The Rise of Bangladesh

Her father works as a cleaner in a government building. And both of her parents were forced by their families’ poverty to quit school very young. But 17-year-old Puspita Mistri is thinking about her future, not the world of yesterday.

Coming of age in Bagharat, a southern district of Bangladesh, she dreams of becoming a police officer. She’s already passed her high school exams, and she’s emerged as a leader in a local community group, advocating for improved services for the elderly and better health care. In a country where previous generations of women largely stayed out of the workforce, she says her parents encourage her aspirations.

“They hope that my education will enable me to support them in future,” Puspita says. “They are very happy about me going to school.”

Her father works as a cleaner in a government building. And both of her parents were forced by their families’ poverty to quit school very young. But 17-year-old Puspita Mistri is thinking about her future, not the world of yesterday.

Puspita lives in Bagharat, a southern district of Bangladesh. She dreams of becoming a police officer. She’s already passed her high school exams. She has also become a leader in a local community group. They work together to push for improved services for the elderly and better health care. Though previous generations of women in the country largely stayed out of the workforce, she says her parents encourage her goals.

“They hope that my education will enable me to support them in future,” Puspita says. “They are very happy about me going to school.”

In the decades since, it has invested heavily in improving women’s lives. At independence, a much higher percentage of boys went to school than girls. By 1995, those numbers had equalized.

“It’s allowed more women to enter the workforce and take more control over their household finances and have more control over their lives,” says Maimuna Ahmad, founder of the nonprofit group Teach for Bangladesh.

One of the engines of the country’s growth is the garment manufacturing sector. Bangladesh is now the world’s third-largest exporter of ready-made clothes, behind China and Vietnam.

In the decades since, it has invested heavily in improving women’s lives. At independence, a much higher percentage of boys went to school
than girls. By 1995, the gap had closed.

“It’s allowed more women to enter the workforce and take more control over their household finances and have more control over their lives,” says Maimuna Ahmad, founder of the nonprofit group Teach for Bangladesh.

One of the engines of the country’s growth is the garment manufacturing sector. Bangladesh is now the world’s third-largest exporter of ready-made clothes, behind China and Vietnam.

This has been a boon for the economy, but also for women, says Mushfiq Mobarak, an economist at Yale who grew up in Bangladesh.

“Traditionally, parents didn’t see any kind of return for educating their daughters because women didn’t get jobs,” he explains. “But with these factories that reward literacy and numeracy skills for women, now it becomes financially sensible to invest in your daughter’s education.”

It hasn’t all been positive. Labor groups have accused some factories of maintaining unsafe working conditions and of using child labor. In 2013, a garment factory in Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

But Mobarak has studied what typically happens in Bangladeshi communities when a garment factory opens nearby: Young girls are more likely to be enrolled in school, and 10-15 years later, they’re more likely to get jobs and delay marriage and having children. All this has beneficial ripple effects for the country, he says.

This has been a plus for the economy, but also for women, says Mushfiq Mobarak, an economist at Yale who grew up in Bangladesh.

“Traditionally, parents didn’t see any kind of return for educating their daughters because women didn’t get jobs,” he explains. “But with these factories that reward literacy and numeracy skills for women, now it becomes financially sensible to invest in your daughter’s education.”

It hasn’t all been positive. Labor groups have accused some factories of having unsafe working conditions and of using child labor. In 2013, a garment factory in Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people.

But Mobarak has studied what usually happens in Bangladeshi communities when a garment factory opens nearby. Young girls are more likely to be enrolled in school. And 10 to 15 years later, they’re more likely to get jobs and delay marriage and having children. All this has positive ripple effects for the country, he says.

It’s not just girls who benefit from education. It drastically changed 24-year-old Rashed Ali’s life. His father is a field worker who never went to school and can’t read. His mother was 14 when she married and stopped going to school. Ali’s life might have been similar, but he started school at age 7 and flourished.

Ali recently finished a degree in management at Rajshahi University and is starting a graduate program. His goal is to open his own mango juice factory.

“I feel proud of what my father does, but it’s a repetition of the same work, which yields very low wages,” Ali says. “Now, I am already having a different life because of education. My parents hardly went out of the village, and their world is limited to that, whereas I am growing as a global citizen.”

It’s not just girls who gain from education. It changed 24-year-old Rashed Ali’s life in many ways. His father is a field worker who never went to school and can’t read. His mother was 14 when she married and stopped going to school. Ali’s life might have been just like theirs, but he started school at age 7 and thrived.

Ali recently finished a degree in management at Rajshahi University. He’s starting a graduate program. His goal is to open his own mango juice factory.

“I feel proud of what my father does, but it’s a repetition of the same work, which yields very low wages,” Ali says. “Now, I am already having a different life because of education. My parents hardly went out of the village, and their world is limited to that, whereas I am growing as a global citizen.”