SOCIAL

BRAC Research Report June 2012

BRAC as a Workplace: Is It Women-Friendly?

Rumana Ali

BRAC Centre, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh Tel: 9881265, 8824180-7 (PABX), Fax: 88-02-8823542 Email: [email protected], Web: www.brac.net/research

BRAC as a Workplace: Is it Women-Friendly?

Rumana Ali

June 2012

Research and Evaluation Division BRAC Centre, 75 Mohakhali, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh E-mail: [email protected], www.brac.net/research Telephone: 9881265, 8824180-87

For more details about the report please contact: [email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract Introduction Methods Study design Findings Respondents profile Findings from survey Discussion Transfer Salary Provision of motorbike/bi-cycle Workload Verbal abuse, harassment and discrimination Unfair promotion Flexibility during menstruation and for breastfeeding Undermining marriage prospect Opinion about potentialities of female staff Conclusion References Appendix

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23 24 24 24 25 25 25 26 26 27 28 29

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ABSTRACT
This study aimed to explore whether BRAC provided women-friendly workplace or not by identifying adversities and challenges, if any, faced by female staff as well as to see the workplace environment through the eye of female staff at field level. The study also aimed to know the opinion of male staff about the potentialities, limitations of their female colleagues along with their opinion about affirmative actions taken by the organization for female staff. The primary population of the study was all female staff working at field level in three core programmes of BRAC BRAC Education Programme (BEP) and BRAC Health Programme (BHP) and the then BRAC Development Programme (BDP), while the secondary target population was male staff who were working in similar position in the same programme. Branch, area and regional offices of BRAC, except head Office, throughout the country were taken as study area. Data were collected through questionnaire survey, in-depth interview and informal discussion. The findings reveal womens experiences in a workplace which is dominated by patriarchal ideology, in spite of the organizations effort to make the workplace women-friendly through its policies. The findings also suggested that any organization that aims to bring social change needs to work at ideological and policy levels to make the policy more effective and ensure a women-friendly workplace.

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INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND In patriarchal society, growing role of women in out of home economic activities has not much transformed womens role in indoor domestic chores. In this system women working outside are seen to be overburdened with their triple roles - productive, reproductive and community management simultaneously due to the gendered division of labour (Finch and Groves 1983, Pascall 1986). The sharing of economic activity out of home by women has not succeeded in sharing of indoor activity by men at the same proportion (Tong 1998). Therefore, women perform two kinds of work visible and invisible. The visible works are counted but most invisible works of women are not counted in the concept of economic activity (Goswami 1998) Due to the gendered division of labour, women are, in most cases, in a disadvantageous position both in their private and public life. Their economic contribution at family level is continuously being devalued in one side and on the other side women have to struggle to make places for themselves in public sphere due to male dominated system, gender division of labour, lack of access to education, training, experience, lack of confidence, male chauvinism, inherited patriarchal ideology existing even in themselves along with the lack of opportunities in the decision making process. Therefore, many women work a second shift of unpaid household work along with the paid work outside home. This unequal distribution of labour within the household has greatly challenged and considered as one of the major site of womens oppression by Marxist feminists (Tong 1998). If women are to be emancipated in real sense, then creating the women-friendly environment both in public and private spheres is crucial. Margaret Benston (1969) stressed that unless a woman is freed from her heavy domestic duties, including childcare, her entrance into the workforce will be a step away from, rather than toward, liberation (cited in Tong 1998). Betty Friedan (1974) contends that the two primary challenges facing contemporary feminism are to restructure the workplace to create more flexibility for parents, and to alter the assumption that women should bear more of the child-rearing and domestic responsibilities than men (cited in Tong1998). Not only the feminists, various development organizations, government, nongovernmental organizations (NGO) are now committed to establish equality in public bodies and taking various actions to encourage women to participate in public life recognizing the fact that womens participation in workforce is not only beneficial for themselves but also for countrys balanced development. The realization of the fact is also reflected in various international and national commitments, policies and strategies adopted at different time. An international bill of womens rights, adopted in 1979 calls on the equal rights for women in the field of employment. In its Article 11, it affirms equality in the field of employment by demanding state parties to take steps to ensure that women have the same employment opportunities, the right to free choice of profession and employment, right to promotion, job security, as well as the right to equal remuneration along with the right to have the same capacity building training as men. They must have equal rights to enjoy the same benefits and allowances as men during their

retirement or in the case of their incapacity to work (Nweze 2010). This article further requires state parties to ensure equality in the workplace by undertaking measures to stop dismissal of women workers on the ground of pregnancy, introducing paid maternity leave without the loss of seniority or other benefits or career opportunities, providing special protection for women during pregnancy as well as ensuring social support to allow parents to combine family obligations with work responsibilities (Rehman 2010). The Third World Conference on Women, held in1985, the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (NFLS) called for equal employment opportunities and equal pay for work of equal value for women. It also demanded to ensure proper recognition of the extent and value of women's unpaid work, inside and outside home including childcare facilities, flexible working hour, sharing of domestic work, etc. (Alfredsson and Tomasevski 1995). The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (PFA), the resulting documents of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995 deals with removing the obstacles to women's public participation in all spheres of public and private lives through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making. It identifies economy as one of 12 critical areas of intervention and calls for to promote womens economic rights and independence, including access to employment and appropriate working conditions and control over economic resources (UN 1996). Keeping the above mentioned international commitment in mind government of Bangladesh (GoB) is trying to integrate women into the mainstream of development process. The intention of creating equality in the workplace has been reflected in the Constitution of the state as well as in various policies and strategies taken by the government. Article 28(2) of the Constitution recognizes the principle of equality between men and women in all spheres of the state and public life. At the same time considering the present backward and disadvantageous position of women in the state, the Constitution keeps the provision, in Article 28(4), of making special arrangement in favour of them or for the advancement of any backward section of citizens for securing their adequate representation in the service of the republic. Article 29 of the Constitution is about the equality of opportunity for all citizens in respect of employment or office in the service of the republic (Sobhan 2004). One of the goals of the National Policy for Women Advancement formulated in 1997 and revised in 2008, is to ensure that adequate measures are taken for womens proper access to employment and rights. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY After continuous evaluation of the output of its programmes and activities, BRAC has discovered women as the most potential agent to reach its goal of achieving sustainable development. It has identified the patriarchal ideology and practices in the society, existing both at rural and urban level, as the main responsible factors for the situation in which men occupies or have tendency to occupy the vital area of decisionmaking both at organizational and programme level. BRAC considers women as the main target of all programmes and activities.

All the thoughts and women centric activities of the organization have been exposed in a more obvious way in 1980 when the organization decided to run its initiatives directly towards women empowerment at programme level and recruitment of more women at organizational level. Womens Advisory Committee (WAC) was formed in 1991 to help identify and redress barriers to effective participation by women in organizational activities. BRAC adopted policy for female staff in 1994, so that they can hold managerial position quickly. BRAC has initiated the Gender Quality Action Learning (GQAL) Programme in 1995 to improve its staff as gender-sensitive and to establish the organization as women-friendly work place. The BRAC Gender Resource Centre (GRC) was established in the same year to cater to the information needs on gender and development of BRAC staff. In 1996 BRAC introduced three-month maternity leave, which later increased to four-month in 2002 with payment. BRAC adopted a Gender Policy in 1997 to achieve gender equality in a systematic manner within the organization. At the same year a subsidized crche was set up for children of BRAC staff at its Head Office in Dhaka, so that women staff wont have to leave their job if there is no one to take care of the child at their home. The organization took another step towards gender equality by introducing seven-day paternity leave in 2004. In the same year the sexual harassment elimination policy was introduced. In 2005 Gender Equality and Diversity Team (GEDT) was formed for ensuring proper implementation of the gender policy which was reviewed in 2007 to fight against new challenges in a more precise and effective way towards gender equality. Therefore, the organization established Gender Justice and Diversity Unit (GJ&D) under its Human Resource Department in 2005 to improve gender relation and create gender-sensitive working environment within its premises. This unit provides technical support in mainstreaming gender issues at both organizational and programme levels. The code of conduct and Sexual Harassment Elimination Policy (SharE) are integral parts of BRAC values and culture. Sexual Harassment Elimination and Staff Relation Section of the organization is also playing a vital role within the organization to ensure a gender-friendly working environment. Despite all the above endeavours, BRAC experiences the high dropout of female staff from the managerial positions to field level which raises the question to the effectiveness of the implementation of the policies and initiatives taken by the organization in this regard. This study has explored the causes behind this unexpected incident. The findings of the study are expected to be helpful to re-design the existing gender policies and programmes as well as to ensure their implementations. It would also address the reality properly and create a workplace where both male and female staff would feel encouraged to give their maximum efforts to flourish their potentials without devaluing each other in any respect. OBJECTIVE The general objective of the study was to explore whether BRAC provides womenfriendly workplace or not. The specific objectives were as follows:

To see the workplace environment through the eye of female staff at field level, To find out the adversities and challenges, if any, faced by field level female staff To know the opinion of male staff about the environment at their workplace.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF WOMEN-FRIENDLY WORKPLACE Women-friendly workplace is a place where All staff are being treated with equal respect, Women are enjoying the benefits of the affirmative action in real sense, Their needs and voices are equally valued at all levels of decision-making, planning and implementation, and All employees feel encouraged to give their maximum efforts to flourish their potentials without devaluing each other in any respect.

METHODS
STUDY DESIGN Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Branch, area and regional offices of BRAC, except the head office, situated all over the country were taken as study area. Study population Primary target population All female staff working at field level including programme organizer (PO), branch manager (BM), area manager (AM) and regional manager (RM), sector specialist(SS), family welfare visitor (FWV), accounts officer (AO), area education manager (AEM), upazila manager (UM), regional sector specialist (RSS), medical officer (MO), district manager (DM), quality assurance specialist (QAS) and area sector specialist (ASS) in BDP, BEP and BHP were taken as primary target population. Secondary target population The male staff working in the above mentioned positions in the same programmes were taken as secondary target population. Sampling List of all female staff working in three core programmes of BRAC (BDP, BEP and BHP) in field offices were collected from BRAC Human Resource Division. Of them, 500 female staff from each programme were randomly drawn. Thus, 1,500 female staff were selected for the mail survey. Fifty-one percent (762 out of 1,500) of the respondents mailed back their filled out questionnaires.

