The number of female garment workers in the country's readymade garment industry has been declining over the years and a number of factors are responsible for this significant downward trend.
According to sector insiders and different studies, the factors include caring for children, pregnancy and discrimination for being pregnant, age appropriateness, difficulty in balancing work and home responsibilities and increased income of households.
Besides, long working hours, low salaries, no or little education, negative effects on health, work stress with high production targets, working conditions and little scope to rejoin are also among the factors that forced the female garment workers to leave the sector.
Industry has adopted a wide range of technological upgradation like installing new machinery including automated ones that also put a negative impact on women's participation as males are preferred to operate those.
During the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 a good number of workers were forced to leave the city and many of them did not return.
The changes also have significant implications on women's economic empowerment and the well-being of their families and communities.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) reported that from 1980 to 1994 the proportion of women labour force had been 80 per cent. However, in 1995, it fell to 76 per cent and further fell to 70 per cent in 2005.
According to separate UN Women reports, the proportion of women garment workers was 63.4 per cent in 2010 and 60.5 per cent in 2018.
A CPD (Centre for Policy Dialogue) study found that the proportion fell to 58.4 per cent and 53.2 per cent in 2012 and 2016 respectively.
In 2017, however, SANEM reported that the proportion rose to 61.17 per cent.
In 2020, according to Mapped in Bangladesh (MiB), a digital mapping platform of export-oriented garment factories -- the proportion of women was 58 per cent.
Later, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), GIZ and Brac University did a joint research which was published in early 2023. It found that the percentage was 53.65 per cent in 2021.
Talking to the FE, Nazma Akhter, president of Sammilito Garments Sramik Federation, said taking care of children was one of the main reasons for female worker to leave their jobs.
Female workers who have no other option but to work, in many cases send their two to three months old children to villages as child care facilities are scanty in the sector, she noted.
Besides, automation and technological upgradation, another reason was, she said, female workers were not provided with required training either by the manufacturers or the government as males are preferred due to the social norms.
She also cited working conditions especially harassment and overtime work as obstacles to women's night duty.
Labour leaders also said that workers went back to their respective villages due to Covid-induced lockdown and a good number of them did not come back. Some of them switched to other jobs while some remained engaged in household work back there.
Lead author of the ETI study, Dr Shahidur Rahman, Professor of the Department of Economics and Social Sciences at BRAC University, said the report cited different surveys that used various methodologies to collect data, but there had been a different figure on the share of women workers in the RMG industry.
However, a trend of declining proportion of women in this sector was evident -- a significant decline compared to the proportion during the inception of the RMG industry in Bangladesh, he noted.
He, however, said they identified the reasons why women's number in the RMG sector was declining and found that the family condition was one of the major reasons behind the decline.
An overwhelming majority of the workers or 89 per cent who left the sector responded that their departure was voluntary as their contracts were not terminated by factory management.
According to the ETI report, some 77 per cent of reasons cited by the former workers were related to a family condition like caring for children (26.67 per cent), pregnancy (17.89 per cent), and age appropriateness (11.93 per cent).
On the other hand, 19.29 per cent of the reasons cited by former workers were related to working conditions such as workload, long working hours, and low salaries, according to the report.
Unfavourable working conditions increased the probability of leaving garment factories by 15.95 per cent, it showed. Focus group participants, however, noted that factories put excess pressure on workers by requiring them to produce 180 to 200 units every hour.
It found that 8.0 per cent of all women workers wanted to leave the RMG sector after one year and 27 per cent after five years.
Female workers were 15 per cent more likely to leave garment work in the long run if they experienced any harassment, it said.
The report also found that upward mobility was extremely limited for women garment workers.
About 86 per cent of workers joined factories as helpers, 66 per cent left as operators and only 1.0 per cent as supervisors. However, this was not cited by participants as a reason for leaving the industry.
The implications of this decline identified by the report included reduced income, impacts on social networks, agency and worker voice for women.
Solidaridad Asia gender lead Ms Neha at a programme last year showed that there had been high inclusion of technology during the last 10 years in the garment sector.
Despite being a labour-intensive sector with huge growth, there was a declining trend of women workers and they were not joining the sector, she said citing the influx of technology as one of the reasons.
Factories should create a healthy work environment, reducing the need for overtime work, ensuring regular payments and providing facilities for childcare and healthcare.
For brands and buyers, their purchasing practices should be reviewed. Gender-sensitive human rights should be upheld alongside due diligence and investment in programmes to support factories that do not discriminate against women should be made.
The government of Bangladesh should review legal frameworks and policies and convene stakeholders to collectively address issues.
Export earnings from the sector increased to US$46.99 billion in fiscal 2022-23 from US$ 21.52 billion in fiscal year 2011-12 and the industry set a target to earn US$100 billion by 2030.
The sector is the major contributor to the GDP with employing millions of workers as the country is heavily depended on textile and apparel sector for export earnings -- contributing more than 84 per cent of the total US$55.55 billion export earnings in the last fiscal year.
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