Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Milton Costa
Keywords : Bangladesh; Garment factories; Women workers; Socio-Economic conditions
Bangladesh is an emerging economy which is fast growing,
courtesy, the sector of readymade garments (RMG) which has helped the nation
unshackle itself from the stranglehold of poverty. The RMG sector has been
driven largely because of a huge proportion of women workers who form the cream
of workforce in garment factories. In this light, it is almost imperative to
talk about the women workers who work in the garment factories of Bangladesh.
The present research study is attempted to find out the socio-economic
conditions of women workers of garment factories of Bangladesh by examining and
analysing the various socio-economic factors concerning the women workers. An
in-depth survey done of a large number of women workers in Bangladesh fulfils
our endeavour.
It is a no-brainer that
industrial sector forms the backbone of the economy of all nations, especially
the developed countries. Unlike few countries of the world, where agricultural
sector plays a more prominent role as witnessed in all developing countries,
Bangladesh has been such a country which has been heavily reliant on industries
when compared to agriculture. The crux reason behind this is that Bangladesh
has a shortage of labour force as well as agricultural land, meaning it has a
low land-man ratio. When talking in the light of industrial sector in
Bangladesh, it is noteworthy to mention that the garment sector which was
non-existent in the 1980’s, has actually grown at an impressive rate of 17%
every year since then. The garment industries of Bangladesh is a source of
employment for close to 5 million people and was the first to provide
employment opportunities to women in massive scale breaking the jinx of women
working outside their home. Women form the fulcrum of the garment industries in
Bangladesh. In fact, the employment of the women in the garment sector of
Bangladesh has been instrumental in the country’s declining poverty over these
years. Truth to be told, the growth and development of Bangladesh garment
industry has been characterized by measly wages, poor labour legislation and
unskilled women work force. There has been myriad viewpoints expressed towards
employment of women workers in Bangladesh garment factories. Most of the people
have opined the feminisation of the garment sector as a positive step towards
women emancipation, but it has also increased to some extent the chances for
exploitation of women workers of garment industry.
A closer analysis of
existent literature would actually reveal that the study done on garment
factories run by Church does not exist at all, albeit there are studies which
has previously conducted on garment industry. This is a major research gap
which has been identified and accordingly a holistic survey of literature has
been conducted to get an in-depth view of the scenario of the socio-economic
conditions of women workers in Bangladesh garment factories especially those
run by Churches. The garment sector was virtually non-existent in 1980 [1]. The
industry currently employs almost 5 million workers in Bangladesh, and was the
first to provide employment opportunities to women in large-scale in a country
where women traditionally have not worked outside the home [2]. Women are the
driving force in the garment industry in Bangladesh. Paper further noted that
the country experienced a dramatic growth in garment exports in the 1980s and
1990s [3]. Five million people are directly or indirectly involved in garment
industry. Of all workers in garment industry, 80% are female workers. Stressed
on the economic incentives like provision of exchange rate adjustment, lower
interest rate, duty drawback scheme, bonded warehouse scheme, tax holiday for
export industries, back to back letters of credit, customs duty exemption,
export credit facilities for the development of garment industry [4]. Wage
employment in the garment industry of Bangladesh has improved in the standard
of Living of female workers significantly [5].
·To explore the various factors that affects the socio-economic condition of the female workers in Bangladesh garment factories.
To prune out the differentials in facilities and working conditions of female workers who are employed in several privately-operated garment factories, as well as those operated by the Church.
For the purpose of data
collection, both primary as well as secondary data has been resorted to.
Secondary data has been used to establish a concrete structure of the
theoretical base of the present research study. Several books, articles, journals,
blogs, project thesis have been enquired into to gain a robust understanding of
the theoretical base of our endeavour. Data from BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association), BKMEA (Bangladesh Knitwear
Manufacturers and Exporters Association), BGBA (Bangladesh Garments Buyers
Association), and EPB (Export Promotion Bureau) in Bangladesh, have been
consulted. Primary data has been collected through the help of a questionnaire
by convenient sampling method, where 192 respondents who are Bangladeshi female
workers employed in 10 different garment factories predominantly belonging to
districts of Dhaka, Savar and Gazipur have been chosen. Then again 168 female
workers working in the garment factories run by Church parishes in 5 districts
of Dhaka, Dinajpur, Khulna, Rajshahi and Natore have been chosen. All the
respondents were surveyed by the help of a questionnaire which was given to
them to be filled by them and face-to face interviews. All the data collected
has been meticulously processed by using statistical software packages of IBM’s
SPSS 23.0 and STATA [6,7].
