Bangladesh entered the digital era rather belatedly. Fulfilling its campaign promise, the government formulated three policy documents to forge ahead with digitization, Digital Bangladesh. However, these policies were mainly gender neutral, which in many respects deviated from the government’s otherwise strong stance towards women’s empowerment. The government pushed forward ICT/digitalisation projects that benefited society as a whole, with the assumption that these will automatically benefit women. For example, it constructed a national web portal to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government service delivery. Through the portal, citizens could download forms and make queries to government officials, thereby fostering their capacities for participation. The portal likewise increased transparency as government call for tenders for different projects as well as achievements of different agencies are available online for all to see. This has helped in operationalising the right to information.
Through the Prime Minister’s Office’s a2i program, an internal transformation transpired. With the help of the USAID and UNDP, the program embarked on initiatives to transform itself into a gender-friendly environment. It created a forum where female staff could speak directly to top management; it ensured 60:40 staff representation in favour of women; and disseminated information to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. Apart from these, several of the staff were trained on how to formulate and monitor gender strategies. Such efforts facilitated the formulation of a gender strategy, which influenced program interventions; and collaborations with other government institutions and external partners. The a2i program, as the government’s main digital innovator, pursued this strategy in several ways, compensating for the lack of a gender lens in national policy documents.
First, the program undertook projects that had special benefits to women. For example, it undertook two promising projects: the Joyeeta e-platform (where female entrepreneurs can advertise and sell their products) and Joy mobile app (where women can seek protection against violence and abuse). Second, the program aspired for greater digital inclusiveness. It established UDCs so that citizens would not have to travel far to access government services. As part of ensuring gender sensitivity in the design and functioning of the UDCs, it declared that the entrepreneurs handling the UDCs should consist of one male and one female. With a female entrepreneur, women would be able to enter and transact business in this public space.
There are several lessons to be learned from the a2i program concerning women and e-government. For one, the program formulated a gender dashboard to track the progress of the commitment to the gender strategy, collecting gender disaggregated data with a results management team regularly analyzing such data. Second, it ensured that women would avail of e-services through the UDC strategy, especially by appointing one male and one female entrepreneur in these centres. Then, the a2i program mandated that government offices should have a gender focal point; making it easier for them to collaborate on women-related issues. The program also established partnerships with development and private organizations in integrating women in the ICT sector and incubating women projects under the Social Innovation Fund.
Although the government has made great progress in inclusive e-government, there still exists a digital divide in the country. The citizens most at risk of social exclusion are those with lower income, lower education, older persons, and those residing in rural areas. Also, women are more likely to be excluded than men, and this gender divide is amplified along the socio-structural lines mentioned above. For example, affluent urban women find it easier to access the Internet than women from rural areas and conservative religious backgrounds, particularly if they are already married or are considered to be of marriageable age.
In light of these, firstly, it is recommended that, building on the learnings from the a2i program, the government may extend the gender strategy to cover other institutions with the aim of making them gender responsive. It may not be enough to simply assign a gender focal point in each institution. Instead, an internal transformation, similar to the a2i program, may be needed. With more gender responsive organizations, gender strategies will be drawn for an inclusive government service delivery system.
Second, as the government has grand ambitions to make the country an ICT hub, it would need to promote participation of women in the ICT sector to ensure success. At the moment, the a2i program has collaborated with government, private and development partners to enhance the entrepreneurial and ICT skills of women. In light of this, it is recommended that ICT training for women (in terms of knowledge, attitude and skill learning outcomes) be undertaken at the primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational/technical levels of education. The government may find it prudent to invest in building ICT infrastructure in schools all over the country; creating multimedia classrooms and building the capacity of female teachers along the way.
Third, scaling up from the successes of the Social Innovation Fund, where women’s ICT-related livelihood initiatives were developed, the government may wish to consider creating ICT incubation centers throughout the country. In these centers, female entrepreneurs could be supported in coming up with new innovations/ideas relating to ICT and livelihood. In addition, the centers may serve as intensive training sites for women interested in pursuing ICT careers. These incubation centers may be linked to UDCs (as their infrastructure is already in place).
Fourth, on 19 June 2017, the Cabinet approved the “National Online Mass Media Policy 2017”, which recommends the constitution of a National Broadcast Commission to facilitate the operations of online mass media in an organized manner. Earlier, on 22 August 2016, it approved the “Digital Security Act 2016”, which tackles the problems of cyber-crime, fake news and defamation. Akin to the other national ICT policy documents, the new laws are gender neutral. They do not have provisions to safeguard women and do not define the types of cyber-crimes against women. In light of this, it is recommended that the government undertake measures to enhance gender awareness of leaders in the executive and legislative departments. Although 50 out of the 350 parliamentary seats are reserved for women, it should not be assumed that those who occupy these seats are mindful of women’s rights and issues. Otherwise, the country will continue to have gender neutral laws and policies.