Bina Rani Dey got back to work after her maternity leave of six months. However, it was her parents who had to take a major life changing step.
They had to shift from Armanitola in the old parts of Dhaka to Gopibag to take care of their grandchild Somadrita when Bina goes to work.
“My husband and I both work. And we have no one else to look after our daughter. Left with no choice, we had to pursue them to shift here,” said Bina, a physician at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
This is not an isolated case. Thousands of working women suffer from a lack of proper, reliable care givers at home or daycare facilities at the workplace.
At a time when an increasing number of women are joining the labour force and contributing to the economic development of the country, many women still have to quit their jobs or take up part-time work to look after their children.
At present, 1.68 crore women work in sectors ranging from bank and insurance, IT and telecom, NGOs, agriculture and above all, the country's main export earning garment industry, according to Labour Force Survey (LFS) 2013.
Nearly two decades ago, the number of employed women was only 49.69 lakh, according to LFS 1995-96.
Women's share in total employment increased to 29 percent in 2013 from 14 percent in 1995-96, according to LFS.
Despite a spiral in the number of employed women, the issue of ensuring care for babies and toddlers remained neglected at both the public and private sectors.
Analysts said the worry over proper care and early childhood development of babies acts as a barrier to women's participation in economic activity; it also deters many from reaching the highest tier in jobs.
With no actual estimate on the total number of daycare facilities, the number of such centres is scanty, according to analysts.
For example, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWCA) runs 43 daycare centres throughout the country. Some 24 of them are located in Dhaka. The rest are outside the capital. And there is no such facility in 36 districts. Most of the daycare centres are meant for low income households, said MOWCA officials.
Some businesses, particularly garment factory owners, banks and NGOs, have opened daycare facilities for their employees at the offices.
State-run banks opened a daycare centre at Motijheel for their employees in 2015. Later, 21 private banks opened another for their employees in the same area.
Some NGOs and private entrepreneurs also operate a number of daycare centres.
However, there are concerns over the quality of such centres established commercially.
Bina said there is negative perception on the quality of care given at the private daycare centres. “There are allegations that children are made to sleep with sedatives,” she said. “I also do not feel confident about hiring domestic workers to take care of my child.”
Fahmida Khatun, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said many women get employed after completing their education. But a section of them quit after failing to manage everything after marriage, she added.
“It is a barrier to women's increased participation in economic activities. The government should establish an increased number of daycare centres.”
To overcome this problem, many women prefer to live in joint families, she said.
In addition, safe transport and hostels are necessary for women to contribute more, she added.
Rushidan Islam Rahman, executive chairperson of the Centre for Development and Employment Research, said adequate child care facilities help all, including workers, employers and the society as a whole in the long-run.
“Many women do not join the labour market for an absence of child care at home.”
Visiting some factories, she said the day care facilities were not enough to ensure a congenial environment for children.
Rahman said employers in Dhaka are not interested in establishing daycare centres due to a scarcity of land and high rentals in the capital.
She suggested the government establish low cost child care facilities to bring __more women into the workforce; training for the care givers is also necessary, said Rahman.
Kaniz Fatima, publicity secretary of Nari Sanghati, said the labour law has a provision that an organisation with at least 40 female staff must have daycare facilities for children less than six years of age. But this is not complied with in most cases, she added.
“Not only in jobs. Mothers who are still studying also need daycare.”
Fatima said the labour law suffers from limitations. “What about offices that have only three women? Daycare facilities should be established at every workplace.”