Mothers left to choose between home and work

Feroza Ahmed’s (not her real name) professional life once revolved around high-stakes dealings with major advertisers. As a senior executive at a leading media house, she worked long hours -- often until 9:00pm -- ensuring precision in every advertising placement.

After more than 11 years in the industry, she was on the verge of becoming an assistant manager. “I was supposed to be promoted. But when the management learnt that I was pregnant and would go on leave, they didn’t give me promotion.”

The job became unmanageable after she gave birth to her second child.

She said, “I can leave one child with my relatives, but I can’t impose two on them....”

Feroza did not return to work after her second maternity leave.

Her exit from the media house was not planned. The management never offered her any flexibility at work. “I ran the whole department from home during the Covid pandemic, but no hybrid or part-time arrangement was considered for me when I needed it the most,” she said.

When she resigned, there was no attempt to retain her. Instead, her boss warned: “Once you resign, you won’t be able to come back.”

At home, she didn’t get the support she needed. “My husband told me that if I could manage everything alone, I could retain the job; otherwise, I shouldn’t.”

The transition took a heavy toll on her. “I was slipping into depression. I couldn’t sleep. I would wake up from nightmares.”

She doubts whether she will ever be able to return to work, even if she can manage her time. “Who will hire me again? If I try to return to the industry, will anyone take me?” she asked.

Feroza’s story reflects a broader pattern of mid-career exits in Bangladesh’s workforce, where experienced women leave formal employment after motherhood due to structural barriers and caregiving responsibilities.

Despite long years of experience and proven performance, many women are unable to return to work after childbirth owing to the absence of flexible work arrangements and reliable support systems at home and at work.

A recent BRAC analysis found that nearly 75 percent of the 1,200 mid-career women who applied for employment in a BRAC programme had previously quit jobs due to domestic responsibilities (38.8 percent) or motherhood (36 percent).

The “motherhood penalty” is intensified by a major care burden gap. A 2021 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) time-use survey found that married women performed nearly 7.3 times more unpaid care work than men.

For mothers of children with disabilities, the strain can be overwhelming. Sazia Jainab (not her real name), a former employee of a private company, quit her job after her child was diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder. Her employers didn’t offer any support.

Ashrafunnahar Mishti, executive director of the Women with Disabilities and Development Foundation (WDDF), said, “It is not just about leaving a job; in many cases, it leads to the abandonment of the mother.

“Families break apart, divorces happen, and many women return to their parental homes or live in isolation, as relatives are unwilling to share caregiving responsibilities.”

She pointed out that a widespread “knowledge deficit” regarding disability care has left mothers as sole caregivers, making sustained employment physically and mentally unfeasible.

Rupali Chowdhury, managing director of Berger Paints Bangladesh Ltd, sees such exits of mid-career women as a crisis in the “professional pipeline.”

“Just when a woman is ready for leadership, motherhood demands attention. With nuclear families and limited childcare, many feel forced to sacrifice their professional identities.”

This systemic “leak” reinforces bias. “When employers saw mid-level women leave jobs, they became reluctant to hire women at all. They assumed that female employees would eventually quit. So, women started losing at the very first step -- recruitment.”

The “leak” also carries serious economic consequences, reflecting a major loss of national resources.

Sayema Haque Bidisha, pro-vice chancellor at Dhaka University, noted that women with children under five were far less likely to participate in the labour force than those without young children.

When a mid‑career woman exits the workforce or faces stagnation, the state loses the return on its investment in her education, particularly in high‑cost fields, she said.

“If a doctor or a professional quits because of a lack of safe childcare, society loses the value of her service.”

In cases of forced stagnation, many women either downshift careers, shift to remote work, or leave field roles due to a lack of reliable childcare support, said Bidisha, a professor of economics at DU.

Referring to a recent BBS survey, she said, “This loss is reflected in leadership gaps -- less than 7 percent of managerial roles in Bangladesh are currently held by women. They excelled in education, but that did not translate into leadership. We will continue losing talent at its peak unless care burdens are addressed.”

To plug the leak, experts call for a radical transformation of the “care economy” which encompasses care work -- paid and unpaid, direct and indirect -- delivered through public and private sectors, non-profit organisations and households.

A 2024 ILO report said that allocating 3.99 percent of GDP to care sectors could generate approximately seven million new jobs in Bangladesh by 2035 -- 91 percent of which would be formal roles for women.

UN Women Country Representative Gitanjali Singh asserted that investing in care systems would be a “triple win” for women, society, and the economy.

“As women’s time poverty reduces, more women enter and stay in the labour market, while investments in the care sector generate long-term dividends for human development, health, reduced poverty, and well-being of societies,” she noted.

Rupali proposes turning caregiving into a small business sector.

“Every office cannot afford a daycare. We need community-based, certified daycare centres for people with different budgets. If these services become available in hubs like Motijheel or Gulshan, middle-class professionals could afford quality care that fits their income.”

Bidisha echoed the same view and urged the introduction of regulated domestic caregiving services to replace the current expensive, informal, and unreliable system.

Ashrafunnahar suggested government support for mothers whose children require specialised care.

“The state is depriving both the mother and the child of their rights by failing to provide inclusive childcare,” she said.

When contacted, Women and Children Affairs Minister Abu Zafar Md Zahid Hossain said the government plans to gradually expand childcare and caregiving services across the country to support working parents.

The initiative will initially target Dhaka and divisional headquarters, focusing on institutional facilities.

Through a phased rollout, the government aims to address gaps in specialised care while creating new employment opportunities nationwide, he added.