Data collection Tools for data collection Three types of tools were used for collecting data - questionnaire, checklist for indepth interview, and informal guidelines during informal discussion. Questionnaire Semi-structured simple and self-explanatory questionnaire was used to collect information from female staff. Moreover, required instructions and explanations were added in the questionnaire after field test. The following topics were included in the questionnaire: Behaviour of the supervisor and other colleagues, Job satisfaction, Workload, Opinion about workplace environment, and Positive side of their workplace.

Checklist Topics included in the checklist were as follows: Problems faced by female staff in everyday life, Problems in maintaining family life and workplace, Positive side of BRAC, and Suggestions to create women-friendly workplace.

Informal guideline During informal discussion with male staff, an informal guideline was used which include the following topics: Problems faced by male staff in their everyday life, Their opinion about the potentialities of their female colleagues, Their opinion about the affirmative action for female staff, Positive side of BRAC, and Suggestions to create women-friendly workplace.

Data collection process Information was collected through mail-ordered questionnaire. The questionnaires were posted to the respective regional offices from where these were distributed to the concerned staff. The samples for in-depth interview were selected on based on the responses in the questionnaire. As one of the main objectives of the study was to explore the problems and difficulties of field level female staff, in-depth interview was conducted with seven female staff who reported problems and dissatisfaction about their job. In case of informal discussion with male staff, information was collected from those six staff who were seemed to be vocal and responsive over the issue.

Data analysis The data were analyzed using STATA/SE 9.2 for Windows. In order to maintain clean data, legal codes, authorized range check, consistency check and extreme case check were done. Quality control The quality of data was ensured in the following way: Before data collection, the questionnaire was pre-tested and necessary changes were incorporated, The principal investigator conducted the in-depth interview and informal discussion while a co-investigator took notes. After each interview they discussed and elaborated the field notes and checked whether they missed any points from interview.

Limitations As questionnaires were mailed, there was no control or influence of the investigator on the respondents. Fifty-one percent (762 out of 1,500) of the respondents mailed the filled out questionnaire. Among these, many questions were unanswered due to the sensitive nature of the issue. Many of them did not disclose their identities. Data were collected from a small sample and it cannot be generalized.

FINDINGS
RESPONDENTS PROFILE Questionnaires were sent to 15% (1,500 of 9,982) of the total female staff of BRAC. Of them, 51% mailed the filled out questionnaire. Among them, 34% percent were from BHP, 29% from BEP, and 18% from the then BDP, while19% did not identify their programme (Appendix 1). Most respondents had education up to 12th grade (Higher Secondary Certificate or HSC), while lowest percent had education upto 10th grade (Secondary School Certificate or SSC) (Appendix 2). Most of the respondents belonged to 30-34 years age group (Appendix 3) and most of the respondents (almost 88%) were POs. Rest of them (12%) were branch manager, family welfare visitor, upazila manager, area manager, accountant, accounts officer, area education manager, regional sector specialist, regional manager, medical officer, district manager, quality assurance specialist and area sector specialist. Most of the respondents were working at level IV to VI (Appendix 4). Eighty-seven percent were married (Appendix 5) and 67% were Muslims (Appendix 6). Nearly half of the respondents (43%) were working in BRAC for more than 10 years (Appendix 7). The responses came from 82 regional offices, 305 area offices and 450 branch offices in 63 districts. Seven female staff were interviewed in-depth to explore the problems and barriers faced by them. One of them was 28 years old, five were >30 and one was 40 years old. Three were working in BEP - one as AM in Manikganj, one as PO (Adolescent Development Programme) in Rangpur, and one as BEP trainer in BRAC Learning

Centre, Jassore. Two respondents were working in BHP as PO while other two respondents were working in BDP as PO. Three of them had education up to HSC, two up to masters, and the rest two had graduation. Six were married. Six male staff were selected as key informants for exploring the problems faced by both male and female staff in the workplace and their thoughts on the women-friendly workplace as well as the capacity and potentialities of their female colleagues. Five of them were in the age group 30-35 years, and the rest was 45 years old. Five had masters degree while one had graduation. Four of them were working as managers while two as POs. Five of them were at pay level VIII and one at VII. Three belonged to former BDP, and one each to BHP and BEP. FINDINGS FROM SURVEY Behaviour of supervisors Most of the respondents (86%) reported to have male supervisors. There were 12 statements in the questionnaire to know the opinion or experience of the respondents regarding the behaviour of their immediate supervisors. The respondents were given three options - agree, disagree and no comments. As the questionnaire dealt with very sensitive issue, option was there so that if someone did not want to give the negative answer directly, she could go for no comments. Here such response was assumed to be negative answers. Equal behaviour Seventy-seven percent having male supervisors and 80% having female supervisors opined that their supervisors always treated them equally with their male colleagues. Rest of them in both groups thought that the behaviours of their supervisors varied with the sex of their subordinates (Appendix 8). Among respondents who had these negative feelings, 94% were working with male supervisors (Appendix 9). Feelings of getting discriminatory behaviour Thirty percent of the total respondents reported that they experienced such discriminatory behaviour from their supervisors that they felt that it would never happen if they were male. Respondents with male supervisors reported this more (31%) than those who have female supervisors (28%) (Appendix 10). Flexibility during menstruation Seventy-six percent of the respondents reported that their supervisors did not force them to ride motorcycle during menstruation while 14% avoided making any comments on the matter. Ten percent reported that their supervisors forced them to ride motorbike on two days of flexibility they were entitled to have, according to the HR policy of BRAC (Table1). It was seen that highest 41% (31 out of 76 negative answers) of the negative answers came from respondents of BHP. Flexibility for breastfeeding Thirty-five percent of the total respondents reported that their supervisors did not let female staff enjoy flexibility to breastfeed their children. Most of these respondents (90%) belonged to the group who had male supervisors. Sixteen percent of the total respondents did not make any comments on this issue (Table 1).

Table 1. Female staff enjoying flexibility during menstruation and breastfeeding in work by programme (%)
Flexibility in riding motorcycle Flexibility in breastfeeding Avoid Avoid Programme Agree Disagree comments Total Agree Disagree comments Total BDP 68.9(93) 17.8 (24) 13.3 (18) 100 (135) 52.6(71) 34.8 (47) 12.6 (17) 100 (135) BHP 69.9 (181) 11.4 (31) 18.1 (47) 100 (259) 51.7(134) 34.7 (90) 13.5 (35) 100 (259)

BEP 87.2 (191) 5.0 (11) 7.8 (17) 100 (219) 40.6 (89) 40.2 (88) 19.2 (42) 100 (219) Programme not 77.2 (115) 6.7(10) 16.1 (24) 100 (149) 53.0 (79) 28.2 (42) 18.8 (28) 100 (149) mentioned Total 76.1 (580) 10.0 (76) 14.0 (106) 100 (762) 49 (373) 35.0 (267) 16.0 (122) 100 (762)

Proper assessment Thirty-one percent reported that they did not have faith on their supervisors that they would place the success of female staff properly to the higher authority for their promotion. Here, the number of respondents working under male supervisors was higher. Eleven percent avoided making any comments on the matter. Most of the respondents who did not have faith on their supervisors about their proper assessment were found working in BRAC for >10 years, most of whom were working in BHP programme in level VI (Appendix 11). Rests were positive that their supervisors properly communicated to higher authorities about their success and achievement. Most of the negative answers came from the respondents working at level VI (27%) followed by level V (24%). Insult for look, body and physical shape Eighty-four percent (643) reported that their supervisors never insulted them in front of others due to their look, body and appearance. Most of the respondents who accused their supervisors of insulting them due to their appearance have male supervisors (Appendix 12.1). Most of the respondents from this category worked at level IV to VII belonging to 26-35 years age group (Appendices 12.2 and 12.3). Insult for relationship Twelve percent reported that their supervisors insulted them in front of others because of their relationship with other or any particular person, while 6% did not make any comments on the matter (Appendix 13.1). Higher percent of respondents who gave negative answer or avoided comments worked with male supervisors. Respondents older than 25 years accused their supervisors in higher percent in this case (Appendix 13.2). Threat of sexual harassment Eighty-one percent reported that they did not feel threat of any sexual harassment from their supervisors. Almost 14% of BEP, 13% of BDP and 10% of BHP respondents gave the negative responses (Table 2).

