Bangladeshi women freelancers are thriving

Bangladeshi women have been achieving new heights in advancing the economy of this country. They are working successfully in every significant field, including the freelancing sector. According to a governmental report, the female freelancers, 9% of around 6 lacs registered freelancers in Bangladesh, are triumphantly leaving their distinctive mark in the fast-growing freelancing sector of the country.

The reasons behind the skilled cohort of women joining this expanding sector lie in its numerous advantages, major ones being the flexibility of location, freedom to choose clients or projects, utilisation of skills, and a chance to reach financial solvency by becoming self-independent while eradicating the country's unemployment crisis.

"Since many well-qualified, talented, and competent women are forced to stop working after marriage in our country, freelancing is coming across as a more feasible option than any other, especially for women who belong to conservative families," said Emrazina Islam, Co-founder of Emrazina Technologies and a BASIS Freelancing Award Winner working as Brand Ambassador at Payoneer.

"In my office, 90 per cent of the employees are women. Our company is now fully operating from home due to the lockdown. All our employees are getting to spend more time with their families. I also get to take care of my daughter at home. That is a huge advantage for me in fulfilling my purpose. My team members work from home, and they are doing computer-based work while maintaining professionalism thoroughly. So, I am happy about that decision. Many found it inconvenient to transition from the workplace to the remote working scenario, but not us; we have been doing it successfully since 2015", she added.

Joyeta Banerjee, the CEO of TalkStory, Freelancing Instructor at Robi 10 Minute School, a renowned Author and a Content Creator, also shared her perspectives. "We all know how road safety is an issue for women, and freelancing saves commuting time too. The spatial boundaries do not exist anymore due to the widespread internet connection nationwide. Women, residing in villages or living even in the remotest places, are successfully working as freelancers. They are earning their livelihood in foreign currencies and supporting their families," she said. "Freelancing has certainly improved our employment opportunities. Women are doing technology-based works like web designing, content writing, software and application development, web research, graphic designing, data entry etc. irrespective of their educational background, age or location, and they are doing it with similar credibility as their male counterparts, ensuring a victorious reputation for Bangladesh on global platforms."

Amidst all the praises and accomplishments, however, there are various challenges women face regularly. These have found their way into the freelancing sector as well. Emrazina emphasised how every work is tenfold harder for women; be it freelancing or any other conventional job. Women are often expected to deal with all the familial responsibilities while maintaining professionalism at work equally well.

"It is challenging for freelancers to convince their family members that the commitment of night shift is needed for international time zones or how stable income can be hard in the beginning. Freelancing, by no means, is an easy job. It requires an equal amount of dedication as a conventional job. It is tough for women to handle the workload while working from home, making it more difficult for them to navigate their way through a perfect work-life balance", she said.

Moreover, Joyeta pointed out how she noticed some problems her students face are recurring and the same among all. "The problems women face along with inadequate resources are lack of authentic information as to how different payment methods work, how to approach their potential clientele or how the working hours require immense adaptability on their part, especially from students or women who manage work and household chores simultaneously," she said. "Unfortunately, people interested in this sector can be lethargic at times. They are reluctant to do their research before joining this sector, which becomes a hassle in the early stage for them. Another thing that came to my attention is that families are often sceptical and against freelancing, as women's safety is vulnerable in this world, where cybercrime is on the rise. They find it risky to let women do online jobs. Although many think that freelancing is a comfortable job, for those managing their obstacles - it is not all sunshine and rainbows".

In addition, while exploring the future potential of freelancing for Bangladeshi women, we asked mentor Joyeta and enterprising freelancer Emrazina about their opinions regarding what this lucrative sector has to offer to Bangladeshi women in future. Both of them have assured us with words of hope and some valuable advice for the newcomers.

Joyeta confided in saying, "Something I wish I knew before embarking on my freelance journey is I should have learnt more than one skill before entering this workplace. Since it is not guaranteed that you will always be hired in this dynamic workplace, having multiple skills under your sleeves helps tremendously. The marketplace demands keeping up with the change of clients' preferences. The acquisition of knowledge regarding freelancing is the first step. Freelancing requires impeccable organising skills so, for better output, proper planning and preparing oneself accordingly are of paramount importance."

"My strategy was that I did extensive online research and resorted to free materials as the institutional fees were not affordable for me. I kept on practising on my own; the rest comes with experience. Research and video tutorials can be helpful, as well as having all the necessary documents like NID or bank account sorted. Another prerequisite of freelancing is to embrace change. If you want to survive here, you need to continue learning as it will help you turn your skill into monetary value," she added.

