Women's engagement in the workforce is one of the key goals of accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) globally in the 21st century. The primary elements of women's economic development or empowerment are good work and a reliable source of income. Without fostering a welcoming employment climate for women, it is difficult to empower women in the economic sphere.
The ready-made garment (RMG) industry contributed the greatest share of Bangladesh's foreign earnings, about 84.6%, in FY 22-23. There are over 4.2 million employees overall in this industry, and more than 80% of them are Bangladeshi women who live in rural regions.
Every fiscal year, a large portion of women work together to generate this significant quantity of foreign income, which contributes to Bangladesh's GDP. Unfortunately, there are violations of labour laws and social norms in this industry, making it difficult for women to work comfortably.
Comparatively speaking, female employees do better than their male counterparts in terms of abilities, competency, and learning behaviour. However, there are gaps in the safety, security, and benefits for female workers. Particularly in Bangladesh's RMG industry, women frequently experience workplace discrimination and are viewed as less respectable than their male coworkers.
It is terrible and unfair that female employees have to deal with inadequate compensation, payroll delays, limited promotions, poor health care, resistance to paid maternity leave, and unsanitary working conditions. As a result, Bangladesh’s RMG industry's reputation is declining globally, which has affected business opportunities recently.
The hostile work environment is another factor that makes it harder for women to work in this industry. Particularly in the sphere of tradeable sectors in many developing nations, it is observed that, most of the time, unfavourable working environments are present where men and women work together.
In the RMG sector, the number of women employees is higher than men, especially in line operator positions. But when it comes to giving a promotion to the supervisor position, factory or senior members give that position to men, not to women. They often think that females cannot do the tasks of a man as well and male operators might not listen to the female supervisors.
This results in a worse-off situation for the females. Therefore, even having a larger share in the industry, most women get stuck with the lower grades and lower pay structures.
There is enough evidence to support this statement. Based on a survey conducted in 2020, only 4.3% of women were found to be receiving a salary of more than Tk15,000 compared to men, for whom the rate was 15.1%. Though, in this survey, men were found to be spending more hours in overtime, and the women were not lagging far behind.
The differences in the overtime working participation rate between the two gender groups were marginal, and we do not think this factor alone should have been capable enough to create such discrimination in the salary received by the two groups.
Diving deeper into the matter, we found only 0.3% of the total surveyed women were working in grades 1 and 2, which was 21 times lower compared to their male counterparts. Approximately 63% of the surveyed women belonged to grades 5 to 7, whereas the share of men in those corresponding grades was just over 50%.
The high concentration of women in the lower grades and marginal share in the upper grades is reflective of the fact that women are actually facing discrimination in terms of getting a promotion. Narrowminded gender-biased thinking of the higher-ups might have been the driving fuel in this scenario.
As most employees in line operator positions are female, they are not very comfortable with male supervisors, regarding their personal problems or family problems. As a female, they might have issues regarding health; as a result they might need to take a break or leave. However female line operators cannot describe their problems to a male supervisor. This can also affect their health and work as well.
But if they have a female supervisor, they can easily talk about their health issues, even family issues as well. The work environment for them will be comfortable, which will affect their work in a positive way. If workers can work in a comfortable environment, then productivity will increase, which can also increase production.
The factors affecting women's engagement in the workforce are numerous. Working beyond the usual shifts is one of them. Most females are heavily involved in household work, and long working hours not only have a severe effect on a person's family life but also have an adverse effect on their own mental and physical health, as well as that of their children.
Many female workers are the only income earners in their family. When they become pregnant or have young children at home, women frequently leave their occupations. Working such long hours puts a lot of strain on women's families, since they are unable to take care of home duties.
It is impossible to dispute the contribution of women to Bangladesh's economic progress. They have made incredibly note-worthy efforts and contributions to the RMG industry. Creating a fair work environment for the women in this industry will help them forge a better life for themselves and a better future for this country.
Ulfatara Bejori and Mahrab Al Rahman are students, East West University.