The research explores the gender aspects of policy reforms in Bangladesh in a sequential
dynamic computational general equilibrium (CGE) framework. This research uses the most
updated SAM of Bangladesh and is the first attempt to build a gendered sequential dynamic
CGE model for the Bangladesh economy. A ‘home production’ version of gendered CGE
model for the Bangladesh economy is developed. This research tries to understand how
gender interests are affected by greater exposure to trade and other policy reforms. The shortrun
and long-run impacts of policy reforms in the labour market and in the household in a
gendered framework are also explored. The research performs two simulations to examine
the impact of: (1) domestic trade liberalisation in Bangladesh, and (2) the phasing-out of
Multi-fibre Agreement (MFA) on textile and garments. This research builds a gendered social
accounting matrix (SAM) for the year 2000 and uses it in a sequential dynamic computable
general equilibrium framework. The representative household approach is followed. It is
found that domestic trade liberalisation leads to a significant expansion of the ready-made
garment sectors in the economy as a result of which the share of market labour supply of
unskilled female labour increases. But, this results in a fall in the shares of domestic labour
supply and leisure of unskilled female members of the households. The fall in the share of
leisure time may have significant negative implications for the time spent on education by
this labour category. It is also observed that the long run impacts are different from the short
run impacts with respect to the magnitude of the effects. In the case of second simulation, it
can be noted that the phasing out of the MFA works in completely the opposite direction. The
share of market labour supply of unskilled female members of the households decrease, and
the shares of domestic work and leisure increase for most of the households both in the short
and long run.