Threat of physical assault Eighty-one percent reported that they did not feel any threat of being victims of physical assault from their supervisors. One-fourth of them did not disclose their programme (Table 2). Threat of rape Twelve percent felt to be threatened of being raped by their supervisors. Of them, 13% were working in BEP followed by 12% in BDP, while 15% did not mention their programme (Table 2). Table 2. Reported threat of sexual harassment, physical assault and rape by programme (%)
Sexual harassment Physical assault Rape No Threat Avoid Total Threat Avoid Total No Threat Avoid Total threat comNo comthreat comments threat ments ments Programme BDP 80.7 (109) 83.0 (215) 80.8 (177) 80.5 (120) 81.5 (621) 12.6 (17) 10.4 (27) 13.7 (30) 10.7 (16) 11.8 (90) 6.7 (9) 100 82.2 12.6 (135) (111) (17) 5.2 (7) 5.0 (13) 3.6 (8) 7.4 (11) 5.1 (39) 100 83.7 (135) (113) 100 83.0 (259) (215) 100 82.6 (219) (181) 100 78.5 (149) (117) 100 82.1 (762) (626) 11.8 (16) 9.6 (25) 13.2 (29) 14.8 (22) 12.1 (92) 4.4 (6) 7.3 (19) 4.1 (9) 6.7 (10) 5.8 (44) 100 (135) 100 (259) 100 (219) 100 (149) 100 (762)

BHP BEP Not mentioned Total

6.6 100 82.2 12.7 (17) (259) (213) (33) 5.5 100 82.2 14.16 (12) (219) (180) (31) 8.7 100 73.8 18.8 (13) (149) (110) (28) 6.7 100 80.6 14.3 (51) (762) (614) (109)

Not giving value to opinion of female staff Twenty percent of the respondents who had male supervisors reported that during decision-making in all meetings their supervisors did not value the opinion of female staff, while 13% working with female supervisors had the same feeling. However, 9% avoided making any comments on the matter. Most of the respondents who felt their supervisors underestimated their opinion belonged to level V and VI (Appendices 14.1 and 14.2). Taking needs and interest of female staff under consideration during decision-making Twenty-seven percent of the total respondents reported to have feelings that their supervisor did not take their needs and interests under consideration during decisionmaking. Twenty-eight percent who worked with male supervisors and 22% who had female supervisors felt this concern (Appendix 15). Scoring on supervisors behaviour It was revealed that 1% expressed their dissatisfaction over all the above-mentioned areas, while 22% expressed their satisfaction in all of these cases (Table 3). The respondents who expressed their full dissatisfaction about their supervisors behaviour worked under male supervisors while respondents working under either male or

female supervisors expressed full satisfaction. Rest of them had dissatisfaction about either one or more than one cases. Table 3. Respondents satisfied with behaviour of immediate supervisors by programme (%) (n= 762)
Satisfaction score 0* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12** BDP 1.5 (2) 0.7 (1) 3.0 (4) 4.4 (6) 3.7 (5) 4.4 (6) 8.9 (12) 6.7 (9) 10.4 (14) 8.1 (11) 8.9 (12) 14.1 (19) 25.2 (34) BHP 1.2 (3) 1.9 (5) 2.3 (6) 3.5 (9) 1.5 (4) 5.4 (14) 9.6 (25) 6.2 (16) 10.4 (27) 10.4 (27) 9.6 (25) 19.3 (50) 18.5 (48) BEP 0.00 (0) 1.0 (2) 1.9 (4) 3.6 (8) 5.0 (11) 4.1 (9) 5.5 (12) 6.8 (15) 11.0 (24) 12.3 (27) 10.5 (23) 16.9 (37) 21.5 (47) Programme not mentioned 1.3 (2) 2.7 (4) 2.0 (3) 3.4 (5) 4.7 (7) 7.4 (11) 7.4 (11) 6.0 (9) 9.4 (14) 6.7 (10) 10.7 (16) 13.4 (20) 24.8 (37)

* 0 indicates number of respondents who gave negative response over all 12 statements about their immediate supervisors behaviour given in the questionnaire (that is 0 is totally dissatisfied); ** 12 indicates number of respondents who gave positive response over all 12 statements about their immediate supervisors behaviour given in the questionnaire (that is 12 is fully satisfied); Respondents having score greater than 0 and less than 12, gave positive response to 1 or more than 1 such statements.

Percent of satisfied respondents in all above 12 cases did not vary significantly with the programmes they worked for. It was seen that in the case of BHP, this satisfied group were at level VI, while in the case of BEP they worked at level IV and V in most case. Behaviour of supervisors if they get angry Respondents were given some options in the questionnaire about their feelings of threat in the situation when their supervisors got angry with them. Although most of the respondents reported that they did not feel threat of being victims of any immoral action taken by their supervisors, significant percent of the respondents (42%) expressed their fear of being victims of one or more than one cases given in the questionnaires. These include transfer, insult, sexual harassment, unnecessary workload, adverse environment, or false complaint to higher authority. Thirteen percent reported that they felt threatened in one of the above mentioned cases while 1% had feelings of being victims of all if their supervisors got angry with them (Table 4).

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Table 4. Respondents reported threats from supervisors (%)

Score 0* 1 2 3 4 5 6** Total BDP 19 (84) 10 (10) 3 (7) 24 (14) 9 (4) 25 (13) 37 (3) 18 (135) BHP 36 (158) 28 (28) 40 (22) 32 (19) 31 (14) 31 (16) 25 (2) 34 (259) BEP 28 (125) 35 (35) 33 (18) 27 (16) 27 (12) 21 (11) 25 (2) 29 (219) Programme not mentioned 17 (76) 27 (27) 14 (8) 17 (10) 33 (15) 23 (12) 12 (1) 19 (149) Total 100 (443) 100 (100) 100 (55) 100 (59) 100 (45) 100 (52) 100 (8) 100 (762)

* Respondents having 0 score did not report to have threats of being victim of any immoral acts from their immediate supervisors when he/she gets angry with them; ** Respondents having 6 score reported to have threats of being victim of 6 immoral acts (transfer, insult, sexual harassment, unnecessary workload, adverse environment, false complaint to higher authority) at the same time from their immediate supervisors when he/she gets angry with them; Respondents having score greater than 0 and less than 6, reported to having threats of one or more than one (maximum 5) cases.

In these cases, concern of being victims of various harassments varies with the sex of their supervisors. When the questions of harassments came, higher proportion of the respondents having male supervisors agreed to have fear. Among them, 25% expressed their fear of being insulted in front of others by their male supervisors, while 27% reported that their supervisors would keep them under unnecessary workload, which was also higher compared to percent having female supervisors (17%). Higher percent (19% compared to 13%) of respondents working with male supervisors also felt that if their supervisors got angry they would create such a situation that would make them leave the job (Appendix 16). In case of giving false complaint to higher authority, 22% who had male supervisors expressed their fear, which was higher percent than that of the respondents having female boss (16%) (Appendix16). But exception was seen in the case of transfer. Higher percent of respondents (27% compared to 24%) working with female supervisors expressed their concern that they might be transferred to another place if their supervisors got annoyed or angry with them (Appendix 16). In total, 24% felt threat of transfer, 23% felt threat of insult, 26% felt threat of unnecessary workload, while 18% felt threat of facing adverse working environment and 22% felt threat that their supervisors would place false complaint to higher authority against them if their supervisors got angry. More than half of the total respondents felt that their supervisors would warn them first before taking any step about their mistakes if they did anything wrong (Appendix 16).

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Behaviour of other colleagues Sixty-two percent of total respondents were satisfied with the behaviours of their male colleagues (Table 5). They agreed with the statements saying their male colleagues were respectful, cooperative, never teased or laughed at their body, look and appearance, never interfering in their personal relationship as well as never made female staff to be threatened of being raped, sexually harassed or of being victim of physical assault from them. Three percent reported their dissatisfaction over all of the above-mentioned aspects of their male colleagues behaviours. Rest of the respondents (35%) expressed their dissatisfaction over one or more than one aspects. Table 5. Respondents opinions about behaviour of male colleagues (%) (n=762)
Statements Agree Most of my colleagues treat their female colleagues respectfully My colleagues are very much helpful and cooperative We (female staff) never face teasing and immoral comments due to our look, body, physical shape and appearance We (female staff) never face teasing and immoral comments from our male co-workers due to our relationship with anybody I never feel threats of molestation, rape or sexual harassment from them I never feel threats of physical assault from them 87.8 (669) 79.0 (602) 85.4 (651) Responses Disagree 19.3 (147) 11.7 (89) 18.2 (139) No comments 10.4 (79) 7.7 (59) 8.3 (63)

82.4 (628)

16.0 (122)

5.9 (45)

85.0 (647) 86.3 (658)

18.0 (137) 19.4 (148)

7.1 (54) 8.1 (62)

Job satisfaction Respondents were asked whether they were satisfied with their remuneration, designation, recognition of work and opportunities for capacity building. They were also asked a question to assess their satisfaction that whether they encouraged their female relatives or friends to join BRAC. Thirty-six percent (274) expressed their satisfaction in all the cases while 3% (25) informed that they were not satisfied in any of the above-mentioned cases. The proportion was seen to be higher in BHP than the other two programmes in the case of both extreme satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

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Table 6. Reported job satisfaction by programmes

Score Number Column % Row % 0* BDP 5 3.70 20.00 10 7.41 13.15 27 20.00 22.31 22 16.30 16.29 18 13.33 13.74 53 39.26 19.34 100 (135) BHP 10 3.86 40.00 25 9.65 32.89 33 12.74 27.27 46 17.76 34.07 43 16.60 32.82 102 39.38 37.22 100 (259) BEP 5 2.28 20.00 27 12.33 35.52 41 18.72 33.88 39 17.81 28.88 40 18.26 30.53 67 30.59 24.45 100 (219) Programme not mentioned 5 3.36 20 14 9.40 18.42 20 13.42 16.52 28 18.79 20.74 30 20.13 22.90 52 34.90 18.97 100 (149) Total

100 (25)

100 (76)

100 (121)

100 (135)

100 (131)

5** Total

100 (274) 100 (762)

*Respondents having 0 score reported that they didnt have satisfaction on any of the given indicators in the questionnaire (remuneration, designation, recognition of work, opportunities for capacity building, their act of encouraging their female relatives in joining BRAC); ** Respondents having 5 score reported to have satisfaction on all of the given indicators in the questionnaire; Respondents having score greater than 0 and less than 5, reported to having satisfaction over one or more than one (maximum 4) cases.

