Bangladesh BIMSTEC Chairship Faces Gender Integration Challenge
New data shows women perform 85% of unpaid care work in Bangladesh, raising questions about the structural visibility of gender in regional economic frameworks.
Key points
- Unpaid care work in Bangladesh was valued at 18.9% of GDP in 2021, with women performing 85% of this labor.
- Women's labor-force participation stood at 38.6% in 2025, significantly lower than the 80.4% rate for men.
- Only seven women were directly elected to the 300-seat parliament in the 2026 election, highlighting a leadership gap.
As Bangladesh assumes the chairmanship of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, the regional body is tasked with deepening integration in trade, technology, and security. According to thedailystar.net, this mandate reflects a broader ambition among developing nations to secure strategic autonomy and reshape the global economic order. However, a critical gap remains in how these regional architectures are designed, as they often prioritize state interests and market efficiency over the lived experiences of diverse communities.
The prevailing model of regionalism focuses heavily on the movement of goods, capital, and energy across borders. Yet, this framework frequently overlooks the unpaid care and informal labor that enable such economic activity. While bodies like BRICS have introduced explicit spaces for women’s economic participation, analysts question whether these additions fundamentally alter the economic model or merely accommodate women within existing structures. The central issue is not the absence of gender in these agendas, but its structural marginality in core decision-making processes.
Unpaid Labor Sustains Regional Growth
Recent estimates from UN Women and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics highlight the scale of this invisible contribution. In 2021, unpaid household and care work was valued at 670,000 crore taka, equivalent to 18.9 percent of the country's GDP. Women were responsible for 85 percent of this work, a stark contrast to their 38.6 percent labor-force participation rate in 2025, compared to 80.4 percent for men. This disparity suggests that regional trade and digital expansion may increase formal exports while relying on an informal, female-dominated economy to sustain the workforce.
Redefining Security for Political Actors
Beyond economics, the concept of security in regional diplomacy often remains narrow, focusing primarily on border protection and state interests. A feminist perspective challenges this by asking who is actually secured by these policies. Women and young people are not merely vulnerable populations requiring protection but active political actors and peacebuilders. Their exclusion from leadership roles in regional institutions limits the effectiveness of conflict prevention and resilience strategies, particularly in the face of climate disasters and political turmoil.
Leadership Gaps Persist Despite Mobilization
Bangladesh’s recent political trajectory underscores the distance between civic participation and institutional representation. Despite the visible roles women and youth played in the civic mobilization of 2024, the 2026 election resulted in only seven directly elected women among 300 parliamentary seats. This disconnect suggests that without intentional investment in women’s and youth leadership as part of the peace infrastructure, regional institutions risk remaining socially incomplete. The current chairmanship offers a unique opportunity to champion gender not as a supplementary agenda, but as a core pillar of regional stability and economic resilience.
