USAID’sWomen Thrive in Bangladesh project convened a roundtableon “Building a Sustainable Future for Women in the Ready-made Garment Sector” at the Hotel Radisson Blu Dhaka on October 28, 2024. The discussion highlighted the importance of creating a supportive work environment for women workers in the ready-made garment sector by providing more resources and assistance to sustain their employment.Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, delivered the keynote speech at the event.
Women have historically made up most of the workforce in Bangladesh’s garment sector, which contributes to 80% of export earnings to the country’s economy. Over the last four decades, this sector has created significant employment opportunities for women, helping drive social change. Nonetheless, challenges like traditional gender norms, burden of unpaid care work, lack of gender-friendly working conditions in some factories, and limited job security and age barriers hinder the long-term career prospects for female garment workers.
As a result, the proportion of female workers has declined to less than 55% of the total workforce in the garment industry, impacting their economic empowerment and overall well-being. This shift also affects global brands’ business models in Bangladesh and the government’s overall development agenda. In addition, the onset of increased automation in garment factories poses a threat to female employment in this sector by reducing job opportunities and increasing gender disparities.
During the roundtable, participants discussed the importance of empowering women with new skills and creating women-friendly workplaces to boost productivity, worker well-being, gender equality, and the industry’s sustainable growth. Efforts have been made to enhance workplace safety and ensure adherence to social and environmental standards in the garment sector. However, ongoing issues require further collective action from employers, global brands, government, civil society organizations, trade unions, and other stakeholders.
The program was presided over by Ramesh Singh, Regional Director, CARE Asia. Blair King, Deputy Director of USAID’s Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance,Bushra Binte Baten, Corporate Responsibility Manager, PVH Corp., Md. Matiur Rahman, Joint Inspector General,Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, S.M. Anamul Hoque, Director, Department of Labour, Mohammed Hatem, President, BKMEA, Vidiya Amrit Khan, Deputy Managing Director, Desh Group of Companies and Former Director, BGMEA, Syed Sultan Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, Workers Rights Reform Commissionand Executive Director,
Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), Ferdous Ara Begum, CEO, BUILD, Emelda Mullick, Project Management Specialist, USAID, Mehrul Islam, DCD-P, CARE Bangladesh also spoke at the event.The discussion was moderated by Aamanur Rahman, Chief of Party, USAID’s Thrive Activity.
In addition, participants from USAID’s Office of Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, PVH Bangladesh team and supply chain factories,global brands, civil society organizations, development partners and thinktanks attended the event.
Key recommendations from the discussion to global brands, employers and the government include addressing women’s rights and social protection in the policy framework includingWomen Development Policy’, ‘National Social Security Strategy’, ‘National Employment Policy ratifying ILO Convention 190 against workplace violence, and ensuring equity in the workplace.
Implemented by CARE Bangladesh, USAID’s Women Thrive in Bangladesh project provides a combination of professional skills and leadership development training for women ready-made garment workers in PVH Corp., supply chain factories and communities. The project aims to train more than 100,000 women workers in RMG factories and communities by 2026.