In total, 27% reported that they were not getting remuneration as much as they deserve while 37% were not happy with their designation. Forty-eight percent reported that they were not getting proper recognition of their work while 14% felt that BRAC was not providing equal opportunities for capacity building like joining training, workshop and seminar for its staff. Thirty percent reported that they never encouraged their female friends and relatives to choose BRAC as their workplace. It was seen that higher the level, the lower percent of staff who were like to be satisfied with their salary and designation (Appendix 17). Opinion about their career prospect Sixty-three percent of the total respondents thought that it was possible for them to go to higher post even if they work hard with sincerity. But at the same time, significant portion of the respondents (37%) thought it as impossible. It was revealed that high percent of married women were frustrated over their future career (46%) who had been serving BRAC for more than 10 years; most of them belong to 45 to above 49 years age group. Forty-one percent of this group had

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educational qualification up to HSC, while 5% had master degree. Twenty-nine percent of this group had education up to BA. Workload Thirty-five percent (270) of the total respondents thought that they were overloaded with office work. In total, 54% (146 out of 270) of respondents felt themselves overloaded since they had to work after office hour everyday. Fourteen percent (110) of the total respondents who reported to be overburdened had to work after office hour everyday as well as on weekends at least once every two months. Among the respondents who worked after office hour everyday, 67% reported that they worked up to 7 p.m. everyday followed by 15% who had to work up to 9 p.m. while 4% said that they worked up to midnight. Almost 53% (407) of the total respondents thought that it was not possible to maintain family life while working in BRAC. Of them, highest proportion (36%) worked for BHP, 24% (99) for BEP, and 20% (81) for BDP. The rest of the respondents (20%) having this opinion did not mention the name of their programme. Nature of work Twenty-seven percent of the total respondents thought that the nature of their work was not suitable for women. The highest proportion of the respondents (34%) in this group was from BEP followed by 22% and 23% from BDP and BHP, respectively. Among the micro-credit group 40% thought that their work was not women-friendly, while in other groups such negative answer was seen to be <33%. Sixty-five percent of the respondents mentioned about the long distance they had to travel everyday while 48% showed the feelings of insecurity during field visit. Thirteen percent who considered the work as unsuitable for women said that they had to work in the field till night while 8% reported that they had to work till midnight. Some other reasons were revealed behind their negative views about their work. These include long office hour, riding bicycle or motorbike and relevant social problems, had to do office work till night even if they were in home, strict and rigid monthly targets to meet, staying overnight in another area, and transfer to distant area. Opinion about workplace environment Fifty-nine percent was seen to be positive over the fact that BRAC provides womenfriendly workplace to its female staff, while 8% did not make any comments on the matter. Among the respondents who reported BRAC as not women-friendly, highest proportion (34%) came from BEP followed by BHP (28%) and BDP (20%). Eighteen percent who belonged to this group did not mention the name of the programme they worked for. Ninety percent of the negative answers came from the respondents who worked under male supervisors. Twenty-one percent said that male staff considered themselves superior than female staff in all cases, while 16% accused their supervisors of not being as cooperative as they were supposed to be. Nine percent thought that their supervisors

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always showed indifferent attitude towards pregnant female staff and 9% reported that their male colleagues were not very much helpful (Appendix 18). Besides the above-mentioned factors, significant proportion (15%) of responses came, which considered fear of sexual harassment, being insulted on trivial matters, giving pressure to ride motorcycle/bicycle during menstruation, absence of sick leave, lack of flexibility for breastfeeding, and workload as the causes behind their views. Positive side of BRAC Eighty-five percent reported that they experienced some positive things in BRAC while 5% reported that they found nothing positive in their workplace. Ten percent did not make any comments. The survey reveals that 82% thought that BRAC provided equal opportunities for training, seminar and workshop to both male and female staff. Fifty-nine percent found all of their male colleagues helpful, 53% found the environment very safe for women, 49% thought that BRAC gave priorities of the interest of female staff in every respect while, 48% reported that they never felt discrimination in any respect either from their supervisors or other colleagues. Twenty-four percent liked BRAC because it was close to their residence and 18% thought BRAC paid higher than other organizations they knew. Common problems for both male and female staff From in-depth interview with female staff and informal discussion with male staff the following problems were revealed which were common for both male and female staff. Transfer Although both male and female staff identified transfer as one of their common problems, it brought an extra dimension in the lives of female staff. Some of the female respondents mentioned about their bitter experience due to living apart from their husband. Some said that they would quit their job if they would not be transferred to their husbands place soon, even though they were in great need of the job. Even the female staff working in the organization for long time said that if she was transferred from her current placement, she would leave the job, otherwise her marriage would not work. Another respondent was found to be frustrated over her relationship with her husband, due to staying far away from her husband. She reported that her husband, from the very beginning of her marriage, did not like her because of her dark complexion. She thought, if she stayed with her husband, she could have changed her husbands attitude towards her. Low salary Both male and female staff expressed their dissatisfaction over their remuneration. They reported that it was very difficult to maintain family with the present salary and identified the low salary as one of the main reasons of staff dropout. It was noticeable that the respondents who joined this job as fresh graduate and even those who had been working for BRAC for two or three years said that they had come here to gather some experiences and now were looking for another job with better salary. According to a male respondent who was working for former BDP: I dont have any plan to get married before having better and secured job.

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Housing problem Most respondents mentioned housing as one of the major problems they faced. They reported that the house rent provided by BRAC was low in the present context. The findings also reveal that as they lived separate from their families their living cost became double, e.g. they had to bear food cost for their families and at the same time for themselves at the location they were working. In addition, they had to pay house rent in two places. Thus, all the expenditures became double. So, it put extra burden on their limited income. It was not only the matter of lodging, single female staff face the housing problem in another way. Sometimes female staff had to share housing with families or rent house in group. Then they were always at risk of being victim of rape, sexual harassment, and criticism in our socio-cultural context. All of the respondents, both male and female, reported the factor as one of the reasons of female staff dropout immediately after joining BRAC field office. Little allowance for fuel of motorbike The respondents reported the amount of cost BRAC provided for fuel of motorbike for field staff as very little comparing to the market price. Therefore, they expressed their frustration over the loss of huge amount of money from their income in every month for office purpose. It was also revealed from both male and female respondents that the amount of fuel cost provided by the organization was same for staff of all levels. Area manager, both male and female, reported that they had to travel long distance and cover larger area than POs, but BRAC did not consider the matter and did not provide a higher allowance than POs to buy fuel. As a result they had to face more financial loss than their subordinates. Unfair promotion All the respondents complained that during the period of promotion and sending the assessment form to higher authority, it was very common in BRAC that supervisors preferred flatterers. According to all of the respondents, they saw their many colleagues got promoted by keeping good relationship with their supervisors while they (respondents) had not been promoted for a long time. The meaning of good relationship got another meaning for female staff, reported some female respondents. Here, it was reported that some supervisors preferred good looking female staff who kept good relationship with them. Change designation and responsibility without changing level and remuneration It was revealed that enhancement of salary did not depend on the designation of staff. Salary increases with promotion of level. Therefore, in BRAC sometimes supervisors had lower level than that of subordinates and received less salary despite more responsibilities. According to respondents, this situation created jealousy among colleagues and disrupted supervisor-subordinate relationship. The factor, they opined, hugely disrupted the workplace environment. Some respondents of both sexes reported to have the experience of being victim of the jealousy and non-cooperation by their supervisors due to having higher level and remuneration.

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Respondents also reported that the above-mentioned situation not only created adverse workplace environment but also destroyed the motivation of work of supervisors due to having less remuneration and level along with higher responsibilities and accountability than that of their subordinates. One of the female respondents who was a single BEP area manager reported that she would apply for the post same as her present subordinates (PO) and would deny to have the present designation when she would get married. She thought the higher designation as pain because it did not give her any financial benefit, rather she had to take more responsibilities and work load of all staff working under her. So, she had to take physical and mental stress much more than that of her subordinates. But in return, the difference between the salary of herself and her subordinate was almost same. She thought it was not only the matter of money, but of prestige, respect of higher position which she was deprived of. No leave Respondents reported that even though they were entitled to have leave, they could not take leave due to strict action plan and heavy workload. The staff living far away from their families reported that they did not get some days extra leave with the weekend which they sometimes needed for family purpose. Therefore, they met their family once or twice in a month but for one day (weekend) only. Some of them also reported that they could not go home even in case of emergency or severe illness in the family. The respondents mentioned their experiences when their close family members like father, wife and children became very sick but they failed to visit them. They also reported that it was common for BRAC that it did not allow its staff to leave their working area even they got sick. Workload and mental stress Working hour. Field staff need to go to the field at 7.30 a.m. or earlier in the morning. They must register their movement even earlier in the office. Therefore, respondents reported that they left their house very early in the morning depending on the distance of their workplace. They came back between 1.00 and 1.30 p.m. for lunch. After an hour, they went to the field and came back at 5 p.m. Then they had to do regular tasks, like writing reports, posting information in the registers, etc. sometimes till 7 in the evening. Sometimes they had to work till midnight at home in order to complete their work. Rigid target to meet. Although the duration of working hour varied from programme to programme, all the respondents from three core programmes reported that they all had very strict and high monthly target to meet. As such, they all had to be under serious mental stress. For example, Micro-credit POs had target of collecting certain amount of loan repayment each month. If they failed to collect this money from borrowers, they had to face serious pressure from their supervisors. These pressures includes the forms of both psychological and verbal, even threat to terminate, and at the end of the month the staff had to make the amount full from their own pocket. Likewise a BHP staff had the target of selling certain amount of health materials like medicine, saline, condom, etc. in their assigned area. So, they had to go through mental stress and fear that they might need to give money from their own pocket if they failed to meet target at the end of month. They thought that the target set by each programme was too high to achieve in a month. They also reported that the quality of BRAC health products, was falling down

