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BANGLADESHWomen’s rights, gender and ICTs in BangladeshBytes for All BangladeshPartha Sarker, Munir Hasan, Razina Akhterand Sanzida Sakirwww.bytesforall.orgIntroductionBangladesh has witnessed a tremendous growthin mobile and internet connectivity in the last fewyears. Today it has more than 100 million mobilephone subscribers and more than 33 million internetusers. 1 An estimated 95% of users connect tothe internet through mobile phones and the rest usebroadband internet from different internet serviceproviders. 2 However, the total number of desktopusers is likely bigger, as a single connection is usedby many people.These data do not classify usage information,for instance, according to nature of usage or gender-basedparticipation in online activities. Butit is clear that the growth of internet penetrationhas expanded social media access and usage inthe country. There are about 3.8 million Facebookusers from Bangladesh, out of which close to onemillion are female users. 3 There is no way of knowinghow many of these Facebook accounts havebeen set up using fake IDs. Dutch Bangla BankLimited reported that at least 15% of their mobilebanking users are female, while according to datafrom oDesk on freelance IT professionals, as of thefourth quarter of 2012, 1,200 of 30,000 registeredusers were female.G&R Ad Network 4 conducted an interestingresearch study into how users within the countryand abroad browse the web. Users tend to accessthe web on three separate occasions throughoutthe day, with usage peaking during the morninghours. Usage of social networks and email servicesaccount for a considerable portion of web activity,followed by web browsing.1 Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) www.btrc.gov.bd2 www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=171715:33-million-internet-users-in-bangladesh&catid=132:backpage&Itemid=1223 www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm and www.btrc.gov.bd4 foursquare.com/v/gr-ad-network/4d3e932ffb4c548167f9e614Policy and political backgroundViolence, harassment and infringement of privacywere ongoing problems in society, but the advent oftechnologies has made them more penetrating anddifficult to stop. Even though Article 43 of the Bangladeshconstitution states, “Every citizen shall havethe right, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposedby law in the interests of the security of theState, public order, public morality or public health,to be secured in his home against entry, search andseizure; and to the privacy of his correspondence andother means of communication,” there is no comprehensivepolicy to protect privacy in Bangladesh.In 2009, a revision of the ICT Policy, designedprimarily to support ICT development in the country,focused on gender as a cross-cutting theme fora number of areas. In order to create social equity,it promotes “mainstreaming social advancementopportunities for disadvantaged groups as an immediatepriority to minimize economic disparityand bridge the digital divide for (a) lower incomegroups, (b) ethnic minorities, (c) women, and (d)persons with disabilities and special needs.” It alsorefers to establishing women’s e‐commerce centresto expand market access in order to promotewomen-led micro-enterprises. Action items 174and 175 of the revised ICT policy suggest that thegovernment should work to increase enrolment offemale students in ICT courses and foster a gradualincrease of the female workforce in the ICT industry.The ICT Act of 2006 is probably the first comprehensivelegislation to deal with online harassment,cyber stalking, etc. and provides a framework todefine and penalise these crimes. Article 54 of theact defines a range of cyber crime offences, includingthe downloading, copying or extraction, withoutthe permission of the owner, of any data, computerdatabase or information from a computer, computersystem or computer network, including informationor data held or stored in any removable storage medium;and generating or causing the generation ofspam or sending unwanted email without the permissionof the sender or receiver for the purpose ofadvertising goods or services.Article 57 of the act refers to the penalty for publishingfalse, obscene or defamatory information inelectronic form:70 / Global Information Society Watch