Bangladesh has made remarkable strides in gender equality, climbing to 24th globally in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Report. However, a significant portion of women’s agricultural labour remains unrecognised and undervalued due to its unpaid nature. Despite performing equivalent tasks to men, women face wage inequality and their contributions to household subsistence farming and seasonal work are often excluded from formal agricultural statistics and national accounts.
Recognising this critical oversight, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) hosted an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on an ongoing study titled ‘Women in the Agriculture Sector of Bangladesh: How do they contribute and what is the value?’ on Monday, 28 July 2025, at the CPD premises. The EGM convened experts to discuss how women contribute to the agriculture sector and to determine the economic value of their unpaid work.
This EGM on the study is a part of the programme titled “Achieving a Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Society through Enhanced Engagement of Civil Society and Citizens in Bangladesh”.
This programme is jointly supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC), facilitated by GFA Consulting Group, and implemented by CPD.
The study aims to estimate the economic value of women’s unpaid agricultural work through a field survey and propose policy recommendations for formal recognition.
The EGM was attended by heads of women’s rights organisations, gender and development specialists, academics and researchers as well as programme analysts and coordinators.