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day by day and the price set by the programme was also higher than the market price. So, it was difficult for them to convince villagers to buy BRAC products. Work on weekends. In most cases, their supervisors did not usually ask them to stay after office hour or in the weekend. But they had to work and go door to door to sell their products or collect the repayment day and night, even in weekends, to save their own money as well as to save themselves from the anger and shouting of supervisors at the end of the month. Overnight stay outside. In some cases, like trainer, female staff often had to stay outside at night leaving their children and family at home. This caused additional problems for female staff in looking after their small children and household responsibilities . No job security The respondents reported that they always lived with the feelings that they could be terminated at any time, no matter for how many years they had been working here or what type of mistakes they did. According to a male staff: No staff in BRAC is as efficient to claim their job as secured, no matter how sincerely he/she works for the organization. Undermining marriage prospects It was revealed from both married and unmarried female respondents that the nature of BRAC work undermined the marriage prospects of female staff. High mobility, riding motorbike or bicycle, long working hour, frequent tour and transfer made women undesirable and very unusual participants in the marriage market. The fact reflected in the comments of a single female area manager working in BEP: I am riding a motorbike and have to be occupied with the work of my office all day, then who will agree to marry me? My family is trying very hard to marry me off. In most cases, at the beginning, boys side shows interest in me because of my good family background and also because of my looks. But when they come to know about my job they did not show interest anymore. My family always asks me to leave this job. But I need to have money to support my mother. How can I leave the job? Now I am getting older (above 32) and Im not yet married. My family is really worried about me. This is also true in case of male staff. They were also considered as doing less secured and low status job, hence they frequently experienced rejection by brides family. Problems faced exclusively by female staff Besides the above-mentioned problems there were some other problems faced exclusively by BRAC female staff. Motorcycle/bi-cycle According to all female respondents, they had to face physical, social and psychological problems for riding motorcycle/bi-cycle. The respondents mentioned

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several physical problems like menstruation, difficulties in child bearing and delivery, problems during intercourse, and back pain due to riding motorcycle or bi-cycle. On the other hand, it is not socially acceptable that women ride motorcycle/bicycle. Therefore, all the respondents said that men did not want to marry to women who were working in BRAC. Even if a man want to marry a BRAC female staff, but his family doesnt want him to marry her. In our social context, it is a serious problem for a girl and her family. According to the female respondents, it was very common among BRAC female staff at field level that they were unable to get married in due time due to the nature of their workload and riding motorcycle. Therefore, they had to go through the difficulties in child bearing and delivery. No flexibility during menstruation As per BRAC policy, female staff could do deskwork at least for two days in a month during her menstruation. But all the respondents reported that they had never enjoyed this flexibility due to their strict work schedule. Although 10% of the female respondents reported that their supervisors did not let them enjoy this flexibility, indepth interview revealed that female staff did not enjoy this flexibility. It was also revealed that female staff did not feel free to tell their supervisors to do the deskwork on these particular days due to the social stigma and psychological barrier. They also reported that male supervisors did not show very considerate behaviour during these days. Transfer after maternity leave Some respondents reported that they got transfer letter as soon as they came back from their maternity leave. Then they had to go through very hard time with their infant baby as well as through physical stress. No time for breastfeeding Although <0.5% reported that their supervisors did not let them enjoy flexibility of working hours in order to breastfeed their children, as per BRAC gender policy, it was revealed that many female staff could not enjoy this flexibility due to their workload. Another finding indicates that female staff found the flexible hour insufficient to breastfeed their children because they were provided half-an-hour extra with their twohour lunch break. They thought that this extra half-an-hour was not sufficient. Discrimination and Verbal Abuse Supervisors behaved more rudely with female staff than male staff for same mistake or failure because they were afraid to face a man. For committing very minor mistakes female staff complained of being threatened to be dismissed or terminated. According to a BHP respondent: I am working out of my necessities. So, I always try to do my job with sincerity, but in case of any mistake, no matter how minor it is, the manager threat me to terminate. Female staff faced verbal abuse in most of the cases when they asked for leave on the ground of sickness of their children or themselves or any family members. One of the female PO from Pirojpur said:

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Once I asked for leave because my baby was seriously sick. Then my supervisor shouted saying, It is none of my business that your child is sick or dies. It is one of the womens many excuses to skip their duties. Then I had to keep my sick baby to my younger sister at home. Women also experienced verbal abuse from their supervisors and male colleagues during pregnancy when they were both physically and psychologically vulnerable. One respondent complained that during pregnancy her supervisor intentionally increased her workload. He also gave her pressure to go for maternity leave when she was only two or three months pregnant because he thought her as unproductive and unfit for office work. He also made her ride bicycle during this time. Female respondents also reported that it was very common incident that male staff talked more in the meeting, and their opinion was given more importance than that of female staff. During in-depth interview the respondents reported other types of harassments Which include giving unnecessary workload after rude behaviour, threat to dismiss, increasing work load even in the case of serious illness, compel female staff to give money from their salary at the end of the month, always looking for their weak points or faults, and interfering in their personal matters. Privacy problem Toilet problem. In BRAC field offices, male and female staff need to share the same toilets. It was inconvenient and embarrassing as reported by the female staff. As a result many staff tried to avoid using toilet during office hours. Therefore, they had to go through physical problems, like urinary tract infection and dehydration problems. They also mentioned about sufferings and uneasiness during the period of their menstruation. Lack of restroom for female staff. Female staff felt the necessity of having restroom for their own due to their physical vulnerability. But they reported that they didnt have such room in their workplace. Positive side of BRAC through the eye of staff of both sexes This study also revealed some positive sides of the organization which came exclusively from in-depth interview and informal discussion with both sexes. Training. The capacity building training provided by BRAC was considered to be good and useful. Participants were selected fairly for these training. Give fresh graduates/unskilled/inexperienced people chance to work. Many fresh and inexperienced people got chance to work in BRAC and build their future career. Paternity leave. The respondents treated paternity leave as a good initiative of BRAC towards establishing the rights of staff of both sexes. Respect for BRAC staff. The respondents liked to work for BRAC because when they went to the field or other organizations, they got extra attention and respect for being a staff of such a large organization as BRAC.

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Salary in due time. Paying salary on due time was seen to be one of the very positive aspects of BRAC. Findings from informal discussion Opinion about potentialities of female staff According to the male respondents, their female colleagues had ability to give better motivation than men to villagers in any programme. They had more patience which is an important factor for working with people at community level. Due to the conservative nature of rural people, female staff had better acceptability in the community in handling issues like pregnancy, menstruation, and family planning. Male staff also thought that their female colleagues were more sincere most of the time and could do well under the supervision of male staff. Opinion about limitations of female staff If a female staff is assigned to work at night then two male staff have to be assigned as her bodyguards. (One BDP manager, Navaron Branch, Jessore) In micro-credit programme, staff do not have any time schedule and they have to work day and night. Male staff opined that as female staff could not go to the field at night or in the dark, they were not suitable for micro-credit programme. It must be mentioned here that BRAC does not encourage supervisors to let their female staff go to the field at night. Male respondents also thought that the borrowers take advantage of the politeness of female staff when they go to them to collect their repayment. Male respondents regarded maternity leave as a problem in recruiting female staff as all programme of BRAC had high target and strict deadline to meet. They opined that female staff had always chance of going for maternity leave for a long time. During this time although another staff came as replacement, the programme hampered as the supervisor had to prepare the new one for the work for getting expected output from him/her. Male respondents also mentioned another problems relating to maternity leave. They reported that although the paid maternity leave is for four months, most of the time women cannot work from the first day of their pregnancy due to their various physical change and complicacy. It is the most difficult part of their period of pregnancy because they cannot be replaced then but giving almost no output for the programme. That put supervisors in hard situation because they neither tell the women to take leave nor getting required output from them. Then they have to compensate the loss of the programme by taking extra burden of work on their shoulder. Male respondents also thought that female staff demanded leave/vacation more than men due to their family responsibilities. They also reported that after being married female staff usually could not give as much output as they did before marriage. Female staff, they opined, become insincere or indifferent about their responsibilities after getting married. Opinion about affirmative action Flexible working hour for breastfeeding. During informal discussion, male staff said that they did not know about how much flexible time female staff were entitled to enjoy for breastfeeding their babies. They also opined that they did not have any objection to

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let female staff enjoy the flexibility of working hours for breastfeeding if she managed to do it after completing all of her responsibilities. As a female staff has to go to a long distance from her child, male staff opined it as not practical to come back from this long distance and feed their child and join the work again. They also thought it as physically and mentally stressful. So, female staff themselves, male staff said, preferred not to enjoy the flexibility given to them by BRAC. Maternity leave. According to male respondents, the maternity leave is very long. Male respondents said that in case of male staff the leave is approved maximum three days in case of emergency. Therefore, they thought it as necessary to increase the leave provision for male staff to enjoy family or social life. Provisions for increasing number of female staff in the organization. In this case management should monitor and follow-up the process so that deserving women with required qualification can apply for job. Disqualified or low qualified women should not be given chance over qualified male applicants. All the affirmative actions should be implemented in such a way that a woman cannot use these for her personal benefit unfairly. Recommendations from respondents From female respondents Unfair promotion should be stopped through proper assessment To increase salary and other costs (housing, fuel) and ensure increment in the year of maternity leave To ensure that female staff are transferred to their convenient places To make the policy regarding flexibility during menstruation and for breastfeeding more clear and logical so that it can be practiced in the field To rethink about the provision of motorcycle/bi-cycle for female staff which causes various physical, social and psychological problems to them To make all staff sensitive and aware about benefits of creating a women-friendly workplace

From male respondents To increase the number of staff to reduce their workload To improve staff relationship at all levels Unfair promotion should be stopped through proper assessment To increase salary and other costs (housing, fuel) To rethink about the provision of motorcycle/bi-cycle for female staff which causes various physical, social and psychological problems to them Not to recruit women in micro-credit programme

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DISCUSSION
Frequent transfer, low salary, riding motorbike or bicycle, difficulties in maintaining office work and family life due to workload, male dominance along with verbal abuse and harassment, unfair promotion, lack of proper implementation of policy on flexibility during menstruation and breastfeeding were revealed to be as problems faced by female staff in BRAC field level. TRANSFER All respondents identified transfer as one of the major problems in maintaining family life. It was also found that some female respondents preferred the option of quitting their job because of having workplace far away from their husband and family, even if they were satisfied with the remuneration and workplace environment. The fact has been reflected in the lamentation of Tripty Kona Biswas, a BEP trainer working in BRAC, Jessore for more than 15 years: I want to work here for next 5 years because I like my job and workplace. But if BRAC transfers me from my present place, I will immediately leave the job because I will never let my husband abandon me. The above respondents revealed during in-depth interview that she went through serious physical and psychological torture by her husband since 1996 to 2006 when her workplace was at another district from the place where her husband and four years old son lived. The common problems faced by female staff due to transfer were as follows: Psychological gap between female staff and their husband increased day by day Their husbands gave them pressure to leave the job They themselves also felt guilty and about to leave their job to stay with their family. But their financial crisis prevented them to leave the job. Thus, female staff went through a depression, as they did not want to continue their job for their family, but could not leave the job thinking about the future of their children.