Presentation and
interpretation of data
As is evidenced from the above table, women workers of a very young age group are seen working in garment factories of Bangladesh of both the Church owned and Non-church owned ones. However, the study confirms that more young people exist in non-church garment industry. We also see women of older age group working in Bangladeshi garment factories mainly in Church-run garment industry. It is also witnessed women above 50 years of age working in garment factories owned by Church. According to our field survey, a reason for this is that their houses are adjacent to the churches and they find it extremely convenient being under the direct control of Church (Table 1,2).
Table 1: Age group according to ownership (in %).
Age group |
||||||||
Ownership |
0-20 |
21-25 |
26-30 |
31-40 |
41-50 |
Above 50 |
Total |
|
Church |
32 |
21 |
34 |
45 |
29 |
7 |
168 |
|
(19.05%) |
(12.5%) |
(20.24%) |
(26.79%) |
(17.26%) |
(4.17%) |
(100%) |
|
|
Non-church |
68 |
62 |
50 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
192 |
|
(35.42%) |
(32.29%) |
(26.04%) |
(5.73%) |
(0.52%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
|
Total |
100 |
83 |
84 |
56 |
30 |
7 |
360 |
|
(27.78%) |
(23.06%) |
(23.33%) |
(15.56%) |
(8.33%) |
(1.94%) |
(100%) |
|
|
Source:
Author's Field Survey, 2018. |
Percentage of religion % |
||||
Ownership |
Muslim |
Christian |
Hindu |
Total |
Church |
19 |
148 |
1 |
168 |
(11.31%) |
(88.1%) |
(0.6%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-Church |
158 |
13 |
21 |
192 |
(82.29%) |
(6.77%) |
(10.94%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
177 |
161 |
22 |
360 |
(49.17%) |
(44.72%) |
(6.11%) |
(100%) |
|
Source:
Author's field survey, 2018. |
Marital Status of the Respondents % |
||||
Ownership |
Unmarried |
Married |
Divorced/Deserted |
Total |
Church-owned |
36 |
130 |
2 |
168 |
(21.43%) |
(77.38%) |
(1.19%) |
100 |
|
Non-Church |
72 |
110 |
10 |
192 |
(37.50%) |
(57.29%) |
(5.21%) |
100 |
|
Total |
108 |
240 |
12 |
360 |
(30%) |
(66.67%) |
(3.33%) |
100 |
|
Source:
Author's field survey, 2018. |
Percentage
of educational qualification as per ownership% |
||||||
Ownership |
Illiterate |
Primary |
Secondary |
Higher Secondary |
Graduation and above |
Total |
Church |
7 |
76 |
79 |
6 |
0 |
168 |
(4.17%) |
(45.24%) |
(47.02%) |
(3.57%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-Church |
22 |
95 |
62 |
9 |
4 |
192 |
(11.46%) |
(49.48%) |
(32.29%) |
(4.69%) |
(2.08%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
29 |
171 |
141 |
15 |
4 |
360 |
(8.06%) |
(47.5%) |
(39.17%) |
(4.17%) |
(1.11%) |
(100%) |
|
Source:
Author's field survey, 2018. |
The type of the family |
|||
Ownership |
Nuclear |
Joint |
Total |
Church owned |
161 |
7 |
168 |
(95.83%) |
(4.17%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
184 |
8 |
192 |
(95.83%) |
(4.17%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
345 |
15 |
360 |
|
(95.83%) |
(4.17%) |
(100%) |
Family income in terms
of ownership in percent |
||||||||
Ownership |
Below 6000 |
6001-10000 |
10001-15000 |
15001-20000 |
20001-30000 |
30001-60000 |
Total |
|
Church owned |
6 |
46 |
63 |
45 |
8 |
0 |
168 |
|
(3.57%) |
(27.38%) |
(37.5%) |
(26.79%) |
(4.76%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
|
Non-Church owned |
2 |
11 |
54 |
85 |
30 |
10 |
192 |
|
(1.04%) |
(5.73%) |
(28.13%) |
(44.27%) |
(15.63%) |
(5.21%) |
(100%) |
|
|
Total |
8 |
57 |
117 |
130 |
38 |
10 |
360 |
|
|
(2.22%) |
(15.83%) |
(32.5%) |
(36.11%) |
(10.56%) |
(2.78%) |
(100%) |
|
Religion |
Below 6000 |
6001-10000 |
10001-15000 |
15001-20000 |
20001-30000 |
30001-60000 |
Total |
Muslim |
3 |
17 |
48 |
76 |
24 |
9 |
177 |
(1.69%) |
(9.6%) |
(27.12%) |
(42.94%) |
(13.56%) |
(5.08%) |
(100%) |
|
Christian |
5 |
39 |
60 |
47 |
10 |
0 |
161 |
(3.11% |
(24.22%) |
(37.27%) |
(29.19%) |
(6.21%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Hindu |
0 |
1 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
22 |
(0%) |
(4.55%) |
(40.91%) |
(31.82%) |
(18.18%) |
(4.55%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
8 |
57 |
117 |
130 |
38 |
10 |
360 |
|
(2.22%) |
(15.83%) |
(32.5%) |
(36.11%) |
(10.56%) |
(2.78%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Very rarely |
Sometimes |
Often |
Very often |
Not applicable |
Total |
Church owned |
