Although Bangladesh has made great strides in female education, graduate women continue to face unemployment in large numbers, suggesting an extreme gap between education and job opportunities. This paper examines the socio-cultural, economic and institutional causes underlying the unemployment of graduate women. It particularly targets to find out the current trends in female education and female employment, and analyse the most significant obstacles to ensure that educated women can find appropriate jobs. Data were collected using a qualitative methodology, and data were collected in the form of in-depth and key informant interviews with unemployed and employed female graduates and employers at Dhaka University and Jagannath University. The analysis of the interviews employed in the study helped identify two broad groups of barriers, including common and indigenous, including, but not limited to, males-dominated interview boards, discrimination based on marital status, focus on physical appearance, and job and education mismatch; and indigenous, including family favouritism to sons, bribery, politicised recruitment, Dhaka-centric job examination, and question paper leakage. These results explain how the education level is not enough to find a job among women since the stereotyping of genders and the dysfunction of the system multiply the disadvantages. The research provides contextualised knowledge on female graduate unemployment in Bangladesh, and the examination proposed measures towards combating unemployment based on evidence, such as decentralizing job exams, gender balance in hiring committees, encouraging women to take up technical courses and implementing anti-discriminatory measures. By narrowing the education to employment gap, the study supports the values of structural and policy changes to enhance gender inclusive development and increase the involvement of women in the labour market.

DOI : http://doi.org/10.71253/jsd-iswr.dec25.34.1.06

Authors : Kazia Yesmen

Keywords : Graduated women, unemployment, educated women,gender discrimination, Bangladesh.