Brief: Reasons for the Decline of Female Participation in CLP’s Infrastructure Employment Project (IEP)

Abstract

The Infrastructure Employment Project (IEP) is an effort on behalf of Chars Livelihood Programme (CLP) to provide temporary employment for the extreme-poor living in the chars during a period of annual underemployment. Households are raised on plinths above the highest known flood level. IEP’s target is for 15% of all workers employed to be women. The participation rate of women in IEP has been dropping annually since the 2010 IEP season: this briefing examines why. The main reasons for low rates of female inclusion in IEP has been social conservatism, other employment generation schemes, and political instability