Job Listings in Bangladesh
March 27, 2008

Since I will be hiring over 40 employees this year, I decided to do a little research on job listings in Bangladesh. I looked in newspapers and on a few internet sites to confirm that the salaries that I put into my business plan were accurate and to get an idea of where the best place would be for me to advertise my open positions. Some of the things I discovered appalled me.

First, many of the job listings had age requirements: you couldn't apply to be a receptionist if you were over 40, some jobs you had to be between 20 and 25! Second, and this really boiled my blood, some of the job advertisements actually said, "Only males are allowed to apply." Can you believe it?! The discrimination is right there in black and white! The ad that pissed me off the most though was for an "attractive woman between the ages of 20 and 25" for a secretarial position. What do her looks have to do with her typing and filing abilities?!

It is things like this that really make me want to hire women into as many senior positions in my company as I can. I am off to a decent start since my architect, attorney, and construction consultant are all women! Of course then I would be discriminating on sex too, which also annoys me because I do prefer to have gender balance in the workplace...

I have to say that living in Bangladesh for the past year and a half has given me a new perspective on Affirmative Action. I had never really supported the program before, but after seeing the blatant discrimination that goes on here today, and realizing that in the not-so-distant past the U.S. was in a similar place, I definitely understand why the program was needed.