IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON WHITE-COLLAR WORKING WOMEN IN BANGLADESH

Abstract

The paper highlights the impact of COVID-19 on some key financial and career factors among white-collar working women in Bangladesh, a demographic segment often overlooked among research circles in the country. Various studies have established the differential impact of COVID-19 globally, focusing on women’s job loss and career, financial, and psychological impact. The COVID literature in Bangladesh has tried to understand the crisis through the lens of health and economics, focusing on blue-collar workers primarily, the bottom of the pyramids, other marginalized communities, or women entrepreneurs. This paper fills the research gap on white-collar working women in the private sector in the COVID narrative. Data was collected through online survey responses from 131 white-collar working women from the private sector working full-time before the pandemic hit. The variables considered include financial impact (using job loss as an indicator), income impact and savings hit, career impact (as reflected in the preference of organization type), resignation tendency along with the reasons, and financial outlook (measured with the help of financial confidence and perceived job retention during the pandemic). The study finds that household income and savings were impacted for these women; however, there was not much job loss in contrast to the literature. The increased workload at the office and home had further exacerbated their work-life imbalance, especially for mothers. The study reveals interesting findings that women who participated in the study remain optimistic about the private sector’s suitability as a career choice post-COVID-19. The COVID impact on these women varies with their motherhood status and hierarchical level with statistical significance. The paper highlights the need for future research on white-collar working women beyond the private sector and formal organizations.