As a result, it was found that female staff lose their commitment to work and sometimes many of them compel to leave the job. If they do not leave the job they work with frustration and only for money not having any commitment to work. If female staff had any choice, they would not be working here. Since it was found that economic need drove female respondents to work for BRAC, one question can be raised that whether BRAC empower them by assigning them non-traditional roles or disempower them. Some of female staff reported to contribute to their parental families, and many of them reported that they needed to contribute to their family income as their husbands income was inadequate. Therefore, it can be inferred that they chose this life out of their necessities, not out of their free choices, not out of the desire of crossing the boundaries set by patriarchy. As per policy, after having discussion with female staff, they should be transferred to the place which is convenient for them so that they can maintain their family,

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especially children. The policy also states that female staff cannot be transferred to another place during the period from pregnancy to post-partum (article 1.18.1 of BRAC Human Resources Policies and Procedure). But if we see the case of another respondent, Nomita, we see the violation of the second part of the policy. When she came back from her maternity leave which was four month leave with pay, she got the transfer letter. She was transferred from Chuknagar to Pirojpur Sadar. At that time her baby became so ill and then she cried to her supervisor to make him understand her difficulties in moving with two-month old sick child to a new place. But her effort of convincing her supervisor failed, and therefore, she had to move to her new workplace with her baby. BRAC transfers female staff far away from their home intentionally, most of the female respondents thought. The organization does it for making its staff engaged in work all the time. Therefore, according to the respondents, BRAC is indifferent about staffs needs of having happy family life. This strategy of BRAC, according to them, does not favour the employment of women in BRAC and it therefore creates difficulties for all staff, especially for female staff due to their family obligations and social expectations to accept frequent transfer or transfer in distant area (Goetz 2001). SALARY All respondents mentioned the salary as low during in-depth interview and informal discussion. But the survey findings present the different picture where three-fourth of the respondents (74%) reported that they were getting as much remuneration as they deserve. But after having face to face conversation, some respondents reported that even though they were not happy with their present salary, they did not have much to say because they had accepted the salary matching their educational qualifications. Some also said that the salary was not that low compared to that of the government and other NGOs. But female respondents expressed their frustration over salary that they lost yearly increment and seniority during their maternity leave. On the other hand, as per BRAC Human Resources Policies and Procedure, permanent staff loose their seniority only if they go for maternity leave for another eight months without pay (article-3.01.02.c.4) But the respondents reported that it is a common practice in the organization that female staff loose seniority and yearly increment in the year of their maternity leave. PROVISION OF MOTORBIKE/BI-CYCLE The respondents considered riding motorbike/bi-cycle as one of the most inconvenience for the female staff. Most of the male and female respondents commented that this form of transportation was dishonourable and undignified for women. This provision goes against the social values by which a woman in our country is brought up from childhood. This provision not only affected the female staff of the organization but also discouraged other women to choose BRAC for building their career. Therefore, in the context of Bangladesh this provision of motorbike/bicycle is not a women-friendly step to encourage women to join in BRAC, they opined. WORKLOAD Although the heavy workload affects both male and female staff, it brings extra sufferings to female staff in the context of their stereotypical gender role in the family as well as society:

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Leaving home early in the morning like 6.30 a.m. is difficult for women due to their household chores. It becomes difficult and stressful for them to attend office on time after taking care of their children and household chore. Therefore, the long office hour makes the life of female staff over burdened with reproductive and productive responsibilities. Female respondents, especially who had small children, reported that they could not give full concentration on their office work due to their concern for children. On the other hand, husbands also did not want them to work outside in this way, but in most cases they had to let them work to earn. Women become psychologically isolated from their children and family when they have to be involved in office work even in their home. Due to rigid gender role, women are expected to take all the responsibilities of taking care of children and husbands and other family members (like in-laws). Therefore, family life of women become so disturbed and disrupted when they fail to meet the requirements of their family as well as the expectation of the society. When any organization demands from its female staff to stay outside the home at night, in our present socio-cultural context, women feel discouraged to work due to their children and family, social prestige, and insecurity both physical and psychological.

VERBAL ABUSE, HARASSMENT AND DISCRIMINATION In our patriarchal society male dominance is so common and acceptable thing that women take it very normal and dont think as so much discriminatory. It is reflected from the comment of Nomita Rani Haldar, PO working in savings programme in BDP Apa, do you want to deny the fact that your brothers opinion is more valued by your parents than yours? It is also true in case of workplace, you know. It is natural and usual thing. UNFAIR PROMOTION Most of the respondents, both male and female mentioned unfair promotion as very common at their workplace. According to them, promotion was an obvious achievement for staff who maintained good relationship with their supervisors, no matter how good, sincere and responsible worker the particular staff was. It was revealed from all respondents that during promotion or sending assessment form to higher authority the supervisors preferred those who always flattered them. According to a BEP respondent: Always keep a bottle of oil near you and give it to your supervisor, then your supervisor will be happy and in return that will make you the happiest of all. FLEXIBILITY DURING MENSTRUATION AND FOR BREASTFEEDING As per policy, all of the female respondents reported that due to their workload and social stigma they never enjoyed minimum two days flexibility they were entitled during the period of menstruation (HRPP article -1.10 c). They also reported that due to heavy workload they could not always enjoy flexibility for breastfeeding their children which was only half-an-hour extra with two hours lunch break (HRPP article 1.10 b). In these cases, the female staff thought that the policies regarding flexibilities during menstruation and breastfeeding were not useful if the management did not consider the matter during making the target or action plan for the female staff for each month.

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In the case of breastfeeding, they raised questions about the justification of providing flexibility for only half-an-hour during long office hours. It is also true that the nature of their work demanding high mobility did not permit them to enjoy this flexibility in every two/three hours. During menstruation it was hard for any woman to ride motorbike or bicycle, but due to social stigma about menstruation in patriarchal society women are reluctant to take desk leave. Many women shun desk leave because they did not want male colleagues feel that they were not working as hard as them. In a patriarchal culture, women do not wish to draw others attention to their private matter like menstruation. Hence, the management should deal the issue seriously to make the policy properly implemented. Therefore, the policies regarding these flexibilities need to be more clear and practical so that female staff can get maximum benefits from these. UNDERMINING MARRIAGE PROSPECT Although it was revealed that the nature of BRAC field work was undermining the marriage prospects for staff of both sexes, the degree of rejection was not same for male and female staff as sexuality and virtue of female staff was under suspicion of the community. The nature of work that requires high mobility, riding bikes as well as staying outside at night causes tremendous problems for female staff to get married when they live in a society that put a premium on female virginity at marriage and see the marriage as a way to preserve womens virginity or chastity. Therefore, the kind of work going against traditional gender roles place women workers in a position which goes beyond the bounds of traditional morality (Goetz 2001). OPINION ABOUT POTENTIALITIES OF FEMALE STAFF The idea of stereotypical gender role was seen to be reflected in the opinion of male staff given about the potentialities of their female colleagues. They identified womens softness, patience, and sincerity as positive aspects of their capabilities. As BRAC works mostly with women at grassroots level, in the present socio-cultural context of Bangladesh, female staff were thought to have better acceptability at community level dealing with the issues like pregnancy, menstruation, and family planning. Again, the fact that potentialities of female staff are yet to be associated to the leadership qualities has been reflected in the comments, made by one of the male respondents, saying that women perform well under the supervision of men. From the informal discussion with male staff, it was revealed that male staff thought that their female colleagues could perform better in dealing with health related issues of the village women. They also could do better in desk job, male staff opined. On the other hand, the job requiring financial transaction, collecting money from villagers, threatening defaulters were not suitable for female staff. This reflects the idea of gender division of labour among the male staff and also in the society. As such, most of the male respondents considered the job of the PO of Microcredit programme as unsuitable for women. The degree of their such disliking reflected in the following comment of a BDP manager: If a female staff is assigned to work at night then two male staff have to be assigned as her bodyguards to protect her.

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Male staff opined that BRAC should not recruit women in credit programmes, which involved carrying cash in rural areas, sometimes at night, and exposes staff to great risk of being attacked. This fact works against womens employment, as they are seen as more vulnerable to physical attack than men. Men considered womens motherhood as one of the factors that hinder women to give their full potentialities in the workplace. In this regard they mentioned that pregnancy and maternity leave hampers the programme and increase the work burden of male staff. They also said that women generally take more leave due to various family excuses, especially due to sickness of their children. The fact revealed in the comments of a male PO working in the health programme: To be honest, we (male POs) get upset to some extend when we hear the news of joining of any new female colleague.

