WB lauds Bangladesh’s women empowerment

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has lauded Bangladesh’s role in empowering women and terming the country as a model in women’s progress.

“Countries such as Bangladesh are encouraging female participation in the workforce,” he said at the annual meeting of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Peru yesterday.

“If they stay on track, their female workforce will grow from 34 to 82 percent over the next decade, adding 1.8 percent to their GDP [gross domestic prodtct],” he said.

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“Countries should invest in women, which can be one of the most effective pro-growth strategies by any government,” he added.

Earlier this year, Bangladesh won the Women in Parliaments Global Forum award, known as WIP award, as a pioneering country in reducing gender discrimination.

The WIP awards are presented to those countries, which are recognised for their political empowerment of women, and to countries that show regional leadership in closing the gender gap in politics.

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In January this year, Bangladesh was also elected a vice-president for the UN-Women Executive Board held at the United Nations Headquarters.

The UN General Assembly created UN-Women on July in 2010 as part of the UN reform agenda to accelerate the organizational goals on gender equality and women empowerment and ever since Bangladesh has been actively involved in it.

Among other things, Kim also underlined the need for role of a country’s government to root out corruption “wherever it exists and promote transparency”.