Bangladesh women in technology are resonating and play their due role. We are on the move.
Friedman was right when he observed ‘The inspirational power of a local success story is incalculable. There is no greater motivator than looking at one of their own who can make it big.’ There are many women in so many different areas and what they are achieving is so laudable. They are excelling in academics, in corporate world, in outsourcing, in entrepreneurship and new media. The successes have started the motivation Friedman alludes to.
We have been taking entrepreneurship forward. Growth is a function of leadership and innovation and we are demonstrating both. We focus on knowhow for personal development and growth. We have talent, we have achievements, we have networks, and we secured attention on inclusion. Inclusiveness has allowed us to participate in everything. We endeavour to make our professionals more competent and productive to be a part of the global knowledge industry.
Our students have natural inclination towards computational science. A large number of girls coming through the schooling system and offer a huge opportunity for the nation. We will have a continuous pool of bright girls to provide the engineering and IT talent we need.
Our Hon’ble Prime Minister visualized Digital Bangladesh. It has been a magnificent opportunity for us. The drumbeat echos around the world. Innovation and energy is finding expression and taking us forward. Women are playing a significant role to in bridging the Digital Divide. We have taken advantage of the opportunity created both at home and abroad. Women IT professionals, academia and the IT entrepreneurs are essential and have moved forward significantly.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil said ‘Analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential. There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth.’ Technological progress can be unimaginable in this century with big data and machine learning. Women are participating in the process and contributing to attain the true potential of their intellect.
The technology trend which is compelling is the proliferation of screens. Hon’ble ICT Advisor Sajeed Wazed Joy has just declared introduction of 4G to facilitate the vast potential of this trend. It will allow great increase in content and streaming. It will intensify web usage, experience and accelerate economic growth. Apps are replacing channels and it will be the same here. Around the world managers exploit massive amounts of data and make smarter decisions and insights that create competitive advantages and new business models. The 4G initiative is most laudable and timely.
Gender balance finds special mention in Bangladesh constitution and is an essential part of economic and social policy. Across the world women face five key barriers. Not so for us as we seem to have addressed the common barriers and done well in terms of role models. They are diffident and don’t promote themselves. But girls are ahead in class, are in the faculty, getting employed. Women confront the barriers of balancing work and domestic responsibilities or the ‘double burden’. Bangladesh women professionals at home or anywhere in the world are harnessing the power of the social media and to engage with women in technology worldwide.
There are 120 million mobile users and 42.6 million internet users. Anchor companies like Samsung and Accenture are here. Over 25,000 IT engineers are working in software and IT service companies. Government is intensely supporting skill development. IT-ITES industry is making rapid progress. Currently Bangladesh has 275,000 freelance outsourcers and every month 30,000 new freelancers are joining in the crowd sourcing platform. We have over 300,000 graduates and more than 10,000 IT professionals are overseas we can leverage.
We find that a demonstration effect is accelerating. The participation and contribution has established the fact that women do matter in the opportunity and in a Digital Bangladesh