On the other hand, Emrazina said, "I have been working in this sector since 2011, and the change that I notice the most is how competitive the outsourcing marketplaces have become. Women inherently have certain attributes that are essential for freelancing. However, while it is true that many want to work as freelancers, they lack the core skills. They should work on their communication and IT skills for better outcomes. People looking for shortcuts to success end up creating multiple accounts under fake names, attending exams on behalf of someone else, or even claiming others' works as theirs by including them in their portfolios. These unethical activities defame the name of the country, which as a result, affects client communities' trust making everyone else suffer professionally".

"However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as our society's mindset is changing with time in terms of gender parity. The future is bright if we can collectively, with the intervention and effort of governmental or non-governmental initiatives along with other concerned figures, foresee that the sector is protected from getting tainted with frauds, who take the wrong road, as it is a promising sector opening many windows of opportunity for women. I am optimistic that if we can get the concept of healthy partnerships right, more women will participate in this workforce. Many men have contacted us for guidance for their mothers, sisters, and wives. Hence, we can expect more involvement in the coming years. Our grandmothers and mothers have done so much for the world already, so why can we not be supportive of that notion?" concluded Emrazina.

Meanwhile, Jamila Jhuma, who started working as a freelancer in 2019 and within this short time has secured her place as a level two seller in Fiverr, shared her experience with us. She is married and a mother of two. She has everything nice to say about this career option, although she too feels that the path of becoming freelancers is not easy for women as they have to seek permission or approval from others. She is immensely content with her choice of being a freelancer, which allows her to take care of her children while excelling in her career. The flexibility of working hours is a blessing to her.

"Despite contemporaneous constraints and barriers, since I was determined on my sole mission of creating an identity, I got to discover myself through my journey of becoming a freelancer. It is the most suitable occupation for me. I would tell the aspiring freelancers to know their work and enhance their skill set to establish themselves as freelancers. Freelancing jobs offer women tons of great opportunities", she asserted.

[TW]

孟加拉國女性自由職業者正在蓬勃發展

孟加拉國婦女在推動該國經濟方面取得了新的高度。他們在每個重要領域都取得了成功，包括自由職業者。根據一份政府報告，在孟加拉國大約 6 名 lacs 註冊自由職業者中，女性自由職業者佔 9%，她們正在該國快速增長的自由職業領域留下自己獨特的印記。

技能嫻熟的女性群體加入這個不斷擴大的行業背後的原因在於其眾多優勢，主要是地點的靈活性、選擇客戶或項目的自由、技能的利用以及通過變得獨立而獲得財務償付能力的機會消除國家的失業危機。

Emrazina Islam 說：“由於許多合格、有才華和有能力的女性在我們國家結婚後被迫停止工作，因此自由職業者比其他任何選擇都更可行，尤其是對於屬於保守家庭的女性來說，” Emrazina Technologies 的聯合創始人和 BASIS 自由職業獎獲得者，在 Payoneer 擔任品牌大使。

“在我的辦公室，90% 的員工是女性。由於封鎖，我們的公司現在完全在家運營。我們所有的員工都有更多的時間陪伴家人。我還可以在以下時間照顧我的女兒家。這對我實現目標來說是一個巨大的優勢。我的團隊成員在家工作，他們在徹底保持專業精神的同時進行基於計算機的工作。所以，我對這個決定感到高興。許多人發現從工作場所到遠程工作場景，但不是我們；自 2015 年以來，我們一直在成功地做到這一點，”她補充道。

TalkStory 的 CEO、Robi 10 Minute School 的自由教師、著名作家和內容創作者 Joyeta Banerjee 也分享了她的觀點。 “我們都知道道路安全對女性來說是一個問題，自由職業也可以節省通勤時間。由於全國范圍內廣泛的互聯網連接，空間界限不再存在。居住在村莊或甚至生活在最偏遠地區的女性都成功了作為自由職業者工作。他們靠外幣謀生並養家糊口，”她說。 “自由職業確實改善了我們的就業機會。女性從事基於技術的工作，如網頁設計、內容編寫、軟件和應用程序開發、網絡研究、平面設計、數據輸入等。無論她們的教育背景、年齡或地點如何，她們正在以與男性同行相似的信譽做這件事，確保孟加拉國在全球平台上享有勝利的聲譽。”

然而，在所有的讚美和成就中，女性經常面臨各種挑戰。這些也進入了自由職業者領域。 Emrazina 強調每項工作對女性來說都是十倍的困難；無論是自由職業者還是任何其他傳統工作。人們通常期望女性承擔所有家庭責任，同時在工作中同樣出色地保持專業精神。