CONCLUSION
Most of respondents showed positive attitude towards their workplace environment. Still it is not possible to ensure women-friendly workplace by neglecting the problems revealed especially from in-depth interview and informal discussion. It was also revealed that significant number of respondents gave negative answers or avoided making any comments about the issues like riding motorbike or bi-cycle during menstruation, flexibility for breastfeeding, transfer, unfair promotion and problems during pregnancy. The reported problems include frequent transfer to distant places, heavy workload, workload during pregnancy, low salary, provision of motorbike or bicycle for female staff, male dominance, verbal abuse, inadequate flexibility for breastfeeding, and during menstruation, and lack of proper implementation of existing policies. In spite of various initiatives and gender sensitive policies by BRAC, the findings point out the necessity of ensuring adequate support for women in childcare activities. The suggestion is very relevant to Bangladesh context where institutional childcare is practically non-existent. Thus, state should ensure such favourable environment for women, so that they not only could enter the workforce, but also could stay in the job. This study also draws attention to the necessity of proper monitoring to ensure proper implementation of gender policy adopted by any organization. Therefore, this study also suggests to see motherhood from different perspective where motherhood should not viewed as personal matter, rather it should be considered as womens contribution to society from which all social and economic life spin. Despite all the problems and challenges reported by the respondents, the fact must be acknowledged that BRAC has significant contributions in womens empowerment in Bangladesh by creating employment opportunities for them in the rural areas. Here, BRAC mainly challenges rural patriarchy in three areas - economy, mobility and the traditional image of femininity. Nevertheless, considering the difficulties and sufferings female staffs are going through in challenging the dominant social structure, BRAC should adopt such strategies that encourage women to challenge patriarchy, instead of considering the process as pain and sufferings. The findings of the study suggest that any organization that aims to bring social change by challenging traditional values and structure needs to work both at

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ideological and policy levels to make the policy more effective and ensure a workplace where both male and female staff will be able to work equally and feel encouraged to give their maximum potentials. Thus, the organizations need to work in such a way that individual female staff can critically assess their own situation, instead of accepting discrimination as natural, and assist the policy level to ensure their needs are properly addressed. At the same time, women should internalize the necessity of coming out from the oppressive and dominant situation by accepting the new roles offered by the development institutions. Here, women should also consider that it will not be possible for them to achieve equality if they expect favourable working conditions just because they are women.

REFERENCES
Alfredsson G and Tomasevski (Editors) (1995). A thematic guide to documents on the human rights of women. Hague: Martinus Nijhoff publishers. Al-Amin M (2005). Mainstreaming women in development: problems, prospects and their current status in Bangladesh. J Sociol 1(1):147-57. Bangladeshi Constitution, Prime Ministers Office Website, http://www.pmo.gov.bd/constitution/index.htm (accessed on 10October 2009) Benston M (1969). The political economy of women's liberation. Monthly Rev 21(4):13-27. BRAC Annual report 2006. Dhaka: BRAC. BRAC Gender policy (2007). Dhaka: BRAC. BRAC (2008). Sexual harassment elimination policy. Dhaka: BRAC. BRAC (2009 ). Human resource policy and procedures. Dhaka: BRAC. Finch J and Groves D (Editors) (1983). A labour of love: women, work and caring. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Friedan B (1974). The feminine mystique. New York: Dell. Goetz AM (2001). Women development workers: implementing rural credit programmes in Bangladesh. Dhaka: The University Press Limited. Goswami AK (1998). Empowerment of women in Bangladesh. Empowerment 5: 45-74. Nweze CC (2010). Domestication of CEDAW: points to consider for customary laws and practices. In: M. Shivdas and S. Coleman. Without prejudice: CEDAW and the determination of womens rights in a legal and cultural context, (Editors). London: Commonwealth Secretariat. Pascall G (1986). Social policy: A feminist analysis. London: Tavistock. Rehman J (2010). International human rights law. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Sobhan S (2004). Women, religion and the law. In: Ahmed I. Women, Bangladesh and international security (Editors). Dhaka: University Press Limited. Tong RP (1998). Feminist thought: A more comprehensive introduction. Oxford: Westview Press. UN (1996). United Nations report of the fourth world conference on women. available from: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf (accessed on October 10 2009)

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APPENDIX
Appendix 1. Programme of the respondents (%) Programme BDP Micro Credit CFPR Social Development HRLS Others % respondents 11.0 (84) 3.3 (25) o.9 (7) 1.6 (12) 0.9 (7) 17.7 (135) 34.0 (259) 28.7 (219) 19.5 (149) 100 (762)

BDP total BHP BEP Not mentioned Total

Appendix 2. Income and educational qualification of the respondents INCOME SSC Less than 4000 BDT 4001 to 8000 BDT 8001 to 12000 BDT 12001 to 1600 BDT Greater than 1 BDT Income not mentioned Total 0 0 50.0 (14) 3.6 (1) 0 HSC 0.3 (1) 32.9 (94) 25.9 (74) 1.0 (3) 0 Education BA 2.1 (5) 27.6 (66) 20.1 (48) 10.0 (24) 0 40.2 (96) 100 (239) MA 1.2 (1) 1.2 (1) Not mentioned 1.6 (2) 20.6 (26)

32.5 (27) 23.0 (29) 18.1 (15) 4.8 (4) 42.2 (35) 100 (83) 7.9 (10) 0 46.8 (59) 100 (126)

46.4 (13) 39.9 (114) 100 (28) 100 (286)

Appendix 3. Respondents by age group Age group (years) <25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 to 40 >45 but 49 Total Frequency 30 263 202 98 169 762 Percent 3.9 34.5 26.5 12.9 22.2 100

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Appendix 4. Distribution of respondents by their pay level Pay level IV V VI VII VIII IX X Level not mentioned Total BDP 15.5 (21) 51.8 (70) 15.5 (21) 6.7 (9) 0 6.7 (9) 3.0 (4) 0.7 (1) 100 (135) BHP 11.6 (30) 13.5 (35) 47.9 (124) 10.8 (28) 8.1 (21) 5.0 (13) 3.1 (8) 0 100 (259) BEP 29.7 (65) 23.3 (51) 11.4 (25) 13.7 (30) 3.2 (7) 16.4 (36) 0.9 (2) 1.4 (3) 100 (219) Programme not mentioned 23.5 (35) 31.5 (47) 22.8 (34) 7.4 (11) 4.7 (7) 8.0 (12) 1.3 (2) 0.7 (1) 100 (149)

Appendix 5. Marital status of the respondents Marital Status Unmarried Married Divorce Widow Total Freq. 87 666 4 5 762 Percent 11.4 87.4 0.5 0.7 100

Appendix 6. Religion of the respondents Religion Muslim Hindu Buddhist Christian Total Freq. 513 212 33 4 762 Percent 67.3 27.8 4.3 0.5 100

Appendix 7. Number of years the respondents were working in BRAC No. of years working in BRAC <1 1-2 3-5 6-10 >10 Total Freq. 1 50 160 226 323 760 Percent 0.1 6.6 21.0 29.7 42.5 100

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Appendix 8. Statement: My supervisor never shows any discriminatory attitude towards female staff by programme (%) Male supervisor No Disagree comments 5.8 (7) Female supervisor No Disagree comments 14.3 (2) 6.9 (2) 14.3 (5) 21.4 (6)

Programme BDP BHP BEP Not mentioned Total

Agree

Total

Agree

Total 100 (14) 100 (29) 100 (35) 100 (28)

80.2 (97) 14.0 (17) 75.6 (174) 17.0 (39) 77.2(142) 15.8 (29) 77.7 (94) 14.9(18)

100 (121) 78.6 (11) 7.1 (1)

7.4 (17) 100 (230) 82.8 (24) 10.3 (3) 7.1 (13) 100 (184) 82.9(29) 7.4 (9) 100 (121) 75.0(21) 2.9(1) 3.6 (1)

77.3(507) 15.7(103) 7.0 (46) 100 (656) 80.2 (85) 5.7 (6)

14.1 (15) 100 (106)

Appendix 9. Statement: My supervisor never shows any discriminatory attitude towards female staff (%) Response Agree Disagree No comments Total In case of Male supervisor In case of Female supervisor 85.6 (507) 94.5 (103) 75.4 (46) 86.1 (656) 14.3 (85) 5.5 (6) 24.6 (15) 13.9 (106) Total 100 (592) 100 (109) 100 (61) 100 (762)

Appendix 10. Statement: He/she never harasses me due to my sex by programme (%)

Programme BDP BHP

Agree 61.2 (74)

Male supervisor No Disagree comments 27.3 (33) 11.6 (14)

Total Agree 100(121) 100(230) 57.1 (8) 58.6(17)

Female supervisor No Total Disagree comments 35.7 (5) 31.0 (9) 14.3 (5) 39.3(11) 28.3(30) 7.1 (1) 100(14) 10.3(3) 100(29)

56.5 (130) 30.0 (69) 13.5 (31)

55.4 (102) 32.6 (60) 12.0 (22) BEP Programme not 54.5 (66) 33.1 (40) 12.4 (15) mentioned Total 56.7 (372) 30.8 (202) 12.5 (82)

100 (184) 77.1 (27) 100 (121) 50.0(14) 100 (656) 62.3(66)

8.6 (3) 100(35) 10.7 (3) 100(28) 9.4(10) 100(106)

Appendix 11. Statement: He/she communicates the success of female staff properly to higher authority by working years in BRAC (%) In case of male supervisor In case of female supervisor Agree Disagree No Agree Disagree No comments comments 0.3 (1) 0 0 6.6 (25) 9.4 (20) 4.5 (3) 14.9 (10) 31.3 (21) 49.2 (33) 100 (67) 2.9 (2) 39.7 (27) 26.5 (18) 30.9 (21) 100 (68) 4.5 (1) 27.3 (6) 22.7 (5) 45.4 (10) 100 (22) 6.2(1) 12.5 (2) 31.2 (5) 50.0 (8) 100 (16)

Working years <1 1-2 3-5 6-10 >10 Total

19.9 (75) 18.9 (40) 30.2(114) 29.7 (63) 43.0(162) 50.0 (89) 100 (377) 100 (212)

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Appendix 12.1. Statement: He/she never insults me in front of others due to my look, body and appearance by programme (%)

Programme BDP BHP BEP

Agree 17.6 (97) 34.7 (191) 29.4 (162)

