The number of women investors in Bangladesh’s stock market has been lessening for the past few years. Even though more than half of the total population of Bangladesh are women, the participation of women in the stock market investment is less than 1 percent.
The regulatory body says that women are being encouraged or motivated by the commission to move toward the stock market. And the market people think that if the participation of women can be increased, a huge amount of money will be added to Bangladesh’s capital market.
The data of Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL) says that the number of women investors in the capital market of the country has decreased in the last 5 years.
According to the sources of CDBL, in January 2018, the total number of BO accounts in the capital market was 27 lakhs 10 thousand 586. Among them, the amount of BO accounts of women investors was 7 lahks 21 thousand 606. 26.62 percent of the total BO accounts in the country were women investors that year. The participation of women investors in the capital market has changed in a span of 5 years. At the end of 2022, against the total of 18 lakh 44 thousand 914 BO calculations, women’s BO calculation was 4 lakh 44 thousand 24 or 24.66 percent.
Previous 4 years, women investors have been reducing in the country’s stock market. In 2019, women accounted for 26.74 percent of total investors. In 2020, the number of women investors decreased to 26.01 percent. And in 2021, the number of women’s birth count decreased to 25.12 percent and at the end of 2022, it decreased to 24.66 percent. Currently, it has further dropped to 24.64 percent.
According to the 2022 census preliminary report, the total number of women in the country is 81.7 million 12 thousand 824, which is more than men. On the contrary, the participation of women in the country’s stock market is only 0.54 percent.
There is no accurate information about the number of women workers in the capital market-related institutions of the country. However, the regulatory body Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and two stock exchanges tried to find out about the participation of women workers.
It is known that for the first time in the capital market regulatory body, the professor of the law department of Dhaka University has been appointed as a female commissioner. Dr. Rumana Islam. She was appointed as the commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 8, 2022. Presently there are 37 women officers and employees including one commissioner. The BSEC spokesperson claimed that the figure was more than 30 percent as a percentage.
On the other hand, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), has 367 employees. Among them, a woman has been appointed as a director on the board of directors of DSE. Just Recently BSEC appointed Rubaba Dowla, the country director of Oracle Bangladesh, as the director of DSE. There are 50 women or 13.62 percent of the total workforce in the Dhaka Stock Exchange. Another capital market Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) has 13 or 16.88 percent of 77 employees.
When asked, the executive director and spokesperson of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Md. Rezaul Karim told Orthosongbad, said. Rezaul Karim told Orthosongbad that there are various awareness programs for women investors in the capital market. Every year on International Women’s Day, BSEC organizes various programs for the participation of women.
Md. Rezaul Karim said that the participation of women in the capital market in the developed countries of the world is significant. There are about 8 crore women investors in the capital market of our neighboring country India. More than half of the total population of our country is women. But compared to that, the participation of women in the country’s capital market is very less. We are encouraging housewives, women students and women entrepreneurs by organizing various awareness programs to increase the participation of women in the capital market.
Rezaul Karim said about the job opportunities of women in the capital market, the commission is trying to increase the participation of women in the institutions centered on the capital market. There are quotas set by the government for women in recruitment to various institutions including BSEC, DSE, CSE and CDBL. Also, the commission always encourages all concerned to have significant participation of women in other capital market-oriented institutions.