“對於自由職業者來說，讓他們的家人相信國際時區需要夜班承諾，或者一開始穩定收入是多麼困難，這對自由職業者來說是一項挑戰。自由職業者絕不是一份容易的工作。它需要同等的金額作為一項傳統工作的奉獻精神。女性在家工作時很難處理工作量，這使她們更難在完美的工作與生活之間找到平衡，”她說。

此外，喬伊塔指出，她注意到她的學生面臨的一些問題反復出現，而且都是一樣的。 “由於資源不足，女性面臨的問題是缺乏關於不同支付方式如何運作、如何接觸潛在客戶或工作時間如何需要她們極大的適應能力的真實信息，尤其是學生或管理工作和家庭的女性同時做家務，”她說。 “不幸的是，對這個行業感興趣的人有時會昏昏欲睡。他們不願意在加入這個行業之前做研究，這對他們來說是早期的麻煩。我注意到的另一件事是家人經常持懷疑態度反對自由職業者，因為在這個網絡犯罪不斷增加的世界上，女性的安全是脆弱的。他們發現讓女性從事在線工作是有風險的。儘管許多人認為自由職業者是一份舒適的工作，但對於那些管理障礙的人來說，事實並非如此所有的陽光和彩虹”。

此外，在探索孟加拉女性未來自由職業潛力的同時，我們詢問了導師 Joyeta 和富有進取心的自由職業者 Emrazina，他們對這個利潤豐厚的行業未來能為孟加拉女性提供什麼的看法。他們都向我們保證了希望的話語和對新來者的一些寶貴建議。

喬伊塔坦言，“在開始我的自由職業生涯之前，我希望我知道的一件事是，在進入這個工作場所之前，我應該學會不止一種技能。因為不能保證你會一直被這個充滿活力的工作場所聘用，擁有多種技能在你的袖子下有很大幫助。市場需要跟上客戶偏好的變化。獲取有關自由職業的知識是第一步。自由職業需要無可挑剔的組織技巧，因此，為了更好的產出，適當的計劃和相應的準備是最重要的重要性。”

“我的策略是，我進行了廣泛的在線研究，並求助於免費材料，因為機構費用對我來說負擔不起。我繼續自己練習；其餘的都是經驗。研究和視頻教程可能會有所幫助，以及整理好所有必要的文件，如 NID 或銀行賬戶。自由職業的另一個先決條件是接受變化。如果你想在這裡生存，你需要繼續學習，因為它可以幫助你將技能轉化為貨幣價值，”她補充道。

另一方面，Emrazina 說：“我自 2011 年以來一直在這個領域工作，我最注意到的變化是外包市場的競爭程度。女性天生具有某些對於自由職業者必不可少的屬性。然而，雖然確實，許多人想成為自由職業者，他們缺乏核心技能。他們應該努力提高溝通和 IT 技能以獲得更好的結果。尋找成功捷徑的人最終以假名創建多個帳戶，代表他們參加考試其他人，甚至通過將其他人的作品包含在他們的作品集中來聲稱他們的作品是他們的。這些不道德的活動玷污了國家的名稱，結果影響了客戶社區的信任，使其他人都受到了職業上的痛苦”。

“然而，隧道盡頭有曙光，因為我們的社會在性別平等方面的心態正在隨著時間的推移而改變。如果我們能夠共同努力，政府或非政府倡議的干預和努力以及其他方面的努力，未來是光明的。有關數字，預見該行業不會受到欺詐的污染，他們走錯了路，因為它是一個有前途的行業，為女性打開了許多機會之窗。我很樂觀，如果我們能夠正確理解健康夥伴關係的概念，更多的女性將參與到這個勞動力隊伍中。許多男性聯繫我們為他們的母親、姐妹和妻子提供指導。因此，我們可以期待在未來幾年更多的參與。我們的祖母和母親已經為世界做了很多，所以為什麼我們不能支持這個想法？” Emrazina總結道。

與此同時，Jamila Jhuma 於 2019 年開始擔任自由職業者，並在短時間內獲得了 Fiverr 二級賣家的位置，與我們分享了她的經驗。她已婚，是兩個孩子的母親。關於這個職業選擇，她有話要說，儘管她也覺得成為自由職業者的道路對女性來說並不容易，因為她們必須尋求他人的許可或認可。她對自己選擇成為一名自由職業者感到非常滿意，這讓她可以在事業上表現出色的同時照顧孩子。工作時間的彈性是她的福氣。

“儘管同時存在限制和障礙，但由於我決心以創造身份為唯一使命，我必須在成為自由職業者的過程中發現自己。這是最適合我的職業。我會告訴有抱負的自由職業者知道她們的工作並提高她們的技能，使自己成為自由職業者。自由職業為女性提供了大量的機會。”她斷言 。