Published in The Daily Star on Tuesday, 17 July 2018
The situation of women workers in the RMG sector in Bangladesh
Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) and The Daily Star jointly organised a roundtable titled “The situation of women workers in the RMG sector in Bangladesh” on July 8, 2018. Here we publish a summary of the discussion.
Dr. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director, Centre of Policy Dialogue (CPD)
We can categorise our findings 
into three different sections. The first one is access to facilities and rights. Like any workplace, the RMG sector also requires certain facilities and rights for its workers, such as proper toilets, day care centres, maternity leave, holidays, overtime and so on. We need to ensure whether or not our garment workers are able to access these facilities. Second, are these facilities sufficient and adequate? Third, what is the overall quality of such amenities? Factory inspections need to be thorough, where the workers’ overall opinion is taken into account to assess the functionality of these facilities. Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) needs to update their inspection process. We should also categorise factories according to their compliance status and find solutions accordingly.
Another aspect which needs to be looked at is the education level of female garment workers. Generally, women join at a younger age than men, thus, making them less career oriented. I would request the Ministry to set a standard of education for the female garments workers. Every female garment worker should pass at least eighth grade. It would help spread female education in the rural areas as well as create opportunities for them to get higher skilled jobs in the factories.
All the stakeholders related to the RMG sector must take proper initiatives to make sure extensive training is provided to less skilled workers, particularly women, whether it’s on-the-job or after work.