15 |
68 |
10 |
5 |
70 |
168 |
(8.93%) |
(40.48%) |
(5.95%) |
(2.98%) |
(41.67%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
30 |
89 |
11 |
7 |
55 |
192 |
(15.63%) |
(46.35%) |
(5.73%) |
(3.65%) |
(28.65%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
45 |
157 |
21 |
12 |
125 |
360 |
|
(12.5%) |
(43.61%) |
(5.83%) |
(3.33%) |
(34.72%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Helper |
Cutter |
Stitching |
Supervisor |
Operator |
Quality controller |
Cleaner |
Total |
Church owned |
0 |
4 |
155 |
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
168 |
(0%) |
(2.38%) |
(92.26%) |
(5.36%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
35 |
19 |
68 |
17 |
34 |
13 |
6 |
192 |
(18.23%) |
(9.9%) |
(35.42%) |
(8.85%) |
(17.71%) |
(6.77%) |
(3.13%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
35 |
23 |
223 |
26 |
34 |
13 |
6 |
360 |
|
(9.72%) |
(6.39%) |
(61.94%) |
(7.22%) |
(9.44%) |
(3.61%) |
(1.67%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Yes |
No |
Total |
Church owned |
0 |
168 |
168 |
(0%) |
(100%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-Church owned |
80 |
112 |
192 |
(41.67%) |
(58.33%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
80 |
280 |
360 |
(22.22%) |
(77.78%) |
(100%) |
In the above table, it
is evident that a huge chunk of the respondents in our study working in garment
factories owned by Church are mostly Christians while those working under the
Non-Church owned ones are mostly Muslims (Table 3).
As per the above table,
it is observed that majority of our respondents working in Church-owned and Non-Church
owned factories are married while myriad women are unmarried (Table 4).
According to the above
table, it can be inferred that albeit there exists women without any education
who are working in garment factories, but there are also women who are at least
qualified at the primary level or at the secondary level. We even see few women
who have qualified higher secondary level of education while some have also
attained higher education (Table 5).
As per the above table,
we can see that almost all families, irrespective of age, are nuclear families
or single families as compared to the category of a joint family which accounts
for only a measly proportion of the total respondents surveyed (Table 6).
From the above table,
we can see that most of the respondents belong to mediocre low income group.
Women workers of both Church owned and Non-Church owned garment factories
largely belong to an income group of 10001-15000 and 15001-20000. We also see a
good proportion of respondents (n=27.38%) belonging to an income group of
6001-10000 in Church owned factories as compared to Non-Church ones. A reason
for this could be that women prefer to work in Church owned factories not only
because of money but also for a plethora of other non-monetary facilities
offered (Table 7).
From the above table,
it is evident that a healthy proportion of respondents belonging to an income
group of 15000-20000 are Muslims and Christians. These two religion also has
its respective adherents working in garment factories also belonging to a lower
income level of 10001-15000 (Table 8).
According to the above
table, women workers both in Church owned factories as well as Non-Church owned
factories have an impeccable record in terms of a healthy life. Respondents
have put their views forward about their frequency of sickness as we see myriad
respondents have said that they seldom fall sick while most of the respondents
opined that they fall sick occasionally (Table 9).
From the above table,
we can see that almost all the women workers of Church owned factories work in
the stitching department while only a few are supervisors or coordinators and
hardly any women doing work of cutting and trimming. But if we compare this
with Non-Church owned factories, we see all women are moderately distributed
across all departments of the garment factories. A reason for this is that
Church owned factories have many machines and equipment which makes work easier
for women workers so that they do not have to do any additional works. This is
missing in Non-Church owned garment factories which is labour intensive and do
not have a rich arsenal of machines and equipment and hence have to depend on
their women workers (Table 10).
