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NATURALLY, women look forward to a hassle-free job before opting for a traditional one. This is how freelancing can become more preferable for our female job-seekers. Since Bangladeshi women play a crucial role in their families, they often sacrifice their much-needed careers for sharing family responsibilities. Thus, women in developing countries like Bangladesh hardly fulfil their personal aspirations despite having qualifications to do so. Such women may find solutions in freelance jobs. Freelancing is more like construction of virtual careers to provide women with self-esteem along side becoming self-reliant.
Freelancing is suitable for the country's educated and high-skilled housewives since freelancing or crowd-sourcing does not coerce anyone to follow a formal official routine. This is how women can participate in such ventures with complete freedom to plan their working schedules. Although women's participation in the freelancing world is increasing gradually, their presence is not as visible as other lower and middle income countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.
Freelance jobs are likely to attract more women as alternative career goals against more traditional jobs available for the country's female workforce. Bangladesh's female freelancers have started to achieve more credibility than their male counterparts as far as project output and quality are concerned.
Furthermore, women's increased involvement in freelancing will guarantee the sector's trust and thereby secure a respectable status for women who are eligible to feed the country's growing demand for ICT-related products and services. The government should create an enabling atmosphere for women as the ratio of women in freelancing is still quite low despite the fact that women constitute half of our population. Tertiary ICT services and infrastructure should be made available outside Dhaka to cause a countrywide freelancing revolution.
Shahidul Islam Ratul
Iqbal Road, Mohammadpur
[email protected]
Gulshan-1, Dhaka
[email protected]