The world that we live in today is one of conscious consumerism. The consumer is conscious of the footprint of the product and is keen to know how and under what conditions it was manufactured. This is helping the manufacturing sector of the country as over the last two decades, Bangladesh has been experiencing a 'silent revolution' of women empowerment in the sector. It is silent because more often than not, the focus is on the negative than the positive. It is time to shed light on this substantial momentum of women empowerment that has been taking place in the manufacturing sector in Bangladesh.
From 1996-2017, the percentage of women working in the workforce has increased from 15.8 per cent to 36.8 per cent. This is an astounding growth by 21 per cent. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the size of the female labour force in the country has increased at a rate of 4.6 per cent over the fiscal year of 2016-17 compared to the male labour force increasing at 1.0 per cent over the same period. This trend of increasing female employment, primarily in the manufacturing sector, has played an important role in empowering women socially and economically. This success story often remains untold.
The readymade garments (RMG) segment is the largest manufacturing sector in Bangladesh and the rise of this sector has given birth to large scale female participation in the labour force. In the pre-RMG era, women working outside the house were stigmatised and were often discouraged from working. The rise of the RMG sector encouraged women to join the labour force in droves, and created a revolution in the demographics akin to the revolution in the west that took place around the World War II era. During World War II, women were compelled to join the labour force as the primary bread-earners while men had gone off to war. This created a massive female empowerment movement in Europe which was triggered by increase in female participation in the labour force. Similarly, the advent of the RMG sector which has created the opportunity for women to work in formal employment in the country has empowered women considerably. However, what is interesting is that all the areas in which women have been benefited are not always very overtly noticeable.
One of these areas is birth control. Working women in the manufacturing sector are having fewer children and they have a larger say now over the number of children they are willing to have as they are financial contributors in their households. This is reflected by the overall fall in fertility rate from 2.6 per cent in 2006 to 2.1 per cent in 2016. Additionally, it is largely beneficial for women's reproductive health as they are choosing to have fewer children and they have larger gaps between pregnancies. Working women also have greater access to birth control and are more encouraged and supported by their families as they are financial contributors.
Another area that is also less obvious is that women have excelled in over the last two decades in entrepreneurship. The industrial zones of the major cities have experienced an increase in women-owned businesses. There are more women running neighbourhood shops, tailoring businesses and local eateries. The reason is that women are more comfortable dealing with women and with the advent of working women in the industrial zones, it has become more feasible to have a woman manage the business as she is more likely to be able to cater to both male and female customers. With the rise of micro-lending where women are preferred over men to receive credit and lending facilities, the rise of women entrepreneurs has been further enhanced.
Economic freedom is the obvious form of empowerment which arises from higher levels of women participating in the workforce. However, the level of empowerment has many layers as well. For example, a female supervisor employed of a factory who has been working there for the last 20 years is now also a land owner in the area. She bought a small piece of land when the factory shifted from Mirpur to Ashulia and was able to build a house over the years. She now rents out eight rooms which further supplements her income from the factory. Furthermore, she is looked up to as an "elder" in the community and is a person of influence in her locality. This is a woman who is completely illiterate and without out this opportunity to work, she would have never been able to lift her family out of poverty, and it would have been unthinkable for her to achieve her current social standing.
Much has been said in both local and foreign media about the dark side of manufacturing in Bangladesh. However, scant attention has been paid to the giant strides taken by the country in terms of environmental and social sustainability practices. Bangladesh has an astounding 13 LEED platinum factories and a total of 67 certified green factories. As sub-contracting factories are dying out, the existing RMG and textile factories operating in Bangladesh have really stepped up to the challenge and have converted their plants to comply with world-class safety standards. Additionally, most factories across industrial sectors from RMG to leather goods and footwear to textiles carry out CSR practices that span beyond compliance. The leather goods and footwear associations carry out free eyesight testing, tuberculosis screening and women's reproductive health screening in the factories owned by members. Community schools are also being established by factories in order to give back to the communities that they are operating in.
As Bangladesh gears up to become the next powerhouse of manufacturing, it is time to rewrite the narrative for the country. More focus should be on achievements and branding of the country so that more foreign direct investment (FDI) can be attracted and encouraged. This can boost the manufacturing sector further. Bangladesh is a country full of human resources. The women in this country are breaking the 'glass ceiling' by actively participating in the labour force. Now it is time that they were motivated to engage in leadership roles for further growth of this nation.
Amrita Makin Islam is the Deputy Managing Director of Picard Bangladesh Ltd.