According to the above
table, we can see that most of the women workers working in garment factories
do not have a contract while some women workers in Non-Church owned factories
have a contract which is missing in the factories which are owned by Churches
(Table 11).
We again see that most of the respondents do not have a permanent job in the factories they are working. But, we see a mediocre proportion of respondents working in Non-Church owned garment factories who do have a permanent job, which is entirely missing in the case of Church owned garment factories (Table 12).
Table 11: Is job permanent as per ownership in percent.
Ownership |
Yes |
No |
Total |
Church owned |
0 |
168 |
168 |
(0%) |
(100% |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
74 |
118 |
192 |
(38.54%) |
(61.46%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
74 |
286 |
360 |
|
(20.56%) |
(79.44%) |
(100%) |
Hours of job |
0-4000 |
4001-6000 |
6001-8000 |
8001-10000 |
10001-15000 |
Total |
4 hours |
6 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
(66.67%) |
(33.33%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
5 hours |
12 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
23 |
(52.17%) |
(47.83%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
6 hours |
10 |
16 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
28 |
(35.71%) |
(57.14%) |
(3.57%) |
(0%) |
(3.57%) |
(100%) |
|
7 hours |
15 |
28 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
46 |
(32.61%) |
(60.87%) |
(4.35%) |
(2.17%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
8 hours |
21 |
24 |
11 |
6 |
0 |
62 |
(33.87%) |
(38.71%) |
(17.74%) |
(9.68%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
64 |
82 |
14 |
7 |
1 |
168 |
|
(38.1%) |
(48.81%) |
(8.33%) |
(4.17%) |
(0.6%) |
(100%) |
Hours of job |
0-4000 |
4001-6000 |
6001-8000 |
8001-10000 |
10001-15000 |
15001-22000 |
Total |
8 hours |
2 |
14 |
24 |
16 |
7 |
3 |
66 |
(3.03%) |
(21.21%) |
(36.36%) |
(24.24%) |
(10.61%) |
(4.55%) |
(100%) |
|
9 hours |
0 |
9 |
12 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
30 |
(0%) |
(30%) |
(40%) |
(23.33%) |
(6.67%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
10 hours |
0 |
13 |
29 |
28 |
3 |
5 |
78 |
(0%) |
(16.67%) |
(37.18%) |
(35.9%) |
(3.85%) |
(6.41%) |
(100%) |
|
11 hours |
0 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
12 |
(0%) |
(50%) |
(8.33%) |
(16.67%) |
(25%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
12 hours |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
(0%) |
(33.33%) |
(16.67%) |
(0%) |
(16.67%) |
(33.33%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
2 |
44 |
67 |
53 |
16 |
10 |
192 |
|
(1.04%) |
(22.92%) |
(34.9%) |
(27.6%) |
(8.33%) |
(5.21%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Yes |
No |
Total |
Church owned |
0 |
168 |
168 |
(0%) |
(100%) |
(100% |
|
Non-Church owned |
54 |
138 |
192 |
(28.13%) |
(71.88%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
54 |
306 |
360 |
|
(15%) |
(85%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Yes |
No |
Total |
Church owned |
167 |
1 |
168 |
(99.4%) |
(0.6%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church Owned |
191 |
1 |
192 |
(99.48%) |
(0.52%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
358 |
2 |
360 |
|
(99.44%) |
(0.56%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Muslim |
Christian |
Hindu |
Total |
Church owned |
19 |
148 |
1 |
168 |
(11.31%) |
(88.1%) |
(0.6%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
158 |
13 |
21 |
192 |
(82.29%) |
(6.77%) |
(10.94%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
177 |
161 |
22 |
360 |
|
(49.17%) |
(44.72%) |
(6.11%) |
(100%) |
From the above table,
it is evident that most of the women workers in Church owned garment factories
generally work less than 8 hours a day and their salary do not exceed Rs.6000
per month. A reason for this is that Church owned garment factories try to
compensate their remuneration for the other non-monetary facilities that they
render to their workers. We also see a good proportion of respondents who work
more than 8 hours a day and quite a few of them get a monthly salary between
6000-8000. A very good attribute of Church owned factories is that they offer
flexibility in work timings catering to the needs and attention of myriad women
workers who might not be able to work more than such amount of time (Table 13).
