Bangladesh’s economic growth story has always leaned on the resilience of rural women, the invisible workforce behind the nation’s agriculture, garment exports, and domestic labour.
Yet, as we transition toward a more developed Bangladesh, their safety, dignity, and environmental well-being remain under-protected.
Every year, thousands of rural women migrate to Dhaka, Narayanganj, and other cities, seeking work in factories or households. They form the backbone of our export and service sectors, but their lives tell a harsher story of toxic workplaces, poor housing, and growing environmental insecurity.
The ready-made garment (RMG) industry employs around 4.5 million workers, of whom 80% are women. Most come from rural districts where employment options are scarce. While their labour powers over $47 billion in exports annually, it also exposes them to chemical dyes, heat stress, and poor ventilation.
Nearly 50% of female garment workers report gastrointestinal problems, 35% suffer respiratory issues, and 27% experience chronic skin conditions linked to chemical exposure. The situation worsens in summer, as 98% of workers report rising factory temperatures and 78% face heat-induced sickness.
Meanwhile, another group of rural women contributes to the country’s growing circular economy, collecting, sorting, and recycling waste in urban areas. They prevent thousands of tons of waste from reaching landfills, yet their contribution goes unnoticed.
Without protective gear, they work in open, toxic environments where 61% suffer untreated wounds and 49% have persistent breathing problems. These women sustain the very foundation of environmental resilience, yet their own environmental safety remains neglected.
Rewriting the narrative
Unlike Industry 4.0, which prioritizes automation and digital efficiency, the net frontier of industry emphasizes the partnership between human purpose and intelligent technology, seeking not only productivity but also inclusion and well-being. Within this framework, rural women can emerge as active innovators in a sustainable, technology-enabled circular economy.
By integrating green skills, digital tools, and community-based entrepreneurship, Bangladesh can empower women to participate in safer, higher-value roles, from eco-design and upcycling enterprises that use local materials, to smart recycling hubs managed by women’s cooperatives, and biogas or compost ventures that convert rural waste into renewable energy.
Digital green marketplaces can further connect women producers directly with environmentally-conscious consumers, expanding their reach and income opportunities. These initiatives embody the spirit of Sustainable Development Goals 5, 8, and 12, advancing gender equality, decent work, and responsible consumption in unison.
Bangladesh’s development cannot overlook the toxic environments where so many women live and work. Whether sorting waste under open skies or operating sewing machines in overheated factories, environmental hazards are not occasional risks, they are daily realities.
Climate change magnifies these vulnerabilities. Urban heat islands, air pollution, and chemical runoff turn workplaces and slum settlements into breeding grounds for illness. A truly equitable development strategy must treat environmental safety as a human right, not a privilege.
This requires coordinated policy reform, integrating gender-responsive environmental safety into labour, urban, and industrial planning. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs must jointly launch a National Framework for Women’s Environmental Safety and Circular Economy Inclusion, ensuring these women are recognized as essential partners in sustainability.
The transition to a human-centric, circular economy can make rural women’s work meaningful, not merely a survival strategy, but a pathway to dignity and innovation. Achieving this vision requires targeted investment in digital upskilling and eco-literacy to help women adapt to emerging green industries, alongside comprehensive health insurance and regular safety audits to protect them from toxic and hazardous working conditions.
Equally important is expanding access to green finance, enabling women to own and lead within value chains rather than remain confined to the lowest tiers of labour. Through these integrated measures, Bangladesh can transform rural women’s economic participation into a source of sustainable empowerment and environmental resilience. When technology meets empathy, Bangladesh can design an economy where sustainability and social justice move together.
Empowerment cannot be measured by employment numbers alone. It must reflect women’s right to work safely, breathe clean air, and live with dignity. As we stand at the threshold of a new industrial era, Bangladesh must ensure that the hands that sew its garments, clean its homes, and sort its waste are also the hands shaping its sustainable future.
Rural women have carried this nation forward quietly for decades. It is time the country carries them forward -- visibly, safely, and sustainably.
Dr Nusrat Hafiz is the Asst Professor and Director of the Women Empowerment Cell at BRAC Business School, BRAC University. She can be reached at nusrat.hafiz@bracu.ac.bd.