Male supervisor No Disagree comments 23.2 (16) 37.7 (26) 21.7(15) 17.4 (12) 100 (69) 21.6 (8) 35.1 (13) 18.9 (7) 24.3 (9) 100 (37)

Total

Female supervisor No Agree Disagree comments 16.7 (1)

Total 13.2(14)

18.4(121) 12.9(12) 14.3 (1) 35.1 (230) 25.8(24) 28.0 (184) 36.6(34) 42.9 (3) 0

33.3 (2) 27.4(29) 16.7 (1) 33.0(35) 26.4 (28) 100(106)

Programme not mentioned 18.2 (100) Total 100 (550)

18.4 (121) 24.7 (23) 42.9 (3) 33.3 (2) 100 (656) 100 (93) 100 (7) 100 (6)

Appendix 12.2. Statement: He/she never insults me in front of others due to my look, body and appearance by age group (%) Age group <25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 to 40 >45 but <=49 Total Agree 3.9 (25) 35.1 (226) 25.8 (166) 12.7 (82) 22.4 (144) 100 (643) Disagree 5.3 (4) 27.6 (21) 34.2 (26) 15.8 (12) 17.1(13) 100 (76) No comments 2.3 (1) 37.2 (16) 23.2 (10) 9.3 (4) 27.9 (12) 100 (43)

Appendix 12.3. Statement: He/she never insults me in front of others due to my look, body and appearance by level (%) Level IV V VI VII VIII IX X Level not mentioned Total Agree 20.0 (129) 26.3 (169) 27.1 (174) 9.3 (60) 4.3 (28) 9.8 (63) 2.3 (15) 0.8 (5) 100 (643) Disagree 19.7 (15) 26.3 (20) 23.6 (18) 17.1 (13) 7.9 (6) 3.9 (3) 1.3 (1) 0 100 (76) No comments 16.3 (7) 32.5 (14) 27.9 (12) 11.6 (5) 2.3 (1) 9.3 (4) 0 0 100 (43)

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Appendix 13.1. Statement: He/she never insults me in front of others due to my relationship with others by programme (%) Male supervisor Disagree No comments 9.5 (4) Female supervisor Disagree No comments 9.1(1) 27.3 (3) 27.3 (3) 36.4 (4) 10.4 (11) 16.7 (1)

Programme

Agree

Total

Agree

Total 13.2(14)

BDP BHP BEP

18.8 (100) 20.7 (17) 35.3 (188) 29.3 (24) 27.6 (147) 31.7(26) 18.3 (15)

18.4(121) 13.5 (12)

42.9 (18) 35.1(230) 27.0 (24) 26.2 (11) 28.0(184) 33.7(30) 21.4 (9) 6.4 (42) 18.4(121) 25.8 (23) 100 (656) 84.0 (89)

33.3 (2) 27.4 (29) 33.3 (2) 33.0 (35) 16.7 (1) 26.4 (28) 5.7 (6) 100 (106)

Programme not mentioned 18.2 (97) Total

81.1 (532) 12.5 (82)

Appendix 13.2. Statement: He/she never insults me in front of others due to my relationship with others by age group (%) Age group >25 26 to 30 31 to 35 36 to 40 >45 but <=49 Total Agree 4.2 (26) 36.2 (225) 26.0 (162) 11.9 (74) 21.6 (134) 100 (621) Disagree 3.2 (3) 31.2 (29) 30.1 (28) 14.0 (13) 21.5 (20) 100 (93) No comments 2.1 (1) 18.7 (9) 25.0 (12) 22.9 (11) 31.2 (15) 100 (48)

Appendix 14.1. Statement: He/she values our opinion during decision making in all meetings by programme (%) Male Programme BDP BHP BEP Programme not mentioned Total Agree 70.2 (85) Disagree 25.6 (31) Supervisor No comments 4.1 (5) 8.7 (20) 10.9 (20) 11.6 (14) 9.0 (59) Supervisor No Disagree comments 7.1 (1) Female

Total

Agree

Total 100(14)

100(121) 71.4 (10) 21.4 (3) 100 (230) 68.9 (20) 17.2 (5) 100 (184) 82.9 (29) 8.6 (3)

68.3 (157) 23.0 (53) 74.5 (137) 14.7 (27) 69.4 (84) 70.6 (463) 19.0 (23) 20.4 (134)

13.8 (4) 100 (29) 8.6 (3) 100(35)

100 (121) 78.6 (22) 10.7 (3) 100 (656) 76.4 (81) 2.1 (14)

10.7 (3) 100 (28) 10.4 (11) 100 (106)

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Appendix 14.2. Statement: He/she values our opinion during decision making in all meetings by level (%) In case of male supervisor Disagree No Total comments 76.0 17.3 6.6 100 (92) (21) (8) (121) 22.0 (41) 20.9 (37) 27.3 (18) 23.3 (7) 16.1 (9) 0 20.0 (1) 20.4 (134) 6.4 (12) 10.7 (19) 9.1 (6) 3.3 (1) 17.8 (10) 13.3 (2) 20.0 (1) 9.0 (59) 100 (186) 100 (177) 100 (66) 100 (30) 100 (56) 100 (15) 100 (5) 100 (656) In case of female supervisor Agree Disagree No Total comments 70.0 20.0 10 100 (21) (6) (3) (30) 94.1 (16) 70.4 (19) 66.7 (8) 80.0 (4) 85.7 (12) 100 (1) 0 76.4 (81) 5.9 (1) 18.5 (5) 0 20.0 (1) 7.1 (1) 0 0 13.2 (14) 0 11.1 (3) 33.3 (4) 0 7.1 (1) 0 0 10.4 (11) 100 (17) 100 (27) 100 (12) 100 (5) 100 (14) 100 (1) 0 100 (106)

Level

Agree

IV V VI VII VIII IX X Level not mentioned

71.5 (133) 68.4 (121) 63.6 (42) 73.3 (22) 66.1 (37) 86.7 (13) 60.0 (3) 70.6 (463)

Total

Appendix 15. Statement: He/she always takes our needs and interest under consideration during decision making by level (%) In case of male supervisor In case of female supervisor Disagree No Total Agree Disagree No Total comments comments 66.1 (80) 26.4 (32) 7.4 (9) 100 (121) 20 8 2 100 (30) Agree 66.7 (124) 25.3 (47) 63.3 (112) 27.1 (48) 44.0 (29) 47.0 (31) 63.4 (19) 30.0 (9) 8.1 (15) 9.6 (17) 9.1 (6) 6.7 (2) 14.3 (8) 6.7 (1) 0 8.8 (58) 100 (186) 72.2 (13) 17.6 (3) 100 (177) 66.7 (18) 33.3 (9) 100 (66) 58.3 (7) 100 (30) 60.0 (3) 8.3 (1) 20.0 (1) 5.9 (1) 0 33.3 (4) 20.0 (1) 0 0 0 7.5 (8) 100 (17) 100 (27) 100 (12) 100 (5) 100 (14) 100 (1) 0 100 (106)

Level IV V VI VII VIII IX X Level not mentioned Total

64.3 (36) 21.4 (12) 86.7 (13) 40.0 (2) 6.7 (1) 60.0 (3)

100 (56) 85.7 (12) 14.3 (2) 100 (15) 100 (1) 100 (5) 0 0 0

63.3 (415) 27.9 (183)

100 (656) 69.8 (74) 22.6 (24)

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Appendix 16. Feelings of threats from supervisors if they get angry with respondents (%) (n=762) Feelings of threats from angry supervisor Transfer Insult in front of others Sexual harassment Keep under unnecessary workload Create such a situation to make them leave the job False complaint to higher authority In case of male supervisor 20.5 (156) 21.2 (162) 1.6 (12) 23.5 (179) 16.5 (126) 19.3 (147) In case of female supervisor 3.8 (29) 1.7 (13) 0.3 (2) 2.4 (18) 1.8 (14) 2.2 (17)

Appendix 17. Respondents agreed with selected job satisfaction statements by levels (%) (n=762) Responses agreed Level IV I am getting as much as I deserve in terms of remuneration I am getting as much as I deserve in terms of position I am getting proper for my work I am getting equal opportunities for capacity building I always encourage my female relatives and friends with my qualification to join 15.2 (116) 12.5 (95) 11.8 (90) 18.1 (138) 14.8 (113) V 21.1 (161) 17.1 (130) 13.8 (105) 22.6 (172) 19.4 (148) VI 19.7 (150) 17.8 (136) 14.4 (110) 22..7 (173) 19.3 (147) VII 7.2 (55) 5.8 (44) 4.1 (31) 8.0 (61) 6.9 (53) VIII 3.1 (24) 3.0 (23) 2.4 (18) 4.1 (31) 3.1 (24) IX 5.4 (41) 5.1 (39) 3.8 (29) 8.5 (65) 4.7 (36) X 0.9 (7) 1.6 (12) 1.3 (10) 1.6 (12) 1.0 (8) Level not mentioned 0.4 (3) 0.1 (1) 0.1 (1) 0.5 (4) 0.1 (1) Total 73.1 (557) 63.0 (480) 51.7 (394) 86.1 (656) 69.5 (530)

Statements

Appendix 18. Reported reasons for which female staff consider BRAC as not women-friendly (%) (n=762) Reasons for which female staff consider BRAC as not women-friendly Supervisors are not as much helpful as should be Male staff always think themselves superior Feelings of threat of teasing or sexual harassment Threat of teasing, insult or immoral comments due to trivial incidents The nature of work Non-cooperation of male colleagues Female staff are made ride motorbike or bicycle during menstruation No sick leave No leave for sick family members, especially children Indifferent supervisor towards pregnant female staff No flexibility for breast feeding Others Respondents agreed 16.1 (123) 21.0 (160) 4.2 (32) 4.7 (36) 5.4 (41) 8.0 (61) 4.8 (37) 6.4 (49) 7.5 (57) 9.2 (70) 10.9 (83) 14.6 (111)

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