In the Non-Church owned
factories, there do not exists working hours less than 8 hours a day. Most of
the respondents secure a monthly income in the range of Rs.6000-Rs.8000 and
Rs.8000-Rs.10000. quite a few of the respondents also belong to a lower income
group of Rs.4001-Rs.6000. Few respondents also secure an income between
Rs.15001-Rs.22000 (Table 14).
As per the above table,
it is evident that women workers in Church owned garment factories enjoy a
peace of mind when talking in the context of job security. No women working in
Church owned garment factories has been dismissed from their job. While only a
small proportion of women workers belonging to Non Church owned garment
factories has been dismissed. It shows that garment factories in Bangladesh have
a very low labour turnover ratio (Table 15).
From the above table it
is evident that more than 99% of the respondents spend their money for their
family which reflects their character of being family oriented. Both women
workers of Church owned and Non-Church owned garment factories spend their
income towards their family (Table 16).
From the above table,
it is evidenced that most of the women workers working in Church owned
factories are mostly Christians while those working in Non-Church owned garment
factories are mostly Muslims. These respondents spend their income towards
their family reflecting their proclivity towards their family (Table 17).
Table 17: How much do they save as per ownership (%).
Ownership |
10% |
20% |
30% |
40% |
NA |
Total |
Church owned |
43 |
90 |
2 |
19 |
14 |
168 |
(25.6%) |
(53.57%) |
(1.19%) |
(11.31%) |
(8.33%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
31 |
93 |
5 |
25 |
38 |
192 |
(16.15%) |
(48.44%) |
(2.6%) |
(13.02%) |
(19.79%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
74 |
183 |
7 |
44 |
52 |
360 |
|
(20.56%) |
(50.83%) |
(1.94%) |
(12.22%) |
(14.44%) |
(100%) |
Ownership |
Up to 30% |
up to 50% |
up to 80% |
Up to 100% |
Total |
Church owned |
162 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
168 |
(96.43%) |
(3.57%) |
(0%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Non-church owned |
184 |
7 |
1 |
0 |
192 |
(95.83%) |
(3.65%) |
(0.52%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
|
Total |
346 |
13 |
1 |
0 |
360 |
(96.11%) |
(3.61%) |
(0.28%) |
(0%) |
(100%) |
It is evident from the
above table that a whopping proportion of respondents belonging to both Church
owned and Non Church owned garment factories at least save 20% of their salary.
Many respondents even save 40% of their income. This reflects their
conservative nature to mobilize savings and keep it reserved for future (Table
18).
The current research study is a very distinct
one as the study emphasizes purely on Bangladeshi women workers who are working
in garment factories. This endeavour was an effort to probe into the various
socio-economic factors of women workers of Bangladesh garment factories. We
have explored many crux socio-economic factors like salary, savings, health,
designation and job security and various other demographic variables like age,
income and religion which have an impact on the socio-economic conditions of
such women workers. We have evidenced that there are certain differences as
well in the socio-economic conditions of women workers working in Church owned
and Non Church owned factories. Women workers in Church owned garment factories
enjoy certain flexibility in working hours as they even workers are paid money
even if they work for 4 hours in a day. This is something which is missing in
the Non Church owned garment factories as women workers work at least 8 hours a
day and a shorter duration of working hours are not available. We have also
seen that the Church owned garment factories are capital intensive where women
workers do not have to do odd jobs manually themselves and this is another
crucial social aspect of work which is clearly missing in the Non Church owned
garment factories as they are labour intensive. We also see that there only a
few respondents in our study working in Church owned garment factories who are
illiterates as compared to those working in Non-Church owned garment factories
thus reflecting the amount of importance that Church owned factories pay to
education. The only weaklings of the Church owned garment factories lies in
that there is not even a single worker who has been employed on a permanent
basis and there does not exist any contractual obligations both which have been
fulfilled by Non-Church owned garment factories.
The socio-economic
conditions of workers is always an intriguing subject of study and will always
continue to be in the domain of economics. Albeit, there exist many other such
socio-economic factors which have not been addressed in the current research
study, nevertheless, such factors can be pruned out in future researches. Women
workers of Bangladesh form a very crucial component of a potent workforce. In
fact, women workers of Bangladesh garment factories form the fulcrum of such
sector. Their importance is highly reflected in the ever increasing economy of
Bangladesh who depends to a large extent on its industries especially garment
industries. From being an economic dreg to an emerging economy, the stunning
transition should be credited to the women workers without whom the emergence
of a new Bangladesh would have been impossible.