated in any competitive programming contest in 2015. In 2015, BdOSN said, there were 979 teams in the preliminary round of ICPC Dhaka round, in which there were only five teams, led by female. Later, after the study, BdOSN had run several programmes to create awareness among the girls and women help them take ICT as a career. And after one year, in 2016, the number of team comprised of female reached at 129 on the same event held in Bangladesh. General Secretary of BdoSN Munir Hasan said, under "Girls in ICT" and "Missing Daughters" project of BdOSN, "We have been working to bring more girls in the ICT sector. Our aim is to increase the profile of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and encourage more girls into STEM career."
BdOSN, he said, has been arranging many motivational programs for the university students throughout the country. "We are carrying out these programs just to encourage the students in the ICT field," he added.
According to a World Bank report, every year around 1.2 million jobs are being created in Bangladesh and those are mostly benefitting the men.
The latest Bangladesh Development Update suggested that Bangladesh needs more women to join the workforce to comfortably reach the country into a middle income status by 2021.
Bangladesh can raise its GDP growth by 1.6 per cent if the female labor workforce is increased from current 33.7 per cent to 82 per cent, a figure at par with the present male labor participation rate.
However, the government has taken steps to encourage girls in ICT industry and to ensure at least 30 per cent participation in the training under a World Bank financed Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance (LICT) Project aiming at creating over 10,000 women as skilled human resource for the IT sector.
The LICT project of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC), under Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division launched last year, has produced 34,000 male and female skilled workforce for the fast-growing IT sector by providing world-class training. An estimated over 10,000 young women would be empowered having the IT and IT Enable Service (ITES) training.
Vice-president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) Farhana A Rahman said, "ICT industry is more suitable for women compared to other sectors."
Farhana, also the founder CEO of UY Systems Limited, a leading software firm, said, "Women who want to maintain decent life and have dream to become an entrepreneur, should join the IT industry as it has huge potentiality for all time."