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Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh

Received: 9 December 2017    Accepted: 23 December 2017    Published: 19 January 2018
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Abstract

The Ready-Made-Garment (RMG) industries have emerged as the most promising sector in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh. Among the employee of this sector, maximum numbers are female which prefaces women empowerment as well. Despite being large in numbers, female workforce faces various types of difficulty in their workplace both physically and mentally. In addition, gender discrimination is severe in this sector. It was found that wages discrimination between male and female employee increases with the skill levels. Male managers are paid 21% higher than female counterpart. Job type has great influence on workers. Male workers are found to be less in helper and sewing department by about 86% and 78% respectively. Higher salary discrimination was found in small industries than larger one.

Published in International Journal of Science and Qualitative Analysis (Volume 3, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11
Page(s) 49-54
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ready-Made-Garment (RMG), Female Workforce, Industry, Wage

References
[1] Berg, A., Hedrich, S., Kempf, S. and Tochtermann, T. (2011). Bangladesh's Ready-made Garments Landscape: The Challenge of Growth McKinsey & Company, Inc. Apparel, Fashion &Luxury Practice, 1-24.
[2] Halim, S. and Kabir, A. H. (2005). Globalization, Gender and Labor Market: Some Evidence from RMG sector: A Journal of Social Science, (22) 1, 29-42.
[3] Standing, G. Globalization Feminization through Flexible Labor. (1981). World Development, 17 (7), 1077-1095.
[4] Barbezat, D. Occupational Segmentation by Sex in the World. (1993). IDP Women/ WP-13. Equity for Employment Interdepartmental Project, International Labor Office, Geneva.
[5] Lim, Linda Y. C. (1984). Labor and Employment Issues in Export Processing Zones in Less- Developed Countries. In Eddy Lee, ed., Export Processing Zones and Industrial Employment in Asia (pp. 53-67), ILO, Bangkok.
[6] Halim, Sadeka. (2001). Empowerment of Women: The Way Forward, Proceedings of Bangladesh Socio Economic Forum.
[7] Kabeer, N. (2000). The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labor Market Decisions in London and Dhaka. London: Verso Publications.
[8] Cohen, Barney and House, William J. (1993). Women's urban labor market status in developing countries: How well do they fare in Khartoum, Sudan. Journal of Development Studies, 29 (3), 461–483.
[9] Kabeer, N. (1991). Cultural dopes or rational fools? Women and labor supply in the Bangladesh garments industry, European Journal of Development Research, 3 (1), 133-160.
[10] Paul-Majumder, P. (1998). Health Status of the Garments Workers in Bangladesh: findings from a survey of employers and employees, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Dhaka.
[11] Kibria, N. (1995). Culture, social class and income control in the lives of women garment workers in Bangladesh, Gender and Society, 9 (3), 289-309.
[12] Hossain, H., Jahan, R. and Sobhan, S. (1990). No Better Option? Industrial Women Workers in Bangladesh. University Press Limited, Dhaka.
[13] Naved, R., Rahman, T., Willan, S., Jewkes, R. and Gibbs, A. (2018). Female garment workers experiences of violence in their homes and workplaces in Bangladesh: A qualitative study. Social Science & Medicine 196, 150–157.
[14] Tijdens, K., Besamusca, J., Klaveren, M., Zerain, A., Osse, P., Ceccon, D. et al. Violence against Women at the Workplace in Honduraa, Benin, Moldova, Indonesia: a Survey by CNV International University of Amsterdam/AIAS, Wage Indicator Foundation (2015).
[15] Mahmud, M. S., Rajath V. D., Mahmud, R., Jahan, N., Hasan, M. R. and Rahman, K. M. A. (2017). Prevalence of Health Hazards: A Study on the Female Workers of Garment Industry in Gazipur District, Bangladesh. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 2 (3), 184–188.
[16] Hossain, A. and Aktar, M. N. (2010). Women Workers of Ready Made Garments (RMG) Sector in Bangladesh: A Comparative Study on Their Working Condition and Grievances, AIUB Journal of Business and Economics, 9 (1), 1-33.
[17] Zohir, S. C. (2000). Intra-household relations and social dynamics among garment workers in Dhaka City, Proceedings of Garment Industry in Bangladesh: Economic and Social Dimensions, Dhaka.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Md. Iqbal Mahmud, Shahida Afrin. (2018). Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh. International Journal of Science and Qualitative Analysis, 3(5), 49-54. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11

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    ACS Style

    Md. Iqbal Mahmud; Shahida Afrin. Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh. Int. J. Sci. Qual. Anal. 2018, 3(5), 49-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11

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    AMA Style

    Md. Iqbal Mahmud, Shahida Afrin. Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh. Int J Sci Qual Anal. 2018;3(5):49-54. doi: 10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11,
      author = {Md. Iqbal Mahmud and Shahida Afrin},
      title = {Sustainability of Female Workforce in the Ready-Made Garment Industries of Bangladesh},
      journal = {International Journal of Science and Qualitative Analysis},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {49-54},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijsqa.20170305.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijsqa.20170305.11},
      abstract = {The Ready-Made-Garment (RMG) industries have emerged as the most promising sector in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh. Among the employee of this sector, maximum numbers are female which prefaces women empowerment as well. Despite being large in numbers, female workforce faces various types of difficulty in their workplace both physically and mentally. In addition, gender discrimination is severe in this sector. It was found that wages discrimination between male and female employee increases with the skill levels. Male managers are paid 21% higher than female counterpart. Job type has great influence on workers. Male workers are found to be less in helper and sewing department by about 86% and 78% respectively. Higher salary discrimination was found in small industries than larger one.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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    AB  - The Ready-Made-Garment (RMG) industries have emerged as the most promising sector in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh. Among the employee of this sector, maximum numbers are female which prefaces women empowerment as well. Despite being large in numbers, female workforce faces various types of difficulty in their workplace both physically and mentally. In addition, gender discrimination is severe in this sector. It was found that wages discrimination between male and female employee increases with the skill levels. Male managers are paid 21% higher than female counterpart. Job type has great influence on workers. Male workers are found to be less in helper and sewing department by about 86% and 78% respectively. Higher salary discrimination was found in small industries than larger one.
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Author Information
  • Department of Textile Engineering, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University (MBSTU), Tangail, Bangladesh

  • Abdur Rab Serniabat Textile Engineering College, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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